Posted on 03/30/2002 7:53:37 PM PST by malakhi
| Statesmen may plan and speculate for liberty, but it is religion and morality alone which can establish the principles upon which freedom can securely stand. The only foundation of a free constitution is pure virtue. - John Adams |
50,000 what? Gay bars? :-)
lol...Softball. Bat. Out of the park.
Sometimes that hick from Oklahoma makes it too easy. :-)
Pray without ceasing. Ring any bells :) I am with the others on repetitios prayers and prayers by wrote to the extent that they are repeated in vain. Constantly praying is worthy of merit as it follows that which we are taught to do by the Apostles. Where I depart is on vanity and directing the prayers to the wrong place. Praying after the fashion of Jesus "our Father, who art in Heaven, Hallowed be thy name.." This I cannot fault. It is wise and I style my own prayers after it so that I remember to cover everything and everyone I must. It's like a laundry list if you will. But when one wanders off into praying to dead people (esp Mary and the saints) that's where I have to draw a line in the sand with scripture and challenge the activity with "IT IS WRITTEN!"
Finally, you didn't have a problem with pentecostals - you had a problem with people. Did you not know that every congregation has it's show offs. Did you not know that most churches are full of people who haven't the first clue. It is written that there are few that follow the path. Yet so many are surprised and shocked and start changing religions based on the people rather than the teaching. I'm not suggesting this is the case with you; but, I can tell you that the man who pastored my church before I arrived there committed adultery with a woman from his congregation and spent the rest of his life angry at the congregation that then rejected him as minister. He raised up another church full of those that left with him when he was found unfit to minister and would tell everyone what he had done to build that church - never a word about what God had done - it was all him. I know this first hand because I went to hear him speak just to please a friend. His church was so full of the devil I never went back. Hatred and angst boiled up from the pulpit and the entire congregation was contentious and confused. Incidentally, the man that was raised up as pastor after he left the original church was a true man of God and still is. This is why I say I don't endorse a brand name on a church - it is the message and the minister that must be considered. If the message and minister are worthless, then the congregation will be dead. If the congregation is dead and the minister and message is correct, then there is hope.
I've been in dead congregations and live ones. I've been in churches where there were satanists in attendance and the associate pastors were either oppressed or posessed. When your dad is a minister and travels widely, you see a lot that you wouldn't ordinarily experience. I haven't seen it all; but, I've seen most of it. I was standing in line at a walmart one day about 7 years ago now, and I had the urge to rebuke the devil suddenly. The guy in front of me was so surrounded in evil that I just wanted to run to get away from him. He turned and looked at me while conversing with the attendant and he was wearing a collar. Episcopal I believe. He said 'God bless', to which I could only reply, "and I hope you find him." He was stunned and looked to both sides and back at me before leaving - and not in a huff. I'm sure God was dealing with him. But this is what you get when Pastors come from Schools instead of from clergy. Their spiritual standing is largely overlooked in favor of what they "know". A problem that I'm not unfamiliar with in my debates here.
Most seem to think that what they "know" is all they need - that they can reason their way through it all. People are so ignorant of spirituality they think it's a matter of how one behaves and presents themselves or how pious they seem. Spirituality is not a matter of the physical. And the name above the church can be anything under the sun. If the message is not Christ's, the sign might say Lutheran, Baptist, Catholic or Assemblies - But the spirit within over-writes that sign with "prince of the air". This is why it is so difficult to find a good church. Most people go shopping for comfortable people or a minister that doesn't challenge them or tickles their ears. Conviction makes them want to leave - and Conviction is the word making one extremely self-aware or self-conscious. That makes people want to get away because thei knowledge of what they're doing wrong is nothing that most people want to deal with. That's why Satanists have a real tough time in spirit filled congregations. The level of conviction making them want to bolt is like the tension holding a bullet in a barrel before the powder behind it reaches critical enough mass to expell the slug.
No matter what else you have, if you have the wrong message, you are the poorest soul in the universe. And that's likely a proverb. If it isn't, it should be.
LOL. Conviction is funny that way..
I am still interested in this concept of the "Lost Tribes of the House of Israel" You said it though it is nowhere in the Bible, and, although you have the advantage over me in knowing the scriptures, I wonder what scripture you mean, that phrase belongs to the Book of Mormon, if I'm not mistaken. Are you a Mormon?
Matthew 10:5 These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into [any] city of the Samaritans enter ye not: [6] But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
Helps knowing the scriptures. Acts 15:7 gives reference to a prior event which allowed teaching the gentiles as well as the Jews - not the Gentiles exclusively. Paul was the Apostle to the Gentiles. Again, helps knowing scripture.
What prior event does Acts 15:7 refer to? Prior to Mt 10:5? You seem to claim this, as you imply that the instruction to the twelve superceeds that event. I think that you are incorrect. The clearest connection is Peters dream of the unclean animals. You also seem to attempt to distinguish Peter from Paul here: "not the Gentiles exclusively. Paul was the Apostle to the Gentiles" since Paul also taught Jews as well as Gentiles there is no basis for this.
To "prove" Peter would not have been in Rome Havoc can say "Paul was the Apostle to the Gentiles" - but when the Apostle Peter says: "God made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel, and believe." We really all (even you) need to pick Peter over Havoc, don't you think?
the Rome/Babylon connection didn't exist at the time that 1 Peter was written. That would not come for another 35 years or two generations later.
This is sort of like saying "since I am not having eggs until tomorrow, you could not have had them yesterday." Clearly, the author of Revelations is using this very statement of Peters to create the relationship in the first place, since everyone knows what Peter meant.
Lastly, still waiting on that "dating methology" that proves Paul wrote to Timothy at the same time Peter wrote from "Babylon." I know we are not talking carbon dating here. That would be the last remaining bit of evidence proving your thesis, would it not?
With bated breath,
v.
We treasure poets because they convey our feelings better than we can. You haven't answered: what about hymns?
Do you use primarily use poetry to communicate with your other intimates ?
Hymns are songs and, certainly, have their place, but they do not take the place of everyday speech.
I don't see any need for people like Halle Berry to have all their blackness removed surgically and then claim they are a victim of racism!!!!
Has Halle Berry had such surgery ?
I don't see how you can distinguish between a lyric and a formal prayer during worship services.
Can you express to your wife and/or children that you love them without resorting to a pre-written lyric ?
I must say that I have "a thing" about extempraneous prayers, since they often seem to be more directed AT other people than God.
I'm really speaking to the issue of private prayer (i.e. private interaction with God). Thus, ... no other people to impress.
Esp. when you and Doug do your "we present the facts, you decide" presentation around Christmas and Ressurection " :')
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