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Thanks for those words ... I'm not sure of your point ... but that's ok. I still liked those verses. What I mostly liked about them was that there was very little .. "do as I say or believe in me or else" tripe in them. The stuff that Khepra and L Christian sent me was full of threats and extortion. In the verses you sent me the theme was "straw" and straw appeared in pretty much each verse. In the verses that Khepra and L.Christian sent, the two words that constantly appeared were "death" and "offend /offense". See the difference ????

Yes, I do see the difference, and, although I have not sent them 'private' replies, they probably do too.

In this walk called Christianity, you'll run acroos people from far differing backgrounds and teachings and experience. Just as some professional sports teams have their 'trash talkers', we got 'em too. They have young, fairly inexperienced players - we do as well. They have guys will bad knees and messed up hands: so do we. And, sometimes, the older players just have to retire - we do as well, with just as much regret and memories as them.

If you can remember the place in the NT where a couple of the disciples wanted to call down 'thunder from Heaven' upon their enemies, Jesus had to rebuke them as well, and THEY had been in His presence for a couple of years.

I used to have the same thought about God as a couple others have shown on this thread. I did NOT want to be SCARED of something to get ME to do anything! It took a few years before I realized that there was a big Love that was being overshadowed something that was NOT created for Man.

NIV Matthew 25:41
41. "Then he will say to those on his left, `Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.

He has another place prepared for those who will accept it.

If you had been in California a few years ago, when the earthquake had dropped a bridge support and cars were running off the end of it to crash, I have no doubt that you would have tried to position yourself in the raodway and try to get people to go a different way.

We fall and stumble in many ways, us followers of Christ, but He will always pick us up and let us try again. We, after having learned the lesson, pray and hope with all our heart that we haven't PERMANTLY alienated someone else from saving faith.

I won't ask you to be a bit gentle with the new guys (or old ones either) as there is a saying in our circles: "If you want to know what a Christian should be like, just ask someone who ain't."

The world somehow has an idea of perfection, but most (ha!) haven't attained it yet!

I leave you with this.........

NIV Psalms 102:18-20
18. Let this be written for a future generation, that a people not yet created may praise the LORD:
19. "The LORD looked down from his sanctuary on high, from heaven he viewed the earth,
20. to hear the groans of the prisoners and release those condemned to death."