Free Republic

Jerry Nachman just ate all the ballots!!!!!

More seriously, surely they will ask for a recount. It's too many votes to overturn but certainly close enough to justify. Asking for a recount a far cry from the belabored process that took place with the Gore campaign. Even he was justified re the FIRST recount there.

you don't see too many 90/10 splits in a precinct, let along them just happening to be the final precincts counted - with the totals changing the result of the election.

What an incredible coincidence.

Thune would have arguably been the most conservative member of the Senate had he been elected.

500 votes too many to overturn in a recount. We're beat there.

The "dad" is right on one count, "The babies are God's children."

Woe to him for causing these precious little ones to stumble.

must be waiting for an answer from Rome......

Maybe the Russians will lighten up on Iraq now.

Maybe the U.S. will quit towing the stupid U.N. line re keeping the Russians from doing what we would do in Chechnya.

What do you do with Galatians 2:11-14?

Saw this in World, and it is quite good.

God is indeed love, that's what He wants us to warn those who do glorify Him that they are wrong and under condemnation. There is a right way to do this yes, but nothing in this article leaves that out.

Piper's "Brothers, We are Not Professionals" highly recommended reading for anyone with a passion for the church, and especially potential elders and pastors.

What I would like to see is more material from a historic premill standpoint, refuting the idea of a pretrib rapture (especially in light of LaHayesteria). They call us posttribbers,which is kind of a misrepresentation because we don't make such an issue of that, it's pretribbers who do (kind of the cornerstone of their whole theology). But I would like to see some emphasis form our perspective that there is some reference to a time of turmoil prior to Christ's return, and that, indeed, the Church will go through that.

I'm historic premil, ardently reformed, strong opponent of dispensationalism, but man, you cannot talk like this to other people, no matter how wrong or abrasive they might be. Your whole point gets lost in the way you say it.

If you get into an argument on a street corner with a fool, a passer-by may not be able to tell the difference.

Have dignity. Jesus is Lord.

but Paul didn't say, go ahead and break the 2nd commandment. There is a standard Biblically for how God is to be worshipped. Concern about religious art is indeed, passe in our postmodern culture, but I don't see how we can read the clear language of the passage I cited and think that a film or artistic portrayal of Jesus doesn't violate this.

That is the baseline of my concern, and the pop-culture part of it extends from that.

"You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth..." Exodus 20:4

I HATE the idea that this movie is going to come out in the pop culture, and people are going to go to it and think they are seeing what Jesus is like, that they would take the most wonderful, awful and important event in human history and try to package it as entertainment.

John Piper and Lisa Beamer, two of my favorites these days.

God uses the humble.

Well, the lack of legislative action doesn't change the fact that the powers that be in the educational establishment (the big government types), the academic elites and the teachers unions, are growing increasingly uncomfortable with the growing popularity of home schooling (2 million plus nationwide). The law hasn't changed, but the DOE is now interpreting it to suit their agenda. There is going to be a big battle over this. California is serving as a test case for whether the establishment can start rolling back the freedoms we have gained over the past 20-30 years. We need to remain diligent.

A battle is coming

Hey all,

Have you discussed the situation in California on here much, where the state is trying to pressure home schoolers to come under the state umbrella, even going so far as to say they might be prosecuting anyone who has established a private school in their home?

I'm an Rb who attends a PCA church, btw. :-)

Seems to me the baseline issue here is this:

All Christians are commanded to be charitible, to show mercy, to be gentle in spirit, love their enemies, etc...

We are never told to compromise the truth or to worship some other God than the One revealed to us in Scripture. To the contrary we are chastised for compromising.

Whatever "common values" I may have as a reformed protestant, and however many friends I may have who are Roman Catholic, my understanding of the Scriptures indicates that if they believe what the Church of Rome's official teaching is, they are not trusting in Christ alone for salvation, and thus are not regenerate.

I can still love them and reach out to them and hope for them, and certainly reject some of the historic acrimony between Protestants and Catholics, even in North America over the past 200 years, but my belief is still that we do not believe the same Gospel. While it is a testament to specific and common grace that humans on this earth might get along amiably despite this vital distinction, it would certainly seem to preclude the two groups from working together in the advancement of the Gospel, since, if they assess with integrity, they know the "other" group is not even believing in that which they profess to want to advance.

And advancement of said kingdom, including the Divinely-ordained shepherding of souls into it during our time on earth, is the most important thing any of us who are His can ever do.

This article discusses some of what you mention.

http://www.credenda.org/issues/14-2poetics.php

I've been on list servers, bulletin boards, chat rooms, etc... - the ones dealing with religion tend to be some of the most exasperating, and I'm not entirely sure why.

I'm a Reformed Baptist, committed to the doctrines of grace and the resulting priority of making disciples, building strong Churches featuring Biblical fellowship and accountability, loving the saints and impacting all things in the culture for the sake of His Name.

I'm not always convinced that these forums accomplish any of these things. So many of the arguments are circular, and since very few people online seem to be interested in following any kind of fair debating principles, one's skill at presenting truth isn't really honed either.

What I think an online forum CAN be useful for, is for like-minded believers to be able to encourage one another in truth, share burdens and otherwise enjoy one another's friendship. Now, ideally, all these things happen in the local church, and this or a similar forum shouldn't be seen as a replacement for THAT, but it can be an enjoyable supplement to it. I do believe that in these dark times, an emerging remnant is beginning to stand out as a bright lamp, espousing many of the themes I mention above. I think the Net is a useful tool in that regard, helping a lot of people network and share helpful teaching tools. Some have been able to find Biblical churches they didn't know existed, as a result.

I would much prefer to interact on here with other like-minded individuals in a collegial manner, rather than to get into just another pointless argument with some Arminian or rabid dispensationalist with his brain switched off.

Is there any forum here or otherwise available for THAT?

My favorite resonse so far, from the home schoolers:

MEDIA ADVISORY

STATEMENT OF J. MICHAEL SMITH, PRESIDENT OF HOME SCHOOL LEGAL DEFENSE ASSOCIATION - on the declaration by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that reciting the Pledge of Allegiance in public schools is unconstitutional.

"It remains legal to recite the pledge of allegiance in every private home school in America, and I suspect that there will be more parents taking advantage of this than ever before."

just like if a home schooler wins a geography or spelling bee, someone complains that they just focus on that subject, but if a public schooler wins, this is never a suspiscion.