Friday/Saturday/Sunday morning preaching.

[basics]

Akar,

If I am only ever concerned about myself then what am I doing on these threads? My concern is that so many have not got the insurance that I have when I have to leave this world. That insurance is that Jesus Christ died for my sins so that I will never see disease again nor the pains that go with them. The statistics are an indicator of how horrible this world can be and when one adds all the aborted babies to them it makes for even sadder reading. So, if you want to hold me responsible for all that then carry on.

We in Great Britain enjoy a National Health Service that caters through our taxes for the health needs of our people meaning at the point of entry and treatment there is no further charge. Believe it or not I still pay tax even being supported by the Government.

I believe that when Scripture tells us that God won't have us bear any more than we can manage these words are for those who believe the Lord Jesus Christ is their God and Saviour. In other words all them that are born again of the Spirit of God.

So in answer to your last question I think I have answered it above. That doesn't mean I don't feel anything for them because as a parent there is nothing that could be sadder than to lose a child under any circumstance. But, if you want to think the worst of me that I cannot stop nor help but please stop trying to analyse what is in my heart.

[Lord Thesaurian]

PSA

[Prodromos]

20 Then Jesus entered a house, and again a crowd gathered, so that he and his disciples were not even able to eat. 21 When his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, “He is out of his mind.”

...

31 Then Jesus’ mother and brothers arrived. Standing outside, they sent someone in to call him. 32 A crowd was sitting around him, and they told him, “Your mother and brothers are outside looking for you.”

33 “Who are my mother and my brothers?” he asked.

34 Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! 35 Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.”

God, in his gracious provision, provides for those who cannot find a home among their own blood family, by having a home among God’s family. The Christian Church is referred to in the Bible as the “household of God”, and we are “adopted” into God’s family as his sons and daughters. The language points to the reality of a new family, one that is bound together not by shared genetics but by faith in a common Lord. The strongest, most meaningful bond between any two people possible is the sharing of love for Christ. So the promise and hope for those who are pushed away by family because of their Christian faith is that there is a new family ready to embrace them.

[basics]

For a sinner saved by the Love of God is something that those saved have to learn as we journey on into our new lives. To us love can bring on as much hatred for something as it does love. Can it be that forgiveness is the key to real love meaning that if you can forgive and forget an offence then true love shines forth. It is not an easy path to follow without God's help and so we must trust Him in all things if ever we are to know His love.

[Morticia Iunia Bruti]

Everyone has of course the right to freely express their opinion; but he does not have the right to identify this opinion with the truth and to erect a stake for those who think differently.

Hedwig Dohm (1831-1919), German writer and women's rights activist

[Cyclops]

Everyone has of course the right to freely express their opinion; but he does not have the right to identify this opinion with the truth and to erect a stake for those who think differently.

Hedwig Dohm (1831-1919), German writer and women's rights activist

Sadly I think we don't have any rights, we just have agreement (voluntary, misled or coerced) by communities and individuals.

Some individuals and communities use the respect in which sacred writing is held to mobilise groups for their own benefit. Hating homosexuals is a classic, hating women works too.

Free, loving people will accept slavery and embrace hatred if you tell them its God who is enslaving them, and they get to hate gays or enslave women as a payoff.

[Morticia Iunia Bruti]

On the factual level you are absolutely right, we have no rights except the laws of our society are granting us.

On the ideal level i'm fond of some human rights given by nature, which can't be abolished. At least they are a nice justification for unrest, revolution and civic disobedience against blatantly injustice.

[basics]

So, where did all these laws come from?

[Morticia Iunia Bruti]

From nature.

[basics]

From nature.

Morticia Iunia Bruti,

And where did nature come from?

[Akar]

If she's referring to human nature, then evolution.

If she's referring to natural life, then abiogenesis.

If she's referring to the existence of matter itself, then the big bang

[Sir Adrian]

[Lord Thesaurian]

On the subject, kudos to my long suffering wife for picking her jaw up off the floor and calmly teaching me things normally communicated to 8 year olds. Reasons public education should be mandatory in murica.

Bearing in mind the Gospel of Luke provides the exact genealogy from the first human to Jesus, TIL:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Teach this to your kids so they don’t waste 28 years of their life studying bronze age mythology. Still dunno how to feel about this. Upset and embarrassed at myself mostly.

Bottom line: don’t be like me. Don’t waste your time arguing on the internet. You could die tomorrow and that’s literally it. Do what makes you happy.

[Cyclops]

If she's referring to human nature, then evolution.

If she's referring to natural life, then abiogenesis.

If she's referring to the existence of matter itself, then the big bang

None of these strongly supported theories exclude the possibility of a Goddess/God/Gods etc, just the silly version offered by some simplified religious movements.

If the Universe has a (partly) knowable creator I certainly would love to express my gratitude for football and my family.

[Cope]

Bottom line: don’t be like me. Don’t waste your time arguing on the internet. You could die tomorrow and that’s literally it. Do what makes you happy.

What if arguing on the internet makes you happy?

[Morticia Iunia Bruti]

None of these strongly supported theories exclude the possibility of a Goddess/God/Gods etc, just the silly version offered by some simplified religious movements.

If the Universe has a (partly) knowable creator I certainly would love to express my gratitude for football and my family.

I have the same opinion as Cyclops. I would describe me as pagan agnostic, i don't know, if gods exist, but i won't deny it. What i deny is, is a religion, which declare itself as absolute truth and wants unconditional obedience.

@Akar: I understand natural in the sense of the rights belong to us from birth without them we are unhappy, incomplete.

[basics]

You guys can believe what you want but I'm going to tell you a story that happened last week and perfectly true. I put my Citroen Xara into the garage for a new starter motor plus what I thought was a general service being presented with a bill for 675 plus pounds sterling. It had kept running the battery down so starting was the major problem and it appeared OK when I got it back. I noticed that the gears weren't connecting properly and that the clutch pedal was going right down to the floor before I could crunch into any gear so I went back to the garage to get that seen to. They said that the boss would phone me but no phone call and by this time we had reached New Year's Eve and we had to go through to Elgin for messages. The journey through was a headache as I was by that time moving off in third gear and when parking in Elgin what a job I had making those little moves to park. My wife as long as she got her supplies was reasonably happy yet angry with the garage.

So, sitting out in the car feeling right down and wondering how much more it was going to cost to get the thing sorted I huffed and puffed away at my cigarettes and then it dawned on me, what? I remembered the story of the Nimrod when her engines cut out and so I did what Dave the pilot did, I prayed. Lord Jesus You made this car and you sustain this car as You do with everything else that was ever made so please make it possible for us to get home safely without any accidents or incidents, amen. My wife eventually came out with a load of messages and I packed them in and got her in as well and then came the test. The car started and slid into first gear which it wouldn't before and we set off for home. Not once did it miss a gear or crunch any and it hasn't ever since. So when you guys mock God you really don't know what your doing.

[Lord Thesaurian]

What if arguing on the internet makes you happy?

[ggggtotalwarrior]

“My car worked one time when I didn’t think it would” is just about the argument I can imagine for convincing people the god described in the Bible exists and is capable of enacting miracles

[basics]

ggggtotalwarrior,

For a start I never said the words that you have written and it was not silly at all as every bit was true. Perhaps you have another reason why it worked out the way it did?