pattygreen

You better alert the Bureau of Labor Statistics that monitors employment and unemployment that their figures are wrong. noone, can predict what might have happened if there was no action taken.

It is working. Every town, every shovel ready project are doing things they couldn't do without the stimulus. Employment will be the last indicator to improve. It mostly caused government jobs. Where will these employees go when the money runs out for that job?

There was no pork in the stimulus bill. You are confusing the stimulus bill with the federal budget where each congressional representative competes for federal dollars to bring back to his/her district. That is their job and what they are sent to Washington to do. True. You are right. Still, unnecessary spending.

It's the fault of the right-wing media run by Murdoch and Fox news. So, you would rather that the goings on of politicians and the WH were kept in secret?

There is only one way to interpert this saying of God: "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again." John 3:3. It's not like being born again is such a difficult thing. Put your faith in God to save you through his son, Jesus, who gave his life to take the punishment for your sins so you wouldn't have to. That's all. Believe it and you will go to heaven. The sad thing is that so many let this life slip away and refuse to be a part of their own creators family. Why? I don't know.

If you're insulted, it's because you choose to believe what you choose to believe it's about. I did not vote for President Clinton at the time that he was elected. I voted republican. Yet, after the election was over, there was not one ounce of anger over the fact that a democrat was in office. I would have prefered a republican, that's for sure, but when it was over and he won the election, it was accepted. Clinton didn't go nuts when he got in there, like Obama did. This is about government corruption that is becoming more and more evident to the American people every day. And they are tired of it. Frankly, I can't understand why you 'love' him. Are you happy or something with the future debt that your great-grandchildren will still be paying off long after you're gone?

I don't believe I ever said that there wasn't any figurative speech in scripture. For there is much of it. But if one actually 'reads' the scripture, it is easily recognized. Just picking out a verse or two to hand someone doesn't reveal the whole package.

Thanks patty, for pointing out at least one ambiguous bit of writing in the Bible. You're welcome, bjean. Is their any other ambiguous writing in the bible that you may need clarified?

By the way, We're not angry that Obama was elected. We're angry at what he's doing NOW. After he got in office.

When your son or daughter disobeys you, and they come to you and ask you for forgiveness, are they then forgiven? Whenever we do something unjust, we are disobeying our Father who told us not to do it. Therefore, he has every right to say to us that everything is alright now, I forgive you. When God makes everything alright, he's not taking away your responsibility to rectify what you've done. He also expects ammends just as you should expect consequences.

I don't think that God would allow his words to us to be messed with or changed. He protects them from the devil and man. Otherwise if he did, he could not fault us for not hearing him and coming to know the truth. Do you agree? Also, it's not our job to convince anyone if he is real. That is the Holy Spirit's job. It is only our job to spread the news and tell others what he has told us.

So, since you realize your purpose, what is it? And, do you feel that this life you are living is a dream?

Hell is punishment-- but it's not a punishing. It's not torture. The punishment of Hell is separation from God, bringing shame, anguish,and regret that is mental and physical. The pain that will be suffered is due to the sorrow from the final, ultimate, unending banishment from God, his kingdom, and the good life for which we were created in the first place. People in hell will deeply grieve all they have lost. Hell is something God was forced to make because people chose to rebel against him and turn against what was best for them and the purpose for which they were created. You know, when people founded the United States, they didn't start out by creating jails. They would have much rather had a society without jails. But they were forced to create them because people would not cooperate. The same is true of Hell. Near death experiences have demonstarted beyond a reasonable doubt that when people die they're still able to be conscious. BTW, There is no literal 'fire' in Hell. Flames are a figure of speech. We know this because if you try to take it literally, it makes no sense, for Hell is describe as a place of utter darkness and yet there are flames? Flames would light things up. Whenever the bible speaks of 'flames' it is speaking of 'judgement'. God himself is called a consuming fire. Using the flame imagery is a way of saying that he is a God of judgement. This is why it is important to study the word of God, and not take what religious teachers have taught you to be true as fact. Many children have been taught that they will burn in fire forever if they reject God. This simply isn't true biblically. The truth is that rejecting God in this life will seperate you from him for all eternity, and it will be a torture to your soul forever.

It may seem to you that an all powerful God could do a better job of convincing people of his existance. "Why doesn't God just write it across the sky! Heres your proof! Believe in me or else. Sincerely, the Almighty." Psalm 19:1 says "The heavens are telling the glory of God; and the firmamant proclaims his handiwork." In fact it is written across the heavens so vividly that more and more scientists are becoming Christians. It's not for lack of evidence that people turn from God; it's from their pride or their will. God is not going to force anyone into the fold. Love never works coersively. It only works persuasively. And there is plenty of persuasive evidence there. God maintains a delicate balance between keeping his existance sufficiently evident so people will know he's there and yet hiding his presence enough so that people who want to choose to ignore him can do it. This way, their choice of destiny is really free.

The bible is the only book in the world that has precise, specific predictions that were made hundreds of years in advance and that were literally fulfilled. Here you have incredible predictions that were literally fulfilled in the life of one man, Jesus, even though he had no control over most of them. For instance, He couldn't have arranged his ancestry, the timing of his birth, and so on. These prophecies were written 2-400 years in advance. No other book in the world has this. The problem with Nostradamus and so many other so-called psychics is that their predictions are often very enigmatic, ambiguous, and innacurate. They could fit a great varity of events. Not a single prediction of his has ever been proven to be genuine. They are vague in their predictions. The Hitler prediction wasn't specific at all. Here it is: "Followers of sects, great troubles are in store for the Messenger. A beast upon the theater prepares the scenical play. The inventor of that wicked feat will be famous. By sects the world will be confused and devided... Beasts mad with hunger will swim across rivers. Most of the army will be against the Lower Danube[Hister sera]. The great one shall be dragged in an iron cage when the child brother[de Germain] will observe nothing." Obviously this is not a reference to A. Hitler. The word isn't Hitler, but Hister, and it's clearly not a person, but a place. The Latin phrase de Germain should be interpretted as 'brother' or 'near relative', not Germany. He doesn't site any dates or even a general time frame. Besides, what does he mean by 'beasts' and 'iron cage'? It's so confusing that the entire prophecy is meaningless. There are 191 predictions in the OT about the coming Messiah, and they were all fulfilled in Jesus.

Something I have come to to realize over time is this: Mankind will stubbornly refuse to believe the truth for fear of actually having to answer to someone other than himself. For once you know that there is a God out there who made you, you will then become accountable to him, and that is not desired by most of us, for we are all truly sinful. If only mankind could know the love and mercy and grace of their Father who is in Heaven, they would not fear to become accountable to him, or know him.

Using 'all' the evidences for Jesus' existance and resurrection together, one can come to the conclusion that he is God. From the many testimonies of the eye witnesses at the time, to the living non contradictionary words in his bible (that was written by many differing people all over the world at different times and once put together formed a miraculous complete book which not only teaches and shows the way for mankind, but predicts future events, most of which have already been fulfilled), to the witness of the Holy Spirit that each believer recieves to live within his being at the point of acceptance of the truth, to each believers own testimony of what Jesus has done in their lives, to archeological evidence of the truths of the scripture, and on and on, one must recognize that he is God. A person doesn't put his faith in God due to one bit of evidence, but due to all of the evidence combined. Like I said , you will never know the truth unless you seek it for yourself.

When I first became a Christian, I used to think that God lived in your 'literal' heart within you. But now I understand that he lives within the very heart of man's whole being.

What do you mean by 'we are living a dream within a dream'?

No need to be sorry. Many people want absolute proof before they will believe. Jesus gave us his resurrection from the dead. The bible claims thousands saw him alive after his death on the cross. There were many testimonies to this fact at the time. You have never seen Abe Lincoln, yet the history books tell his story and you have no proof except for what you have read that he actually existed. The story of the resurrection of Christ must have been real, for many testified of it and those who were eyewitnesses to the account became steadfast in their faith to him and actually gave their lives to defend this truth of God coming to save us in the flesh. Peter, who once denied he ever knew Jesus when he was alive, gave his own life for the cause of Christ after he witnessed his resurrection from the dead. Now, I ask you, why would anyone be willing to die for a lie?

Jesus' claim to exclusivity means categorically that anything that contradicts what he says is by definition false. Its one thing for Christians to believe that , it's another thing to communicate it without sounding smug or superior. If truth is not undergirded by love, it makes the possessor obnoxious and the truth repulsive. One can not communicate the love of Christ in non-loving terms. There is an Indian proverb that says: Once you cut off a persons nose, there is no sense in giving him a rose to smell. I feel that I may have sounded arrogant by pointing out that these controversial issues are indeed sin according to God, yet, it was to emphasize this countries need to make our laws to conform to truth and not individual desires. For if there is no creator, from where does one arrive at a moral law? I don't desire to take ones choices away from them, by enforcing my religion upon them. (for I don't belong to any religion) I only desire that the laws in this country reflect what God intended for us. I have a right to decide what I would prefer a law to be just as much as anyone else. If I say that I would not like it if homosexuals were permited to marry, it is not because I am a bigot or unloving, it is what I believe to be right. You may believe that it is perfectly okay for anyone to engage in the act, and you might try to make the laws conform to what you believe. This is okay, too. The difference between us is when the government forces me to pay taxes to condone these things that are immoral to me, I am going against what I believe to be right. But, when the government forces you to pay taxes to condone the laws you agree upon, it wont offend you because you don't feel it is morally wrong. ............................................................. Anyone can claim to be the only path to God. The real issue is why anybody should believe Jesus was telling the truth when he said He was the only way. The ressurection of Jesus gives me the basis to believe him. If that is true, then all other faith systems cannot be true, because they each assert something contrary to his divinity. And of course, the historical record concerning his ressurection is extremely compelling. The apostle Peter said, "We did not follow clearly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty." He's saying this is true. This is reality. This can be trusted. And, yes, the truth excludes that which is contrary. The scripture has many eyewitness accounts written concerning his being seen after his resuurection and before his ascension to heaven. Ultimately, the way a Christian really knows that christianity is true is through the self-authenticating witness of God's Spirit. Let's say you're going to the office to see if your bosss is in. You see his car in the parking lot. You ask the secretary if he is in, and she says,"Yes, I just spoke with him." You see light from under his office door. You listen and hear his voice on the telephone. On the basis of all this evidence, you have good grounds for concluding that your boss is in his office. But you could do something quite different. You could go to the door and knock on it and meet the boss face-to-face. At that point the evidence of the car in the parking lot, the secretaries testimony, the light under the door, the voice on the telephone--all that would still be valid, but it would take a secondary roll, because now you've met the boss face-to-face. And in the same way, when we've met God, so to speak, all of the arguements and evidence for his existance take a secondary role. They now become confirmatory of what God himself has shown us in a supernatural way through the witness of the Holy Spirit in our hearts. This is what happens when a person comes to believe in Jesus and is born again. God said that he is knocking on our doors and if we will open it, we will encounter him and experience him personally.

I guess what you don't understand is the spiritual side of all of this. The bible teaches that in the end times, and nearer to the time of Jesus' return to earth, that man will become more and more wicked in his ways. Mankind will tolerate and accept and make as a right and normal way of life all of those things that God, his creator, deems wrong. He will also make all of the things that God deems right as wrong. When Jesus returns, the time is up for mankind to make their decision as to whether to love him and theirfore love righteousness or reject him and therefore reject righteousness. It would be best for all mankind to adhere to God and his laws than to go their own way. This is why I, and most christians, feel the way they do about making sin lawful. It's not for our sake, but for those who choose unrighteousness' sake. For no matter what sinful laws that this nation accepts, my salvation is secure, for I have put my faith in God. I just care about those who haven't.

When society as a whole condones what God deems wrong, it affects everyone. First of all, but not the most important factor; if everyone were gay, it would end the reproduction of the human race. But seriously, the family unit was set up by God. Children need both fathers and mothers to be brought up functionally. They both contribute something to the child rearing experience. When what is deemed sinful by God is accepted by society, public schools will begin to add it to their curriculum as if it were the way it's supposed to be, and it's not. With the legal onset of gay marriage, governments will be in the position of forcing onto citizens a belief system that equates homosexuality with heterosexuality — through public schools, taxpayer-funded programs like charities and non-profits, workplaces and even faith based organizations that receive public dollars. It will be a new legal and social norm and the law is going to enforce this new social and legal norm on people. This is in complete defiance of what God says. Whenever the government allows sin to be the norm by making it lawful, taxpayers who feel it is immoral will be contributing to it in some way financially. This is unacceptable.