Yantelope V2

So, we're kind of into a point where a lot of believing Christians will argue with each other and the great lengthy debates over the coexistance of free will and predestination begin and whether or not it's right for God to send people to hell or not. Romans is pretty clear about it and it's an answer that angers and distresses a lot of people, believer or not. " 9:14 What shall we say then? Is there injustice with God? Absolutely not! 9:15 For he says to Moses: “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”29 9:16 So then,30 it does not depend on human desire or exertion,31 but on God who shows mercy. 9:17 For the scripture says to Pharaoh:32 “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I may demonstrate my power in you, and that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth.”33 9:18 So then,34 God35 has mercy on whom he chooses to have mercy, and he hardens whom he chooses to harden.36 9:19 You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who has ever resisted his will?” 9:20 But who indeed are you – a mere human being37 – to talk back to God?38Does what is molded say to the molder, “Why have you made me like this?”39 9:21 Has the potter no right to make from the same lump of clay40 one vessel for special use and another for ordinary use?41 9:22 But what if God, willing to demonstrate his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience the objects42 of wrath43 prepared for destruction?44 9:23 And what if he is willing to make known the wealth of his glory on the objects45 of mercy that he has prepared beforehand for glory – 9:24 even us, whom he has called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles? 9:25 As he also says in Hosea: “I will call those who were not my people, ‘My people,’ and I will call her who was unloved,46 ‘My beloved.’”47" Anyway, this kind of discusses two different angles of discussion of did God predestine people for hell and if he did is that wrong. I'd be lying if I said it doesn't bother me that God created people as "objects of wrath".

On the topic of whether people have a choice or not. Romans:1:18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of people39 who suppress the truth by their40 unrighteousness,41 1:19 because what can be known about God is plain to them,42 because God has made it plain to them. 1:20 For since the creation of the world his invisible attributes – his eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, because they are understood through what has been made. So people43 are without excuse.

I'm not sure you read the response to samuel as I did. I'm pretty sure they're referring to taunting people. I'm fairly certain they're not actually talking about killing handicapped people. A lot of the Mosaic law was either symbolic in nature or simply health related. A lot of rules regarding what to eat and not to eat were to help keep the people healthy. Cows generally don't get worms becaus they chew their cudd and have 4 stomachs and so it was safer to eat cow than pig. There were other rules like this such as washing of hands and not touching blood and things like that. The israelites didn't know about germs but God told them to wash their hands to keep themselves clean. Doesn't sound like something a human would make up. Also the ideas of not wearing mixed linens or planting two seeds in the same ditch or not getting tattoos were symbolic in nature. They were a symbol of remaining pure and holy. Tattoos were generally pagan symbols. There's a lot of symbolic meaning even in the passover supper such as removing all the yeast from the house represents the removal of sin from our lives. Whether or not it sounds crazy depends on if you understand the meaning or purpose behind it. Strangely the israelites did not fully understand the meaning as many of them rejected the Christ when he did come. Sending people to Hell is actually the toughest issue that any christian deals with. If you wanted to talk about the truly "messed up" or just plain horrifying stuff in the bible that's where I'd start.

@dean: well, I'm prepping for an "AH! SO THAT EXPLAINS IT!" I went to public school through 4th grade at which point my parents got pretty tired of the school not being up to their standards so they homeschooled me. My parents both went to public schools and have 4 year degrees from a Texas public university. My Brother went to school through 10th grade and got tired of it and homeschooled the last two years of high school. I got a pretty decend score on my SAT (1330 if it matters) and got my BS degree in engineering from a public Texas university with a 3.0 GPA (I know that's not super). So I don't consider myself uneducated. Anywho, you can say I was indoctrinated at this point and it's impossible to prove that I'm not brainwashed but I consider myself to be a highly critical person and I make every attempt to challenge my beliefs whenever such a challenge arrises. I will freely admit that I have not studied the intricacies of evolution and I am not equipped to fully refute it.

Those are references to the translation from the net bible. http://net.bible.org/#!bible/Matthew+1

Again, you're confusing my skepticism with dismissal. I'm not dismissive of the evidence of evolution I'm just not convinced by it. If we're talking dismissive nobody has bothered to actually say why I'm wrong or defend WTF's statement beyond asserting that there might be other evidence. They're just attacking me for being critical of it. How is that not dismissive?

Edit: for some reason this section is getting chopped out so I'm putting it here.

@6264: I'm going to put this whole thing in a spoiler because I think it's gonna be long. Okay, so that's it. There's some complicated stuff in there and I'm not an expert by any stretch so if I explained it improperly I'm sorry. If you have questions about the translation or how it was translated then you can check the references on the net bible's site and they actually have a ton of notes on what was translated as what and why if that's helpful. Let me know if I made anything sound confusing or if I need to explain something further.

Clearly. I am however skeptical that this researcher was able to provide any harder evidence.

I'd be interested to hear what more scientific evidence there is of this theory but as it was stated in that paragaph it was jumping to a conclusion. Perhaps that zoologist had other evidence that you didn't list.

His statement is a classical logical fallacy. It's the same as saying sharks eat more surfers than farmers so clearly sharks like the taste of surfers more.

See, this is a prime example of jumping to a conclusion and presenting it as factual evidence. You're basically stating that animals like butts and men like boobs and therefore it must be a product of evolution. Your supporting "evidence" is the comparison that clevage looks like a butt crack.

Again, you're reading a lot of motivations into my statement and jumping to many conclusions which are not true.

Wireless mouse is awesome because it keeps that cord from pushing up against things and getting stuck on things. I love having a wireless mouse.

What Modern Family pushes is a message of "our family is different and wacky and you think it's funny but it's every bit as equal and good as your family." That's a liberal message one which evangelical Christians would not agree with. The fact that you don't see that as the message of the show is a reflection of your own bias. Well again, there have been many good scientific books written on the subject providing evidence. The things you're referring to are examples of adaptation or if you must use the term, microevolution. It's all changes within a species. Also, breeding dogs has not been something that's really increased the effectiveness of the species. Bred dogs are less intelligent than wolves and other wild animals and pure breed dogs specifically have many more health issues. Also as far as the elephants without tusks go that would be an example of jumping to conclusions. Any faith can be distorted and used for evil. I agree with you on this. Everyone is pushing there own agenda too. I agree with this as well. My point was that it's false to say that only christians push their beliefs on others (clearly shown from this thread and the US politics thread). I mean I saw many many people telling me that I need to mind my own business but they weren't exactly minding their own business by telling me to mind my own business and now I'm not minding my own business by telling them that telling me that minding my own business is oh I don't even know what is going on anymore.... @6264: I didn't forget about you, just been too busy to prepare a good response. Don't worry, it's coming.

Well, that can have its downsides too. Last night during Skyward Sword my batteries died and so I had to pull out the batteries from my Wavebird to continue playing. All my Wiimote batteries were dead :/ I switched over to these: http://www.eneloop.info/ They work great and you can leave them in your controllers for a month or longer without using them and they stay charged.

In the interest of time (I haven't read the whole article) the idea of dispensationalism i kind of where I'm going. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dispensationalism

but the vaccinated kids should be unaffected by the non-vaccinated ones right?

The MS official battery packs are garbage. At least the DS3 batteries are LiON.

Strange because the DSi is the same charger and it's length is just fine.

Well, that video at least is confusing two different things. What is and isn't considered sinful doesn't change. The code of rules under which we live by do. It's specifically addressed in the beatitudes by Jesus in a very familiar passage. " 5:38 “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’45 5:39 But I say to you, do not resist the evildoer.46 But whoever strikes you on the47 right cheek, turn the other to him as well. 5:40 And if someone wants to sue you and to take your tunic,48 give him your coat also. 5:41 And if anyone forces you to go one mile,49 go with him two. 5:42 Give to the one who asks you,50 and do not reject51 the one who wants to borrow from you." Jesus changed the way that we are supposed to react to those who do evil to us. He didn't change what was considered sinful but he did call us to respond in a different way.

The context and time period aren't what is important. The covenant (or man's relationship to God) did change though with the death of Jesus on the cross.

Oh yeah, I made a mistake. I do have a Razer Onza TE for my xbox and I love it. I will say that it's just as expensive and the first one was even defective. They sent me a new one at no charge though.

Would you argue that pushing family values is pushing the conservative agenda? I thought most people on both sides think that having strong family groups is something to be pursued, depending on your definition of family of course.