Lol, the funny thing is, I have about 7 smoke alarms in my house but none in the kitchen or even near the kitchen. That was my special low carb spinach tortilla that I've only seen by my daughter's house...it was special! Now I have one less. I scratched the whole tortilla idea and had just scrambled eggs.
That was a good read Ken, and a great reminder for me when I am freaking out about politics, or the way the world is going. I know I'll hear over and over that a person will call themselves a christian, but they relate it not to "following Christ" but as being a "nice, moral person". What it comes down to for me is, am I going to not just read the bible, go to church, claim to be a christian, or am I going to pray for the strength to be more Christ-like. I mentioned earlier about morals, for me, I see two moral standards. One is man-made ideas of morality (whatever you think is moral and ok, is) and the other is God-made morality. Of course everyone can argue what the bible says, and all the translations etc., but again, that also comes down to "faith" in trusting that just because I don't understand something, doesn't mean it isn't still God's Word. Also, I remember before I was saved, I didn't ever really think about the spiritual, side of life. To me, and what I still struggle to do is, line up the spiritual, emotional, mental and physical part of me so they are in sync. For example, I can "feel" very close to God, and then think, feel, or physically do something that is against my own, christian teachings.
I am personally offended that you @Ken Anderson will not allow me to put about 10 likes on your post. Let's see, how can I really be offended? ummmm....nope, can't think of anything except stinky socks. That really gets me! How can anyone in a free country wear stinky socks when they only cost about a buck a pair? Cleanliness is next to Godliness they say. Maybe that's part of the conspiracy! When we get so jaded as to not be able to smell when something absolutely stinks and we no longer avoid even the strongest of smell tests it's a bad day in the U.S.A. Uh...ya'll gotta think about that one. Break time! That's worthy of another 10 likes Amigo! You seem to be batting a thousand with a couple of us at least! I really do not understand how your post can be misunderstood either but there are those who would be offended if we did not put sprinkles on an ice cream cone.
Thank you. Christians today are being sold the lie that faith is something that should be kept to themselves, and that Christians should always be very careful not to say anything to offend someone of another faith, when this contradicts what we are told to do by Jesus, and is the opposite of what the members of the Early Church did. Certainly, we should try our best not to unnecessarily offend someone, but the facts are that it's impossible to direct someone to the right path without mentioning that the path they are on is the wrong one, and that is something that people are likely to find offensive. Nearly everyone we read about in the Early Church not only offended people with the gospel message, but they so sharply offended them that they were put to death for sharing their faith.
Yesterday, for almost the entire day, the Holy Spirit gave me the privilege of serving God by planting seeds of His Truth and His Message of salvation through Jesus Christ alone. @Chrissy Page opened the door for the planting of those seeds and I did not push anything on her...I shared as she allowed me to do this. As long as she kept coming back for more of those seeds, I gave them to her. At no time did she ask me to stop sharing and everytime she came back she asked another question...and I answered those questions not with my truth but with God's Truth as written in His Word, the Bible. As a child of God I do belief what God says is true, but I did not make this Truth, God did. God is my Father, Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior, and when I surrendered my life to them I became their maidservant and I am obedient to what they ask of me. I am obedient to this not because I am forced to...but out of love. Love for God because He loved me enough to make a Way for me to become His child, and love for Jesus Christ because He was willing to become that Way and lay down His life for me so His shed blood could redeem me from all my sins (and there were many). They didn't do this just for me, they offer this same free gift of becoming God's child and eternal salvation to the whole world. And they offer it to the whole world because of Love too. I did not know that I was going to have the privilege of planting seeds for God and Jesus yesterday but when the Holy Spirit called me to do so...I was happy to obey this. As a child of God and servant of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ my #1 job on this earth is serving them and sharing with others God's Biblical Truth and the Message of salvation through Christ alone. So being called to plant those seeds yesterday was not just a privilege, but a blessing also. Today, satan tried to take those seeds that were planted and scatter them to the four winds and he almost succeeded in doing this and would have if I had let him continue to deceive me in believing he had the power to do this. He did succeed in maiming a few people, including me with arrows of offense...but that is all he accomplished and right now in the name of Jesus those arrows of offense are being turned around and aimed right back in his direction and they will maim him the same way they maimed some of us. Satan is our enemy here, we are not each others' enemies even though satan would like to convince us otherwise. When Jesus died on the Cross He defeated satan and when He comes back to earth, He will destroy him completely. Until Jesus does this we all are going to experience some games satan is going to play with us to try to divide us, destroy us, and even kill us. He will succeed sometimes...but not this time. His lies are exposed and he has failed here to make God's Truth a lie and he will not be successful in dividing God's children either. And he will not stop me from obeying God and serving Jesus Christ. I have never forced God's Truth on anyone here on this Forum, but I have shared my faith and belief in God's Truth and I will continue to do so. No one has been forced to open a tread of mine...or even post a reply to anything I have said either. And yet, if you did open my treads or reply...I have never made fun of what you believe or said you can't believe that. I have said a couple of times that I don't understand how some reach their beliefs, but then it is obvious, especially from things said today, that many of you don't understand how I can believe what I do either. I am not going to stop being who I am called to be as a servant of the Lord and child of God. And I am also not going to leave this Forum because some of you don't like that I share my faith and God's Truth. This is my Forum as much as it is yours and if you don't want to hear what I have to say...then you certainly don't have to read it as that is your choice to make in this. @Ken Anderson
Who told you to leave the forum, Babs? I never said you can't believe what you do, but then respect what I believe even if they are different. My beliefs include Mary being Holy and the Hail Mary has always been one of my favorite prayers, maybe because I've said so many after confession as my penance. Don't forget you wouldn't even be on this forum if I didn't watch what happened to you on SF and tell Yvonne to PM you and invite you here. I saw all your religious writing on SF and although it's not my belief I still felt you were being attacked over there.
I think this is the biggest difference and why I can't get past other religions that all you have to do is accept Jesus as your savior and you will go to heaven. I find that flawed and that's probably why no matter what is quoted, I can't believe it as true for me. Beside Mary, this is the key difference with Catholics. Salvation - The Catholic religion teaches that salvation depends on faith, works and sacraments. Protestant religions teach that salvation depends on faith only. Salvation (Losing Salvation) - Catholics believe that salvation is lost when a responsible person commits a mortal sin. It can be regained through repentance and the sacrament of confession. Protestants usually believe, once a person is saved, they cannot lose their salvation. Some denominations teach that a person can lose their salvation. Also, I'm not professing to be a good Catholic, I've strayed and gone back a few times but it's always been to the Catholic Church. In searching other ideas, it usually revolved around spiritual with no religion. Just wanted to add that and I'm not trying to convert anyone either.
I am pretty sure that it is Ken Anderson who pays all the bills for this forum, @Babs Hunt ; so it IS indeed his forum, and he also has the final say in what is allowed to go on here. This is NOT a public forum, it is a private one, and we are all here by invitation. That being said, Ken is also as fair a man as ever could be, good-hearted, and forgiving of us when we make mistakes, and most of the time he simply allows people to post whatver we wish to say. While we are allowed to say what we think and feel; along with the right to do that comes the responsibility to be considerate of the other people on the forum. What it sounds like you are telling us is that if someone disagrees with you, then we should stay off of your thread (not tread) ; and if that is what you wish, we can certainly all stay off of your "treads". However, the purpose of a discussion forum is not that one person should dominate the forum thread, whether it is to preach God's message to you, or any other reason. I actually didn't see anywhere that @Chrissy Page (or anyone else) said she was drawn closer to God by your preaching the Holy Spirit "seeds"; so why you think that your preaching was productive is a mystery to me. If @Ken Anderson wants to allow you to preach here, you might try at least confining it to the religious section of the forum, and then people who want to listen and participate will not be off-topic as happened here in the Conspiracy and Paranormal section.
Back to the topic....yes there has been a movement in and out of the government, to do away with Biblical principles in America. I think our times of peace and greatness, were the result of God's hand of Blessing on our country. I believe that when we failed as a Nation to repent and turn back to God, following 911, that god removed His hedge of protection from us and we have been seeing the results. I believe that the end time is very near.
I disagree on the timing, Joe. prayer was taken out of public schools in 1962. It was a year before Madelyn Murray was a hot item in the news. I don't have a memory of Steven Engel but I do remember Madelyn Murray. I also have a vague memory of silent prayer being allowed for maybe a year. I think I was a freshman in High School. The US probably still has more Christians than other countries. Churches are also alive and doing well it seems. We have one on almost every corner. The only thing I'm seeing is a lot of hate among americans. We are very split as a country. The split is more political than religious. This is what I see in my corner of the world anyway.
I've often heard this, too, @Chrissy Page , that is was '62 (although I was thinking it was '63) when prayer was removed from school that "the loss of morals and values" began. I have always believed it. I was just born in '57, so I don't have a lot of (or any) firm memories from before those early 60s, but somewhere deep inside of me, there's a nostalgia for the 50s and early 60s... even though I was too little to have the actual memories. Hard to explain, but sometimes I think I was born a decade too late.
The plot to remove God from the public schools began long ago, at least as far back as John Dewey, but probably before then. But, along with the rest of the agenda, it has accelerated since the government obtained more power after the September 11 terror attacks, and has been at full speed for the past seven years.
In fact in California, every 4th grader is required to do the California Missions project. They get a mission and have to do a report, visit the mission (they are religious) and do some sort of mock up of the one they have. My grandson had the one in Soledad. I remember going there with him.
I haven't given this any thought, @Ken Anderson , so this is simply the thought that flew into my mind when I saw what you said... I'll throw it out here for discussion fodder. "Since September 11... or since the beginning of the current administration in January of 2009?"
I honestly don't see it at least not in the lives of people around me. My grandsons go to a public school but every week they go to Catechism, sometimes the room at the church wasn't available and the teacher came over to the Public school and had the class there for the catholic students. Nobody was upset. High school requires community service and last week my grandson volunteered at a church children's activity type thing. This happens a lot. The public school accepts the hours working in a church and gives credit. The church wasn't even the one my grandson belongs to but one of another faith. Can you give me an example of where God is being taken out of my life (meaning grandsons who are in the public school system) I even remember being shocked with my grandsons history homework because it mentioned Jesus. I wish I could remember the exact question but I can't but I did think it was strange.