Please remove me from this blog. Thank You.

Philippians 1:12-18

12But I would ye should understand, brethren, that the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel; 13So that my bonds in Christ are manifest in all the palace, and in all other places; 14And many of the brethren in the Lord, waxing confident by my bonds, are much more bold to speak the word without fear. 15Some indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife; and some also of good will: 16The one preach Christ of contention, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my bonds: 17But the other of love, knowing that I am set for the defense of the gospel. 18What then? notwithstanding, every way, whether in pretense, or in truth, Christ is preached; and I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice.

Amazing Scripture... Paul sets such a great example to all believers. In spite of being in prison he is able to think of the positive aspects of his situation. He shows all believers that every circumstance can be used and should be used to spread the Gospel.

Paul could have felt sorry for himself and spent his time questioning God and wallowing in self pity. However, he chose instead to praise God. He didn't praise God because he was in prison but because God was still using him to spread the Gospel. I don't think Paul is saying God wants us to be happy when something bad happens to us... That is unnatural. Instead Paul shows us to focus on the good instead of the bad.

Starting in verse 14 Paul talks about people who preach the Gospel for the wrong reasons. The only reason to preach Gods word is out of love for God and unbelievers. In spite of those preaching for their own gain and glorifying in Pauls inprisonment he was able to see past that and just be happy Gods word was being spread. He didn't condemn or judge, he praised God and rejoiced that Christ was being preached.

Easter.

Well, the easter season is here, and again the deep religious meaning of it has gone and past. (thnx hallmark) But, thats besides my point of this post.

I have a question, to who ever is still in this discussion and hasnt decided that they werent getting their way and left. no offence to anyone.


Is easter a positive or negative holiday? I mean, jesus was born AND reborn in this time, so what should we say to our families when we see them? Happy easter? or just hello, thank you for the food.



PS - You don't have to eat turkey or ham on easter to celebrate the holiday.

So, in conclusion.

This blog turned out rather disappointing, truth be told. I thought it an awful shame that the two people I wanted on here most could not stay the course for their pride. The foils proved too foily.

Attacks and double standards. Created in god's image and yet without the power of creation. Endless regurgitation, faulty reliances, and presumption like a motherfucker.

I'd like to close my participation on this blog by thanking Dustix for his participation. He is always my favorite foil. If you want to find out what's wrong with what you're thinking, he'll find it soon enough. If you bit off more than you could chew, I'm sorry you thought yourself fit for eating.

The book of Job

The book of Job was one of the most difficult books for me to read and understand. It was terribly hard to sit there and try to understand why Job went through what he did.
I recommend reading Job, even to non believers, it's just so old and very poetic.
What you have to understand when reading about Job, was that God did not punish Job, it was Satan. God took away his protection from Job, but Satan did the work.
The book of Job starts off when Satan appears to God and God boasts about Job's goodness.
Satan asks God for permission to torment Job and God lets him, but does not let him take the life of Job.
Sadly Job curses the day he was born, comparing life and death to light and darkness. He wishes that his birth had been shrouded in darkness and wishes he never born. Well all would have done the same I'm sure if we suffered as much as he did.
The book of Job explores some of the most profound questions humans ask about their lives, and it is extremely well written.
The interaction between Job and his friends illustrates the painful irony of his situation.
Our knowledge that Job’s punishment is the result of a bet between God and Satan contrasts with Job’s confusion and his friends lecturing, as they try to understand why Job is being punished.
Jobs friends said that it is because Job must have commited and evil act.
Why did God allow this to happen to Job?

God allowed it because he knew what his grace had accomplished in Job, and that it would be a great encouragement and instruction to His people for all time.
Which brings me to the point that:

We are supposed to learn from Job, just what God was showing Satan,
God allowed Satan to see that Job's faithfulness was not for material or physical comfort, but was a real faith.
We can better understand what "real faith" is, after we finnish the book of Job.
Job was refined through the trial, and in the end learned remarkable things about God, things that no one else could learn.
I would say that Job teaches us that there is alot more going on than just what we ourselves can see in our lives, and that God does in fact oversee it all for his own glory.

This post was inspired by a previous post called Of Contradictions, free will and just plain craziness

From Johnnydragon

Essentially, I feel that there is little point or productivity to my contribution. Having been a devout Christian myself, I can attest that there is no way to change the mind of a Christian. Even if I were to inrrefutably prove Creation without Intelligent Design (of course I can't do so 100%) and the lack of existence of God, none of you would accept it. Instead verses would be quoted on how Christians must not be fooled by the crafty words that are inspired by Satan. I suspect that others would simply ignore it and use the convenience of things like faith or God's omniscience. Why do I feel this way? Again, much is to do with having been Christian, however you can examine this very blog for more evidence. I have posted an in-depth article with many valid points about the faith, to which only Patrick responded essentially in agreement (see "Of Contradictions, Free Will and Just Plain Craziness"). I had also stated that if the verse about women speaking in the church was meant as specific to a certain time, then we would have to accept that anything in the bible is not applicable anymore. One can't pick and choose what to believe, or it is impossible to consider the word to be of a divine God. And yet, those were the responses that people provided, proving yet again that what I say would be ignored. Other related things are the contradicitons which I sent a link to in one posting. There were countless examples of parts of the bible which did not agree with one another, and yet no one said anything to it.

I wish everyone the best that has stayed, but I can only be involved in such things when I know my points will be acknowledged.

1 Corinthians 14:33 [NASB] for God is not a God of cnconfusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints.
Titus 3:9 [KJV} But avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and vain.


*Posted with permission of the author.

Contradictions

Do you believe in Satan?
Do you believe that God is all powerful?

If your answer was yes to both questions, I'm interested to see how you reconcile the two. Consider the properties of both entities when making your determinations, if you're so inclined.

Religion Dying?

So I was watching TV, looking at the super bowl highlights, for some reason I was watching Fox (dunno why) When they did this news story about how some churches in the states decided that there were going to be too few people coming to mass on superbowl sunday, so they shut the church down that week. That's great, that means that society's views are starting to overrule religion. Just great.

Now, i'm not a church goer myself, don't exactly believe in it, because I believe that god is everywhere, and with you 24/7. I believe that mass isn't completely bad myself tho, it's just I don't think that praying once a week will somehow make you "righteous" or "utterly holy". Having the belief when you're in your darkest hour and looking to god when you have nowhere else to look is the true believing.

Church has become an excuse to sin. Plain and simple.