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Post by Dillon on Jul 6, 2013 1:46:47 GMT -5
I don’t know who is responsible. But I do blame the womens movement for wrecking my marriage. There can only be one captian of a ship. There can not be two kings in the same kingdom. If I wanted to be married to another man I guess I would be queer. I have to work with a couple of faggots and they make me sick. The more I listen to it on the news I just see my country as being sick. In that video by Chuck Missler he said, If God didn’t spare Sodom and Gomorrah, then why hasn’t he judged America yet?
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Post by loretta on Jul 6, 2013 8:05:36 GMT -5
I am thinking about people who profess to be Christians. The world in general has one basic problem...they have no moral compass or understanding of God...men OR women.
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Post by Dave on Jul 6, 2013 9:49:21 GMT -5
Hey Dillon - long time Let me see if I understand you clearly. If you wanted to marry a man - you would look odd to others and You work with a couple of WWII English cigarettes? Vocabulary has power - use it. Loretta - well said! You refer to our moral compass. The generation in which we find ourselves doesn't even understand the term. Has lost touch with the term. Honor, dignity, character, strength of conviction have become attributes we assign to movie characters like John Wayne - or super heroes. Not to ourselves. Why? Because this generation is no longer Christ centered. People have come to think of the phrase - fear the Lord - as something akin to being afraid, instead of being in awe. Appreciate you rattling the trees - keep us on the path - teach us - that is why we are here.
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Post by Dave on Jul 6, 2013 12:42:09 GMT -5
I am thinking about people who profess to be Christians. I have wrestled with this myself for years. If you really want to see true Christian love in action, serve on a Church Board for a while and listen to the petty, self-serving, concern of the congregation, other Church board members, and even the pastor. Working as a medical traveler, my family and I get all around the country. Over the last 2 years, my new to America wife and family has seen 22 States, and we have lived in 3. As time permits, we take our girls to a Sunday School setting as often as possible. We have spent time (more than one visit) to at least 14 churches during our travels. 14 very different looking, different sounding, different doctrinal places to expose ourselves to as much of the variety of Christian teaching as possible. I have learned a lot, looking at our worship services through her eyes. She comes from a country where many of the people live in huts, beg for a living, and suffer attacks by Islamic militants. Yet, the spirit of her Church life there was vibrant and moving. The people needed hope and came to Church to find it, in fact, they thirst for it. Her opinion of American Churches is painfully relevant. Many of the Churches we have attended are populated by the elderly, people that have more than people of her own country can imagine. They sit in their pews half asleep and give their money generously. As if, they realize that they are not long for the world, so they better go to Church to hedge their bets. My wife and I attend the adult Sunday School meeting, while are girls are off with the children’s class. The depth of the conversations we hear are so disappointing. In our travels, we have met only a few, who actually study and ask questions, the rest just sit there nodding in agreement. My family celebrates communion every morning with our breakfast. We can celebrate communion at McDonolds with a French Fry and a Coke. If I am asked to comment in the Sunday School setting, I always begin by declaring that I am neither Protestant nor Catholic, just so that my comments don’t offend because they sound so different than what they would expect to hear. The three times that I have been presented with a female pastor, I have stood and walked out. I wear my hat through the entire service, except when I speak or pray. I often refuse the communion tray in Church, because I do not have to participate in a public ritual, to be right with God. I do these things by choice to deliberately stand out – hoping, praying, that someone will approach me to bring me into their fold, to make sure that I am saved and on the right track, or at least, to make sure I am not the Devil there to cause trouble. To date – no one has said anything to me. Either they feel that I am lost, and let me be so. Or they don’t care if I am found. Either way, I find the entire apathetic attitude endemic. Before my wife and children joined me, I had dreams of letting everything go to join a monastery somewhere. To seek my savior mono on mono as it were. In time, my home Bible study group became the Fellowship at PonderingConfusion. Richard, Dillon, and ElfLord were all a major part of that initial group. Over time I felt led to have children. I don’t think I ever really understood what love was until I had children of my own. AND now that I am a father, their salvation weighs on my soul – a lesson I never would have understood without becoming a parent. Do not hesitate to disagree with anything that happens here – a good an honest conversation is worth more to us than years’ worth of sitting on a pew. We never understand the power of our individual witness, at the time.
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Post by loretta on Jul 7, 2013 8:57:01 GMT -5
Thanks for sharing some of your journey. Our experiences really impact our thoughts and feelings no matter how objective we think we are trying to be. I know my perspective is filtered through my disappointment and disillusionment with life on this earth. Hopefully my heart is turned more to God in the process.
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Post by Virginia on Jul 7, 2013 9:39:20 GMT -5
No one can make us happy. It is a journey we all need to do for our selves. If you are not happy you need to decide what it is that makes you sad and then set out to do something about it.
Having a hobby can be helpful. I like to read and make quilts. Do something creative. You do not need to be good. I watched painting on tv and went out and bought paints and I was ok but not great but it was fun.
I am not a religious person so religion is not where I would go but for some people it is important. Do not be satisfied with just going to church, but actually study. Get books and read if you like to read.
I am lucky that I do not suffer from depression. In fact, I do not understand it. I am not jealous at all and when someone has good luck , it actually makes me happy.
We all go thru difficulties but things always work themselves out, but we need to be patient.
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Post by Dillon on Jul 7, 2013 9:52:02 GMT -5
My son served his country proudly. He spent 2 years in Iraq. But when he got injured, he was shipped home and forgotten by the bastards that hurt him. He was changed inside. Violent, mean, hated life because he was no longer the man he dreamed of being. His wife left him. He killed himself. Now my marriage is broken. I doubt if there will ever be peace in my life again. The grief of living in this fucked up world is never ending. I know what makes me sad. Fix that with a hobby!
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Post by Dillon on Jul 7, 2013 10:35:23 GMT -5
And it really make me sad that our culture is more concerned about the two FAGGOTS I have to work with who are too damn pansy assed to serve their country. They are not MEN they are freeks of nature.
What a culture is this: Save the trees but kill the children and for God's sake protect the homos.
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Post by Dave on Jul 7, 2013 13:11:41 GMT -5
Ok back to the topic – homosexuality After much heated debate, it is obvious we all have strong opinions on this subject. So, what has been said so far: 1. We all have issues with the culture we find ourselves in. So much has changed over the last 100-150 years that the personal beliefs, attitudes, and individual morals have been effected. We all long for a more Christ centered culture as it was in ?? just exactly when was that? 2. No one here has stood up in defense of the lifestyle. 3. Most of us would agree that homosexuality is frowned upon by scripture and therefore a sin. But is sin always a social crime? Honoring your parents is one of the 10 Commandments, but certainly not a crime in our culture today. Lying is also not a crime, except if you have taken an oath of truthfulness. So, the best we can do as individuals to respond to this lifestyle is to share the Gospel on an individual level. Teach s best we can from scripture and pay that the Holy Spirit takes it from there. Even this approach has become diluted by society by the recognition of openly gay pastors leading gay congregations. 4. I see all of this, as one small part, of a much larger trend to devalue Christian Values and ultimately Christianity. Which has to be done first, before the Beast of secularism and narcissism, can control the world. I talked earlier in this discussion about America’ role in the end-times. It is America that has been leading the major trends of social change – and – it has been America that has been exporting our lifestyles and values to the rest of the globe. Look at the role of America’s major media network. Compare the number of TV shows/Movies that promote anti-Christian values versus those that promote them. The difference between my opinion than most of Christendom - is that I doubt this witnessing can be effective any longer when confined just to scripture. We must educate the our neighbors as the the historical trends being played out on the globes population, by an ultimately evil force. Call it the Beast of Revelation. Call it the Illuminati. Call it the New World Order. Regardless, the trend is toward self-ism, not Christ-ism. The world has become more about pleasing ourselves than pleasing God. And in that process we call progress we have all become debt slaves to the Beast, and consumed by the system. If people cannot see current events, on a global scale, as Biblical - it is probably impossible to show them something on the small scale, like a personal and individual lifestyle choice, as non-Biblical.
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Post by Virginia on Jul 7, 2013 17:08:18 GMT -5
My son spent 2 yrs in Egypt during his 3 yrs in the army. He was gay and when he found out he had cancer in his neck and was also HIV he only lived 4 months.
His gay friends said they would help take care of him when he became sick but not one of them was there to help.
I was ferrious over that. He died at 37 yrs old. So much for friends.
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Post by Virginia on Jul 7, 2013 17:16:14 GMT -5
When I said a hobby can help I did not mean to be dumb. I meant that a hobby can put a person in touch with like minded people who share the same ideas. A religious person may find that commerodity in church . We can spent too much time alone.
We can all look at our past and see where we should have done things different but it is what it is.
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Post by loretta on Jul 7, 2013 17:34:35 GMT -5
So sorry for your loss Virginia. So this subject is very personal for you and you have not been without trials in your life! I think it would be very heartbreaking for a parent. Dillon, I see your journey has been difficult as well....I have not faced anything like that. The good news is that we have a hope of a wonderful life beyond this one and that is what we are looking forward to. I just can't get excited about the future of planet earth until the Lord cleans it up!
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Post by Virginia on Jul 7, 2013 21:03:44 GMT -5
Just looking at the world today I do not think it is too long before God does step in to clean things up.
He can only put up with so much and then it is time to stop everything. Just look at some of the ancient civilizations that went over board on sex and prostitution and preoccupied with money, stuff, and power. All those civilizations vanished.
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Post by loretta on Jul 7, 2013 22:49:36 GMT -5
Your admonition to be "patient" has come up several times for me today...must be prophetic....
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Post by Richard on Jul 8, 2013 7:43:37 GMT -5
It would be nice if the Lord hit the reset button soon, but the truth is: No one knows when!
Are you ready? Are the people that are the closest to you ready?
The Seventh-day Adventist Church formed out of the movement known today as the Millerites. In 1831, a Baptist convert, William Miller began to preach that the Second Advent of Jesus would occur somewhere between March 1843 and March 1844, based on his interpretation of Daniel 8:14.
The Jehovah Witness thought the Second Coming has already occurred in 1879 and that 1914 was the end of the world. WWI helped to convert many people to their cult. They changed their end-times date to 1918 and then 1925.
Many WWII Jews thought Hitler was the Abomination and Desolation spoke of in the Book of Daniel.
Today, this 1948 Fig Tree nonsense had many people think that 1988 was the end. Then it was 2000, then 2012. Now people are talking about 2017/2018 or 2025.
Remember the Heaven’s Gate cult of California in 1997.
America may fall, Israel may fall, we might even receive a meteor strike, WWIII might come and go, or even a worldwide famine and still nothing happens, just as it did in 1843, 1914, 1918, 1925, 1945, 1988, 2000, and 2012.
In the meantime, as in any time throughout history, we just have to live our lives in faith and minister to one another and our neighbors as best we can.
One of the interesting things about social trends, they swing both ways. In the 1920s marijuana was legal and there was a brothel of every street corner of Chicago, but booze was illegal. By 1950 marijuana and prostitution are both illegal and booze was OK. Today marijuana is legal again and gay marriages are the trend. It is hard to tell just what the future may bring.
Personally, I am of the mind that pending catastrophes (worldwide famines or pandemics, meteor strikes or major earth changes) that cause tremendous loss of life (100s of millions or even billions) will cause such an emotional stir in the people that the world may see a religious revival as never before. This is the fig tree that I am waiting to see bloom. The spiritual fruit of the vine which is Christianity.
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