Nobleman

The Egyptian military and police are doing the right thing in standing down and allowing the Egyptian people to determine their own future. That is the message of "Oath Keepers" to our own military, police and of course, to our own people. Here's more: http://oathkeepers.org/oath/2011/01/...of-the-regime/ "We the people" must not only restore the values and virtues on which this nation was born and which made this nation great, but we must restore the Constitution, as well, to its place of prominence. Don't depend on your schools-- most of our high school and college graduates today know little to nothing of the Bill of Rights or the Second Amendment. Get a copy of the Declaration of Independence (available online) and the U.S. Constitution (available online) and read them-- you will be amazed at what your schools have failed to teach you. Restoration-- of our values and our Constitution-- without them, we are doomed. Nobleman

3 " Incline your ear and come to Me. Listen, that you may live; And I will make an everlasting covenant with you, According to the faithful mercies shown to David. 4 "Behold, I have made him a witness to the peoples, A leader and commander for the peoples. 5 "Behold, you will call a nation you do not know, And a nation which knows you not will run to you, Because of the LORD your God, even the Holy One of Israel; For He has glorified you." Isaiah 55:3-5 (NASB) Isaiah 55 is a prophetic voice speaking to the nation Israel; therefore the "you" in v.5 is speaking to Israel. I believe this is a reference to the call of the Gentiles in the New Testament through the preaching of Paul and the other apostles-- remember, the original apostles were all Jews and only a few actually took the Gospel to the Gentiles. We must never forget that the Gentiles were included when the Gospel was taken to the world by the early Church. I hope this helps... Nobleman

Here's another angle on predestination: God's plan is to send us a Messiah and those who believe will be redeemed and saved. God has predestined those who receive the Gospel and respond accordingly to forgiveness and eternal life, while those who reject the Gospel and continue in thier sinful ways will die in their sins and suffer eternally. According to my undestanding, predestination is contingent upon our choices and decisions-- choose Life, you are predestined to life based on that decision-- reject Life and you are predestined to death contingent upon that choice. God offers the gift and makes the rules-- what we do with the rules determines the outcome according to God's plan, conceived before the foundation of the world. In my view, it's no more confusing than that. Blessings, N~

Parable: a natural story with a spiritual meaning (lesson). Well done! Nobleman

I've read all three, the first two don't deal with evolution at all and the third simply regurgitates basic ID points that have already been refuted. If you're going to claim that anyone who claims evidence supports evolution is out of touch you really should be able to back it up with more than referencing a couple of books that don't actually support your claim. Just a thought. Lurker Did you read the books, or glance at them and reject them, since they disagree with what you think? In "The Case for a Creator" for example, several of the underpinnings of Darwin's theory of evolution are reviewed and refuted-- much of the "evidence" given in support of evolution has been exposed as fraudulent and Darwin's "tree of life" has been turned upside down. I'll not debate you further, your mind is made up. Whether you are serious or simply playing the devil's advocate, to cling to such a fraudulent and fatally flawed ideology as Darwinism, you are only making yourself look silly. I'll not try to change your mind.

And yet oddly people who make this claim consistently neglect to let us know what this "current data" and "current developments" actually are. We have a thread here about the science of evolution, perhaps you would care to prop up your claim there? Lurker I can recommend three books written by former atheist and evolution adherent Lee Strobel, who, in the development of his books interviewed a number of world renowned scientists, whose conclusions clearly contradict the theory of evolution in favor of God, the Bible and Creationism. I couldn't begin to duplicate Lee Strobel's work but I can highly recommend it. The books are, "The Case for Christ, The Case for Faith and The Case for a Creator".

First, let's clarify what it means to believe-- to believe is to be persuaded or convinced of something, not simply an assumption or a guess. To believe the Gospel is to have heard it and to be persuaded or convinced of its veracity. To believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour is to have heard of Him and to be persuaded or convinced that what you have heard is true. Your argument, therefore, is feeble, since the "beliefs" you cite as illustrations are not beliefs at all. Yes, you hear the Gospel and choose whether to believe, depending on if or not you are convinced that the message is true. To believe is, therefore, a matter of choice. You must be convinced or persuaded that the message is true in order to believe, by choice. Please, don't confuse choice with personal preference, it will weaken your case even further. You can refuse to believe the truth, but the truth will always be truth. The Gospel is preached to all of us, but according to the Bible, "whoever believes" will have everlasting life. There is, therein an element of choice that cannot be denied. N~