The Journey

Welcome Electric Angel!!! Having performed as a magician for many years I can definately say that "sleight of hand" has nothing to do with witchcraft or the occult. My daughter loves to be entertained by the illusions. I have lots of pediatric patients that are much more easily examined after a mini show. They are fun, interesting and harmless. Steve

I agree with M. Scott Peck the best definition is that a Chrisitian is for Jesus a "pleasant place of shelter." Steve (see my sig for more info...)

second eve, You have a cool website BTW... I think you are confusing rational faith with absolute certainty. Nothing in this life can be known with absolute certainty. Not even ourselves. But that does not mean that the things we encounter and believe cannot be understood rationally. The Bible present Truth in a manner that can be understood rationally. Those truths are often foreign to our sense of order and the ways things would be if we were in charge. However, that does not change the fact that the Bible presents them as the actual state of affairs. Reality whether we like it or not. Faith is the belief in the "true" nature of those truths. For most belief is the problem. Many demand a level of certainty that we cannot get in any other sphere of life. Steve

yod, EXACTLY correct!! To "prophesy" is literally "to speak forth" God's word. This does not have to be new revelation or a foretelling of the future. One can be a prophet and teach the Bible. So misunderstood and so dangerous when many are seeking hard for "signs" to help them believe. Steve

Nebula, I have been on this board a while and have seen "prophets" float in and out and for the most part the utterances are accepted with no critical examination. This happens even when there is gross error. No doubt some of this is because many are younger believers. Sometimes its because there truly is a famine of the Word of G-d in the land. However, this is not what the apostles admonished us to do with prophecies. They should be examined and tested to see whether they conform with the revelation from Scripture. And your reference to "Lord of the Rings" is a good example why feeling our way to good and evil is a bad idea. I have no doubt that the L-rd told you not to go see that movie. For some reason, this is just not good for you. That is ok. If it violates your conscience then stay away. But the movie is not evil. For me, Tolkien and Lewis brought me to Chr-stianity...the movies were wonderful and I have used the Scriptural allegories in both to lead others to Chr-st. Yes, in answer to your question I have just "known" some things were wrong for me. I have sensed danger and evil. But I am very careful not to depart from the "teachings about righteousness" which believers "by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish evil from good." Hebrews 5:11-14. It is the Word of God that forms our understanding of evil and good. Not our feelings about some new divine sense of smell. Steve

so much error...so little time. "Did you know that many animals Yahuweh declares to be healthy for consumption take a minimum of 12 hours for the food they eat to be utilized by their systems; and that during this process all the toxins that are poisonous to human consumption are filtered out of their systems within that time? But with the pig, and other unclean animals, a maximum of 4 hours is not uncommon." Just one of many outlandish statements with no scientific basis. The more time in the system the more "toxins" absorbed and the more they are reflected int the liver and fat of the animal. Many many many others...but its been a long night in the ER and I am tired. Dr. Steve

nebula, The error is to rely on our "divine sense of smell" as a protector against evil. In most of these revelatory posts there is a lot of truths mixed with very subtle error. S

blessed are those who do not see and yet believe

"But this divine sense of smell that has been enhanced in them will always alert them. The Scripture that is already within them will regurgitate and co-operate with this sense of smell, and alert them to keep away or encourage them to move forward. No matter what situation they find themselves in, God will help them sniff their way in or out. The

"irreducible complexity" This is the main philisophical problem that naturalists stumble over when they are brutally honest regarding the difficulties of atheistic evolution. This is the whole point of Stephen Gould's "hopeful monsters." The idea is that for many extremely complex biological systems they must have appeared intact or nearly intact for there to be a meaningful survival advantage. For a naturalist no matter how complex the system the proof that it evolved is found in the system itself. It can be no other way. It may be amazing, but it happended. It may seem miraculous, but it happended. In religious terms this is called faith. Dr. Steve

Irish, I think it does boil down to faith. But then, so does almost everything else we do in the physical world. How do you know Shakespeare existed? or George Washington? None of us were there to know for sure. But we have faith in those who wrote about these men as eye witnesses. We have faith that the work written by these men are true and accurate. It is the same for Jesus. Same standard of "proof." The problem with Jesus is that he claimed to be something utterly different than any other historical figure.... He claimed to be God. Steve

Also....be cautious...test the spirits... The "word" could just as easily be an obsure horoscope reading that fits everybody and every circumstance. Who on this board is not going through difficult times and needs to hear that it will work out and be ok. Sometimes when we want it too bad the flesh is only too willing to give us the desperate validation that we feel faith needs. Thus, we end up with divination and not divine intervention. Just a thought. Steve

P.S. In respone to Will's post on John 1:18. The whole point of John 1 was that the new "message" is the messenger. In verse 18 John marvels that a man has not been sent but God himself to reveal Himself to us. "Monogenes" is literally "one of the same kind" or "one of the same stuff" although "unique" and many other English words essentially convey the same meaning. Jesus was "one of the same stuff" as the Father who he had come to reveal....that is what makes John 1:18 so amazing. To the Greek audience they would have understood that one of "them" was coming to tell us about themselves. Even John's use of "The Word" was pregnant with Greek philosophical overtones. The same meaning is conveyed by Paul when he wrote that Jesus was of the very same "nature" or "form" as God in Phillipians. "monogenes theos" is present is very early manuscripts. P66 dates around 100 AD. Doesn't P66 give some weight to "theos" being the correct reading?

Eric, The Word of God is inerrant. But, God does not promise us an inerrant translation into English. God does not promise us an inerrant translation into Spanish. God does not promise us an inerrant translation into French. God does not promise us an inerrant translation into {insert one of the hundreds of languages used today}. The fact that so many manuscripts are available that span thousands of years is proof that God preserved His Word. It is difficult for anyone to look at all the manuscript evidence and conclude that we do not have the words as penned by the original authors. When the manuscript evidence is clearly presented even opponents of the Faith have to admit that the Bibles we have are faihful to those authors who originally penned the works. We have more evidence for the veracity of the Bible manuscripts than any other work in history. The fact that humans have to use their brains and translate those manuscripts into modern languages does not take away anything from that work of preservation. I would recommend as a hobby every believer take some time to learn Greek and buy Greek NT manuscripts. Start translating!! Learn the ins and out of why various words and phrases are chosen. Think. Sit up at night and ponder how to properly translate John 1:18. Is "monogenes theos" or "monogenes hurios" correct? How do you translate a word like "monogenes" into English? There are no exact English words.....and to feels that internal intellectual tension as you attempt to work through your own translation you can appreciate what those KJV translators felt so many times. It just might change your whole way of thinking. Steve

Good morning!! What a great lesson on blindness the whole KJV debate has become. Those who want to believe the KJV is inerrant will close their eyes and ears and accept even the most rediculous and foolish statements as facts. Having been involved in these debates for over two decades it really saddens me. I mean the KJV is not inerrant. Does no one see this as ironic? The KJV still has errors. In 1611 it was full of errors and required multiple revisions. The KJV is just a translation made by fallible men. Men. Men just like you and me. God did not pen the Old English of the KJV. Fallible men using the best texts available to then translated the Greek and Hebrew into English. Steve

Great series of posts Hopper!! Remember that the standard for a good or bad translation is how faithful it is to the original Greek or Hebrew. If the translation is not "transparent" to the words used by the author then it is a paraphrase. Secondarily, you should look at how that translation flows when read aloud. A good translation will be accurate to original Hebrew and Greek and flow well in your native tongue. The English Standard Version is one of the best english translations you can get today. http://www.esv.org Steve

Cloe, The very purpose of eating in The Zone is to stabilize insulin/glucagon and to lower cortisol. I know cortisol is a stress hormone. You will not find all of your answers in medicine or science. Seeking strength from the Lord is the start but He is not going to finish for you the work that you must do. You must put the right foods in your body and exercise your body just as it was designed to do. Please go to hose websites and consider purchasing Dr. Sear's book. - Steve

it is funny that the "prophet" tells us to abandon all doctrines and then advocates a church doctrine... To not believe in the security of the believer is right from the pit of hell.... hogwash

Cloe, drsears.com zoneperfect.com The Zone will help reset your hormones. Lower insulin...means los of truncal obesity. Eating the right amount of protein and carbs means lower cortisol and thus loss of truncal obesity. Aerobic exercise with strength training means increase lean muscle mass and loss of truncal obesity. Pray and ask for strength...then get up and do something about it. - Steve

Having practiced family medicine for 9 years and emergency medicine for 2 I can tell you there are patients and parents who simply want medications. If you keep going to doctors because you have problems of daily living you will eventually end up with all kinds of prescription that you do not need. It becomes a hassel for the doctors who will do almost anything to get rid of those kind of patients. The mental, physical and spiritual fatigue that I suffered is one of the reasons I no longer practice family medicine. - Steve

Brian, Thanks for quoting John 1. Jesus is not called the Bible in John Chapter 1. Jesus is the Logos. This was a word drawn from Greek philosophy and would have been well understood by John's audience. Logos is not the Bible. Logos is not a prophecy. I am not going to tell you what John meant. Go do some learning. (Or search through some of my previous posts) - Steve

NO NO NO!!! Unfortunately, that is not only bad syntax but it is also grave heresy. The Lord is not one with His word. That is not the meanining of John 1:1. The eternal God of creation is not the same as the words that he inspired the apostles and prophets to write so we could have true knowledge of Him. Again, I would urge you to carefully weigh the words of "prophets" against the revelation we have in the Scriptures. - Steve

Uuuh more drivel. So you write as an expert on fetal developement? I am an expert on fetal development. Brain waves appear very early at the end of the first trimester. I am sure you are aware that a tiny "fetus" will move away from an instrument introduced into the amniotic sac. This can be directly observed during US. In fact with the newest US machines you can actually observe the fetus turning to look at the probe. There is obvious some thought processes with those very active brain wave patterns. Sorry to burst your pro abortion bubble. But the truth is that abortion is murder. CR in an amazing demonstration of egocentrism supported the death of innocent babies so he could walk again. It is evil and represents humanity at its very worse. Dr. Steve

Good Afternoon!! Hmmm this is a topic discussed before and I always just sort of chuckle when I read someone post G-d...and yet write out Jesus. To be consistent it should be J-s-s and H-ly Sp-r-t. Or maybe to be true to the Biblical language of our NT we should type Th--s (Theos) or --s--s (Iesous). The origin word "God" is difficult but it was probably Anglo-Saxon paganism or Persian. Definately none of the NT writers or early church leaders used "God." I agree with Dad Ernie...these are all forms of false piety. Sorry, but this is not a Jewish issue. Or a Gentile issue. It is a unique issue with the Americanized Church which has nothing better to do than think of new ways to show they are more spiritual than the guy next to them. Maybe we should take up a towel and get to the real business of the kingdom. - Steve

The woods is like $40. It smells great. Another great cologne is John Varvatos. You can find it at Sephora.com for $48. But for a teenager I would go with A&F. - Steve