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Etharyn, the response I typically hear is that Christian charities or independent charities should take on the role of hellping the the poor and needy. Christians have neither the capacity or the will to adequately take on this responsibility, Without the role of government we would descend to Dickensian conditions, However Christians should and are enjoined by scripture to help the needy, especially other Christians in need.

Robin Hood, I essentially agree with you and discuss this in some depth on Christian Forums under Politics, then General Political Discussion, on the second page under a thread I started titled "A Chrisitan Economy". On that forum I am known as Only a Sojourner. I agree with many of Mr Sanders stands on economic issues. I have difficulty with his position on Christian social issues, eg, gay marriage & abortion. You will find scant support for Bernie Sanders views on this forum. Certain types of views tend to go together and support for socialism, or even Keynsian economics do not go together with conservative Christian moral values in the US. The reasons are largely soicological- historical and not based on any intinsic logic. Unfortunately I do not have the time to discuss this subject in depth at this time on this forum. However if you are interested check out the other forum where I was engaged in an extended dialogue on the subject. My views are quite atypical although not entirely unique.

Much of the media seems to think that opposition to gay mariage among evangelicals will recede and evaporate as an issue and most evangelicals will adapt to changing norms. Much as acceptance of slavery disaapeared among Christians years ago. Many evangelical congegations and organizations are presumably softening their opposition to gay mariage. Moreover the Christian Right once an important source of support for the Republican Party is becoming an albatross weakening the party's ability to attract voters in a general election. What do you think?

As I have stated in the past Chrisitianity is being marginalized in the West. The situation is more advanced in Europe. But even America is rapidly becoming post-Christian. There will be persecution. Money is a god that many people bow before. Will Churches, Christian colleges and social service agencies compromise if they lose their funding or tax exempt status over hiring and other discrimination issues? Christians will no longer be perceived as having a holier then thou attitude but equated with racists, lacking tolerance and taking the moral low road.. Have no doubt that the battle will be taken to Christian agencies, organizarions and churches. How will you stand amidst the pressure? Will you compromise at your job when you have a family to support and a career to protect or a degree you need to complete at college. Gay marriage is only once issue but I believe that Christian values iand Christianity is itself in decline and under attack and these changes will become more pervasive. Witness the increasing crudity and anti-Chrsitian bias on television, the continuous testing of limits. What will be next? Legalized prostitution, nudity on television, public nudity, pollygamy, bending legislation on child abuse? Does this seem far fetched? Perhaps the Supreme Court legalizing gay marriage would have seemed far fetched 10 years ago. In the brave new world of the future you may believe in Christian principles and may be able to speak your mind to your family and among certain freinds but it will become increasingly taboo in the wider society.

Just after the collapse of communism there was an article in our local paper about the large number of Russian pentecostals which had settled in my home town over the previous decade. The community had a prophecy that the democratic reforms in Russia would not last and would be followed by another repressive government. No time line was given. I loaned the article to a friend specifically asking for it to be returned but it was thrown away. But I always remembered the prophecy. Recent events in Russia cause me to reflect on that prophecy.

I agree with you ayn jade, the climate of Greenland cooled causing the early Viking community there to perish and migrate. The period from about 1300 to the early 19'th century was cooler and is someimes referred to as the Little Ice Age. Climate is not static and does change over time.

The world is heating up. The 10 hottest years golbally have all occurred since 2008. Changes are not simply cyclical. Climate does change over time. Early acounts of weather and climate, by people like Jefferson and Thoreau on climate, seasonal changes and vegetation are very helpful in pirecing together a picture of conditions during ealier periods. The world was a cooler place then. The period ending in the early 19'th century is often referred to as the Little Ice Age. The year 1816 was especially significant with unusually early and late frosts unseasonal snowfalls, caused by a volcanic eruption in the East Indies. Crops failed people migrated west church attendance climbed.

In contrast to persistently chilly Upstate NY southwestern Europe is experiencing an early spring. Paris was 68 F (20C) this afternoon,, a record for the date.

The location where weather readings are taken for various cities will sometimes change. Utica NY the city where I live has records that predate the Civil War but the location where readings are measured has changed a number of times. The current location has a wide diurnal range in temperature. The equipment or method of measurement itself can be faulty. For along time El Azizia Libya was considered to have recorded the highest temperature in the world at 136 in 1922. The record was long suspect because no temperature approaching 136 was ever again recorded around El Azizia. In 2012 the temperature was invalidated and the hottest official world temperature is now considered to be 134 at Greenland Ranch in Death Valley, California. However 159 Fahrenheit was recorded remotely by satellite in the Lut desert in Iran. The desert is uninhabited due to its harsh temperatures and other excessive temperaures have been recorded there remotely.

My memory goes back a ways as well and I was keeping track of weather then as well. Buffalo NY and the Midwest had a couple of winters 1976- 1977 and 1977-1978 of extended cold and heavy lake effect snows. We had snow in the 1970's last as late as the middle of May in patches and in shaded holows at lower elevetions in th Adirondacks around Old Forge and Stillwater until June. Almost every year we would have some snow in May. I haven't seen a snow fall in May here in a ocuple of decades. The last 2 winters here have been cold this one especially.

Climatology is a hobby of mine and I regularly peruse world weather data. There is a wide consensus among meteorloigists that global warming is occurring. The cold weather in the eastern US, especially around Lake Ontario is an anomaly. A number of other areas have been warm with records set in Alaska, the western US and Canada over the last few months. Western Europe has recently been warm, especiallly France, Spain and the UK. Perhaps we can hear from some folks in these and other areas about their respective weather conditions.

My home town of Utica NY (USA) this February experienced the coldest month ever. The average temperature was 7.2 Fahrenheit (-13.8 Celcius) beating the previous coldest day set in 1857 by 2 degrees. Syracuse NY, Rochester NY, Buffalo NY and Toronto, Ontario all had there coldest month ever this February. Departures from normal in regard to coldness/ coolness were greater here then any part of the world recently.

Let me also add in case my intent is misiterpreted that I know through direct experience that that demonic possesion/ oppression are very real and that the occult and eastern religion/ new age are gateways to demonic infestation and attack. They are not to be trifled with. Supernatural phenomena and demonic activity are not restricted to Africa and Asia and the expereinces of missionaries in far flung areas of the globe but occur in the West as well.

I beleieve it is safest to stay away from any practices rooted or associated with Eastern religion as there is a possibility of demonic infestation/ harrassment. Trascendental meditation was original touted as a technique and had a sceientific veneer, but it was rooted in Hindu belief systems.

Firestirmix, Sorry for the delay but I have been busy. What I mean to say is that there is a growing indifference to the things of God as well as an underlying atheism which are growing in the West and that this trend has accelerated. If you are strongly coneected to a church many of your relationships may be church focused and you may not be as aware of these trends. The general acceptance of cohabitation, premarital relationships and homosexaulity as acceptable alternative lifestyles, the increasing, profanity and crudity on television are all evidence of changing mores. This trend is more evident in Europe, especially in certain areas of Europe then in the US.. Our society has become Post-Christian, the culture having become increasingly diverse with Biblicial beliefs becoming one of the many possibilities in a marketplace of ideas to choose from. I certainly do believe in Satan and the demonic as a very real force and have commented on this subject previously in this forum. I have had some direct experience in the past in this area. Although there are certainly people out there who hold New Age beliefs, follow Eastern infuenced philosophies or the occult I believe that their presence and influence in Western society have been exaggerated by some Christians. Their influence may grow greater at a later time as fashions change in what people believe. In the youth culture of the 60's-70's there was a great deal of interest in Eastern metaphysics (Transcendental Meditation, Alan Watts, Baba Rom Dass, Carlos Castaneda, etc). I used some strong imagery concering the declining influence of the Christian Church to emphasize the seriousness and depth of these changes. I also believe that this erosion in Christian beliefs and values is Satanically directed and inspired. Again, I rcommend the book The Great Evangelical Recession by John S Dickerson (2013) by Baker Books which discusses these trends in the US, with considerbale supporting documentation. The book, ebook is readily available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, etc. The situation in Europe is even more dire. When I speak of largely vacant churches attended by elderly people I am not exagerating especially in respect to Roman Catholic and mainline denomination churches in some European countries.

I am a Charismatic Christian by he way. The trends I referred to have been underway for a long time (by this I mean at least a few hundred years) but have recently increased in momentum. I recommend the book The Great Evangelical Recession by John Dickerson, published by Baker Books. The US remains more religious than Europe, but many Christians are nominal and follow a compromised faith. Christianity and its values have greatly diminished as a force in the US and this is even more the case in Europe and those who hold to traditional evangelical values are becoming increasingly marginalized. It will become increasingly more difficult to function in society and even in some cases maintain employment without a willingness to compromise basic Christian values.

The eastern US has been expereincing an exceptionally severe winter especially during the the month of February. The West Coast and Alaska by contrast have been experiencing record highs. The Eastern US is is an anomaly as there is no other area recently with such extereme departures from the norm in respect to cold/ cool weather. Worldwide temperatures are gradually warming despite local fluctuations. The 10 warmest years on record have all occurred since 1998.

I am quite convinced that the world is warming is occuring probablydue to human agency, although not at the rate that some are predicting. Meterorology and climatology are a hobby of mine. The Northeastern US where I live is expericing an especially severe winter by historical standards,, However I have no doubt that global tmperatures are rising. However year to year changes for any given region fluctuate. There are however many evengelical's probably because of close connections with the Republican Party that believe that global warming is a myth.

According to the 2010 Eurobarometer poll 40 percent of the population of France denies the existence of God, Spirit or any form of life force, the highest rate of atheism in Europe, while 27 percent said that they believe there is a God. In Sweden 34 percent did not believe in God, Spirit or a life force while 18 percent believed in God. Overall among Euro Member states 51 percent affirmed a belief in God, with the highest rate of theism in Malta at 94 percent. Quite extraordinary numbers for a continent long considered to be at the center of Christian belief. In the US Gallup, Pew Research and the General Social Survey have noted a dramtic rise in the number of people with no religious affiliation placing that number between 16-18 percent of the general population with close to quarter of the population between 18-29 in that category. I am not overlooking the fact that there are also those who have New Age beliefs or follow Wicca or Satanism but I believe that some Christians have an infalted pereception concerning their influence. My point is that atheism and humanism are rising forces countering fundamental Christian beliefs and moralaity and influencing the Church in what it believes. Pentecostalism is also growing dramatically in a number of non- Western countries, particularly in South America, as Christianity is waning in the West. This is simply factual. Naturalism, atheism and materialistic philosophy also undelie Western science from evolutonary theory to psychiatry. In psychiatry for example, mind or soul, is reducible to brain chemistry. There is an implicit denial that we have a spiritual existence, and a denial of the supernatural. Early Christians believed that the supernatural interacted with the physical tangible everyday world of sense perception. A belief in the the supernatural is basic to orthodox Christianity - the Resurrection, heaven hell. the miracles in the New and Old Testament and the existence of Satan and his demons.

Any of the ideas expressed can be commented on. It did not seem to fit clearly into any category so I chose General Discussion. I suppose it could be moved to Worthy Opinions although presumably my comments may provoke some discussion..

The Satanic and New Age conspiracies some evangelical Christians perceive are chimeras. The Left Behind series, the idea that climate change theory is inspired by left wing New Age beliefs, the belief by some that there is an intelligentsia that subscribes to New Age philosophy are all aspects of this. What is on the rise in the West is atheism and an increase in people with no religious affiliation and closely associated with this is humanism. Atheism, naturalism and materialism underpin Western thought and its ideas have difused into contemporary Christianity. Pentecostal/ Charismatc Christianity has experienced dynamic growth in Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa and parts of Asia while many Euuropean churches have become large ornate sepulchers attended by the aged.

This is an old topic on this forum. There is a considerable amount of literature on the topic (eg, the many books by the late Kurt Koch).Despite the frequently heard argument that God and Satan, light and darkness, cannot occupy the same space this flies in the face of experience. Most of the people who receive exorcisms are already Christians. Someone who is not saved or does not become saved at around the time of the time of exorcism is in danger of reinfestation. Demons will try to come back. There is also debate about whether they are inside, around the person (perhaps infesting a house or an object) or some combination of the two. Becoming a Christian does not necessarily free you from demonic possession or oppression as they must be expelled, nor do they always go easily as some are more powerful then others and there can be multiple demons infesting a person. A person must live a holy and committed life after exorcism to avoid giving ground to reinfestation. Carlos Oliveira can be googled by anyone seeking exorcism as he has many internet videos that can be used for exorcism and he can also individualize one or do an exorcism by phone.

How safe are Christian chat rooms, in respect to virus' spam, etc?

Sky Angel is a service in the US that includes dozens of faith based television and radio networks as well as family oriented television networks They originally started out as a satellite service and transitioned to IPTV. Their service is ending January 14 as they are no longer able to compete successfully with other cable and satellite services and lost some key networks. They will be missed. Is anyone else out there a subscriber to Sky Angel and how do you feel about this development?

Any fans of Terry Scott Taylor? I have selected the above song from YouTube entitled Light Princess from his Knowledge and Innocence album. The title is based on a children's story by George McDonald, a nineteenth Century Christian author. The song is about Terry's unborn daughter who is "up in heaven" with God. Terry Taylor was the lead vocalist and songwriter in various bands, Daniel Amos, The Swirling Eddies and Lost Dogs. This is one of the great many songs he has written over a span of about 35 years. I would like to know more about his theology. He was also something of a maverick in the Christian music world, sometimes testing limits. I wanted to get some comments.