munari

George, I had never heard of such silliness... but I'm glad you posted it. It is important to know the wiles and ways of the Enemy. If someone brought this up to me in my job (as a substance abuse counselor), I would not have been able to say anything about it one way or the other. I would have been completely surprised because it sounds so ludicrous. Any slam or disparagement made against Christ must be seriously looked at and evaluated because if it is out there, it means people are buying into it. We can't fight something we know nothing about.

OH!!!! So THAT'S why Jesus rose from the dead!!!!

The Lord of the Rings! Great books. Movies are great too, but they aren't as strong in the Christian message as the books are.

Amen Suzie

We get a view of Heaven in Revelations. We can read about it there and speculate based on that.

To me, what it sounds like is being discussed is scrupulosity and legalism.

You don't like Halloween, fine. You want to judge those who go out and have fun at Halloween, fine. The meaning of Halloween is different from person to person. If some kid dresses up like a pirate and goes to someone's door for a piece of candy, they're worshipping Satan! NO! They're getting candy. If someone starts dancing around a bon-fire, worshipping some god on Halloween night, then there's a problem. :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: Please. Next question... How do you know that isn't a compliment? Think of how God works. Did He turn the prodigal son away, or did he accept Him back with open arms, even after his "living a loose life". God is our Father, not a task master that is whipping us into shape. Any discipline from God is done in a loving manner. I think Paul saw the roots of their religious life, and that was good, but misguided. The best way to reach a person is to tell them, you are doing this part well, but this part you need to change. That is what I think Paul is doing there. Didn't you try to tell me before that IAUE created evil????? You put words in my mouth and draw conclusions that you know was not my intention just to take a stab. I say "something" because Osiris, Ra, Athena, Zeus, and all those other "things" that were worshipped by pagans is "something" greater in the minds of the people who were worshipping them. You forget RC's references. God commanded the gold from idols to be smelted and reused for religious things and His purpose. Each of us are currently being smelted so we can be used for His purpose. God is constantly defeating evil. And there are two ways to do that, obliterate it or make it holy. I offer this again, as RC pointed out to begin with: You compare trick-or-treating to human sacrafice and orgies! What kind of halloweens did you see as a kid! Really? God cannot and will not? Let me quote for you again: What makes Halloween evil? Giving out candy? Let's look at the history of Halloween: http://wilstar.com/holidays/hallown2.htm Here's a link to the History channel that is going to have a show about the history of halloween. Maybe we should all watch it: http://www.historychannel.com/exhibits/halloween/ And this is a really good site about halloween, or more accurately, "All Hallow's Eve": http://www.howstuffworks.com/halloween.htm

Hey Knight, it didnt' take any time, just a good memory from when I was about 10

AMEN!!!!!! ALLELUIA! I'm not nuts, or at least I'm not nuts alone! Thanks Wisdom, you've made my day!

Lee, so I don't forget, I'm a he, not a she I know, the name is kind of confusing... Anyways, I didn't say that evil can be made holy (ie. Satan). Satan cannot be made holy because he does not want to be so. I did ask why evil THINGS cannot be made into holy things. Things would include mostly inanimate objects and/or concepts. Afterall, Christ has touched the hearts of people we would consider evil and turn them into His followers, why can an object also not taken on a holy nature after being considered profane by we humans?

Before discussing any of those things in particular, I'd like to look at this. My question is, why not?

I think it was because you posted: and I responded with confusion about God creating evil... I think that's it...

Lee, Ok, I'm following. You are correct, I refer to God as God... sounds funny, but that is the English equivalent of who He is... I assumed you meant IAUE as God, but I wanted to make sure. My idea on evil is that it was not created, but it was allowed to occur as a result of free will. I believe that evil is not a part of God's ultimate divine plan and, as I think (could be wrong) Revelations eludes, evil will ultimately be utterly destroyed. So, I guess my belief is that evil has no place in God's plan and God did not plan evil, but He allowed it and used it in order to fulfill His plans.

Ok, I know this is really odd... but I needed to ask this question where a large volume of people could be exposed to it... The question is in relation to The Karate Kid 2 :butbut: Like I said, odd, but this has been bugging me since about 1987! Please, humor me here The scene: Miagi walks up to his friend who is trying to break an enormously thick board/tree trunk but can't do it. Miagi and friend speak for a bit, friend leaves, Miagi stays and thinks.... Now, in the version that I see now, the scene ends, BUT, I (think I) remember when I saw it in the theater when I was 10 that after the friend left, Miagi broke the board. Does anyone else recall that? This could answer a 15 year old mystery for me!

harvester, So it does... My version is a little different though: Isaiah 45:7 I form the light, and create the darkness, I make well-being and create woe; I, the LORD, do all these things. That seems like a significant change in wording. I wonder why it is so different from version to version? Lee,

But Jipsah, don't you know that the Jesuits have every historian in the world on their payroll to protect themselves??? DUH!

I take back my last post... I did find something...

Cruise, I disagree... I find his tracts very biased and not love filled at all. I see a lot of ignorance and misunderstanding. I tried searching the entire internet (not just Catholic sites in case you wondered) for Father Riviera and found nothing. Do you have any specific info that can be looked up on the internet?

God created "evil"???? Where is that in scripture? I don't remember anywherer it saying "And God looked at His creation and called it evil"...

Oops... sorry... repost due to computer problems...

Yes, there are parallels, Cardinal John Henry Newman admits that point blank in "An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine". However, we believe that anything in God's universe can be changed from something pagan to something Godly. Everything that God created is good, but their use can be bad. That means, if you use something to glorify God, even if the roots had a pagan origin, then it can be used for a Godly end. Even the cross was around before the time of Christ and had religious value! Osiris was a man-god, other gods died and returned, other gods could perform miracles. The parallels between Christianity and paganism are many, not just between paganism and Catholicism. And why are there so many parallels? Because, both deal with the supernatural, both search for God and something greater than us.

Maybe in some of the things, he may be accurate... but call me biased... his stuff on the Catholic Church is horribly inaccurate and demonizes the Church, literally. Read "Death Cookie". Its terrible and historically inaccurate. He claims the Egyptians? (I think) used the word "transubstantiation". That's a lie. The council of Trent created that word. He equates the Eucharist with the worship of a sun god... but then you would have to equate Christ with Osiris. In my experience, at least when it comes to his ideas on Catholicism, he is very unfair, hateful, and biased.

When it comes to things like the "Whore of Babylon" and the end of time, I always think of these words: I know that this is specifically speaking of not worrying for our needs because our God will care for us, but I think this can also be extended to worry about anything. I extend it to the "whore" and end-times also. It does not really matter who or what the "whore" is or when the end comes, we should live each moment as it is our last and not worry about it. We have problems today despite who the "whore" is or how long we have until Christ returns. By focusing on the future, someone can miss the roses (and the beggar) at your feet.

Good TJ I looked at that page before... I didn't THINK those were Chick... but I didn't realize until you reemphasized the page that the "Fellowship Tract League" was not just a distributor, but the publisher too