AllTheGoodNamesAreTaken

As previously, you will find folks to be polarized in their responses. It will be up to you to accept one, or neither of those positions. Praying that God's truth is revealed.

Also another topic....tested or tempted ?

I'll go a step further, in that how I believe is non-affected by what others may believe. If, for example, the Lord's supper was ( and likely is ) somehow tainted in another's belief and practice, does that prohibit me from partaking of what I was told to do in remembrance ? Of course not, as I do not subscribe to their belief and it is merely a matter of what is in my heart. Obviously, my savior's birth was not a " prescribed " duty, but was given as a sign, and was ( to me ) a wonderful event of My God's grace and mercy. If anyone feels differently, it is not for me to judge why, and I certainly understand that many who are God's children refrain due to their own convictions.

Well, I am not pagan or wiccan, and don't believe as they do. I do not celebrate for the reasons they do. I do not share their beliefs or unbelief. I breathe the same air as they, as given to us all by God as well, but that also does not mean I agree with their beliefs.

So, is it wrong to celebrate the birth of my savior ?

Hi Zemke, who is arguing ? I am certainly not brother. If I have misrepresented my thoughts, please explain.

BTW, I recall watching a movie called "Jesus Christ Superstar" back in the 60s or 70s . It tried to portray Jesus as a more " modern " version of Himself. Didn't really align with scripture, but amazingly through God's grace, many came to the Lord after seeing it.

That is a rather speculative question. What we do know is that when Christ comes back to earth, it will certainly NOT be as He came in obscurity and humiliation the first time. He has said that He will return in power and great glory as King and Judge. You can draw your own conclusions. Of course He will brother. I think the question was not only speculative, but hypothetical and quite thoughtful ( in my opinion ). It's a " what if? " ( which all of us realize " is not " and " will not be " ). Yet we have been afforded imagination by God, not to use as a weapon against His majesty or glory, but to reflect against our own lives to better serve Him. So let's look at this another way. The Church (all those who have been saved by God's grace and experienced the New Birth) is the Body of Christ, which means that each one of us is presently on earth as though Christ is already on earth (and in reality He is within every believer). So what all Christians are doing (if they are truly following Christ) represents where He would be and what He would be doing, which is summarized in Matthew 28: 18-20; Mk 16:15-18; Lk 24:46-49; and Acts 1:4-8. Amen Ezra. I completely agree. The circumstances haven;t really changed, only the faces of those around. There are many things that would need to be reconciled ( the disciples ) as well as the prophecies that would have to be " edited ".

That is a rather speculative question. What we do know is that when Christ comes back to earth, it will certainly NOT be as He came in obscurity and humiliation the first time. He has said that He will return in power and great glory as King and Judge. You can draw your own conclusions. Of course He will brother. I think the question was not only speculative, but hypothetical and quite thoughtful ( in my opinion ). It's a " what if? " ( which all of us realize " is not " and " will not be " ). Yet we have been afforded imagination by God, not to use as a weapon against His majesty or glory, but to reflect against our own lives to better serve Him.

Understood brother. It's not a testimony about " deserving " or "undeserving " folks. None of of are deserving of His mercy and grace. Yet it was God's own testimony about US, in His Word.

Exodus 5 brother. Enjoy ! 3 They said, “The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please let us go three days’ journey into the desert, so that we can sacrifice to Adonai our God. Otherwise, he may strike us with a plague or with the sword.” 4 The king of Egypt answered them, “Moshe and Aharon, what do you mean by taking the people away from their work? Get back to your labor! 5 Look!” Pharaoh added, “the population of the land has grown, yet you are trying to have them stop working!” 6 That same day Pharaoh ordered the slavemasters and the people’s foremen, 7 “You are no longer to provide straw for the bricks the people are making, as you did before. Let them go and gather straw for themselves. 8 But you will require them to produce the same quantity of bricks as before, don’t reduce it, because they’re lazing around. This is why they’re crying, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to our God.’ 9 Give these people harder work to do. That will keep them too busy to pay attention to speeches full of lies.” 10 The people’s slavemasters went out, their foremen too, and said to the people, “Here is what Pharaoh says: ‘I will no longer give you straw. 11 You go, yourselves, and get straw wherever you can find it. But your output is not to be reduced.’” 12 So the people were dispersed throughout all the land of Egypt to gather stubble for straw. 13 The slavemasters kept pressing them. “Keep working! Make your daily quota, just as when straw was provided.” 14 The foremen of the people of Isra’el, whom Pharaoh’s slavemasters had appointed to be over them, were flogged and asked, “Why haven’t you fulfilled your quota of bricks yesterday and today, as you did formerly?” 15 Then the foremen of the people of Isra’el came and complained to Pharaoh: “Why are you treating your servants this way? 16 No straw is given to your servants, yet they keep telling us to make bricks. And now your servants are being flogged, but the fault lies with your own people.” 17 “Lazy!” he retorted, “You’re just lazy! That’s why you say, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to Adonai.’ 18 Get going now, and get back to work! No straw will be given to you, and you will still deliver the full amount of bricks.” 19 When they said, “You are not to reduce your daily production quota of bricks,” the foremen of the people of Isra’el could see that they were in deep trouble. 20 As they were leaving Pharaoh, they encountered Moshe and Aharon standing by the road; 21 and they said to them, “May Adonailook at you and judge accordingly, because you have made us utterly abhorrent in the view of Pharaoh and his servants, and you have put a sword in their hands to kill us!” (Maftir) 22 Moshe returned to Adonai and said, “Adonai, why have you treated this people so terribly? What has been the value of sending me? 23 For ever since I came to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has dealt terribly with this people! And you haven’t rescued your people at all!” Complete Jewish Bible (CJB)Copyright © 1998 by David H. Stern. All rights reserved. What does that say to you brother ? If your read forward in Exodus, you will find that folks are generally belly-aching about things that are truly blessings. I believe that is the message. Even as a chosen, appreciation and dedication are rarities in this life.

Those waiters and waitresses likely make less and it is bad for business to get rid of tips because the service won't be as good and that means people will eat where they can leave a good tip for good service. Liberal hypothetical. Not really. If you know you will get better tips if you go the extra mile, you will provide better service. If you get paid no matter what you do, you will not have the same incentive to go exceed the customer's expectations Again another hypothetical. Whatever happened to working as a team to make a successful business. The business succeeds and everyone benefits. This is "actually" what many of these businesses are finding as they "actually" do this. It takes what is considered a dead end job, mostly because of the high turnover rate because they chase tips, and is giving these store workers a steady, grounded job. Yes that is all true, but we are talking about the service industry which is a unique kind of business where personal and individual service is what a restaurant thrives on. I worked at a restaurant that everyone said had, hands down, the best food of its kind in town. Problem was, the service wasn't any good. It took sometimes, 45 min to get your order. The restaurant didn't last two years. You have good waiters and waitresses who go the extra mile and they get repeat customers and they get better tips. And when you have regular customers that you know are good tippers, you treat them like royalty. Waiters and waitresses who get tips will have far more incentive because no restaurant is going to pay them what they make in tips. It's simply a business model that will work for some and not for others. The one thing we can agree on is having the choice as a business owner to implement and diversify as we seem fit and not forced to comply to one model or another. After all, when was the last time you tipped at a Mcdonalds. I do not get good service at mcdonalds. Raise the wages there and I still wont get good service at mcdonalds. Its the work ethic of those working there. Not the idea that they will work harder if their pay is better. Its the entitlement mentality that prevents good service. The "protestant work ethic" (as it has been called for years) is no longer a part of american society. Is a work ethic defined by the employer, the employee, or both, and why ? The work ethic is how well or poorly the individual generally works. Those who work hard at their jobs, who give it their best efforts, have a good work ethic. Those who just show up at work and do the minimum effort have a poor work ethic. Amen Jade ! We are all laborers. We choose whether to do our best or not.

Brother, you just answered my question. Each of us decides in our own heart how we will serve, despite those who are our " masters ". You have a heart of God brother.

Exodus 5 brother. Enjoy !

Amen ! That was an awesome explanation. Coveting anything is the root of the sin.

Most unexpected answer today/ this year: the work ethic (usually) is defined by hasatan/demons. ((According to Ephesians, et al Scripture....)) Yet also always, as it is written in Scripture, within boundaries set by Yahweh. What was the work ethic of the Hebrews under the rule of the Egyptians ?

It would depend on the Atheist. Many Atheists turn to Jesus every day. There are two types of Atheist - those who simply don't believe and those that don't want to believe (they have already rejected God). Your comment would apply to the latter. The former group are merely seekers who haven't found yet. It's nice to see a sensible comment like this one. On the other thread they were essentially stating that all atheists are liars. If God is AND God is true THEN ALL men are liars including me if you are a liar, then this statement is a lie. Which means you are not a liar, after all. But if you are not a liar you could not say you are a liar without lying. I don't see how to resolve this puzzle without falsifying the premise sieglinde One can be a liar but tell the truth when they repeat what one who is honest has said. Everything I say that is of my own understanding is subject to the probability of being proven false and therefore a lie due to my not possessing all knowledge. Even when I tell the truth according to my conscience. That in no way negates the premise that God is true. Thanks for the thought provoking comment. i see. But I would not call it a lie, if your conscience thinks it is true. For me a lie is a conscious decision to say something we know, or think, it is not true. So, you can be a liar and say something true (that you believe it is false), while being honest and say something false (that you believe it is true). i am not sure I understand the concept of sin, yet. But I bet it is not a sin if you say something false, if in your heart you believe it is true. siegi Are you asking yourself that question as well ? You said " in your heart". Thank you dear one !

My head hurts.

Those waiters and waitresses likely make less and it is bad for business to get rid of tips because the service won't be as good and that means people will eat where they can leave a good tip for good service. Liberal hypothetical. Not really. If you know you will get better tips if you go the extra mile, you will provide better service. If you get paid no matter what you do, you will not have the same incentive to go exceed the customer's expectations Again another hypothetical. Whatever happened to working as a team to make a successful business. The business succeeds and everyone benefits. This is "actually" what many of these businesses are finding as they "actually" do this. It takes what is considered a dead end job, mostly because of the high turnover rate because they chase tips, and is giving these store workers a steady, grounded job. Yes that is all true, but we are talking about the service industry which is a unique kind of business where personal and individual service is what a restaurant thrives on. I worked at a restaurant that everyone said had, hands down, the best food of its kind in town. Problem was, the service wasn't any good. It took sometimes, 45 min to get your order. The restaurant didn't last two years. You have good waiters and waitresses who go the extra mile and they get repeat customers and they get better tips. And when you have regular customers that you know are good tippers, you treat them like royalty. Waiters and waitresses who get tips will have far more incentive because no restaurant is going to pay them what they make in tips. It's simply a business model that will work for some and not for others. The one thing we can agree on is having the choice as a business owner to implement and diversify as we seem fit and not forced to comply to one model or another. After all, when was the last time you tipped at a Mcdonalds. I do not get good service at mcdonalds. Raise the wages there and I still wont get good service at mcdonalds. Its the work ethic of those working there. Not the idea that they will work harder if their pay is better. Its the entitlement mentality that prevents good service. The "protestant work ethic" (as it has been called for years) is no longer a part of american society. Is a work ethic defined by the employer, the employee, or both, and why ?

I worry for nothing. I celebrate my life in Christ. I celebrate the blessings and the trials I am handed.

Amen. It was and still is a sign. Much like a rainbow.

I couldn't get past #1, "She speaks for God". That was enough for me. Quoting His words is not the same as "speaking FOR Him".

Amen sis. To offer others knowledge or instruction and encouragement in God's Words by His Spirit and not of ourselves. EDIT: To His and for God's glory.

Don't fret too much Steven. The list you're on grows daily.

Amen ! He is THE living God and is in our midst when we come together in His Holy name !