BibleStudent100

Thank you for sharing these experiences. It seems like we need to be more self-dependent rather than relying on the government. With weather going more to the extreme levels, we ought to plan more for "uncooperative" weather events.

Fascinating response with a lot to ponder! Do you think that the great watery canopy that was the storage for all the water that fell during the Flood could have prevented some of the harmful UV rays from the celestial realm from hitting the earth, which could have caused the longevity of humans before the Flood? In other words, right after the Flood, the length of human life instantly dropped to the "standard" length of 70-80 years in accord with Ps 90:10

Hi Dennis, you are spot on regarding WHY the ancients decided to put in the incredible amount of work required to build the ziggurat: "They now said: “Come! Let us build a city for ourselves and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a celebrated name for ourselves, so that we will not be scattered over the entire face of the earth.” (Genesis 11:4). The phrase "let us make a celebrated name for ourselves" is vague and it is possible that the descendants of Noah had heard the impressive stories of the strength and pride and self-assuredness of the fallen angels (the nephilim) and maybe they were making a tower to harken back to those days or to appease those "gods" with some thought of bringing back the "glory" days of strength and wickedness. To mount such a massive feat would have required incredible human strength and organization and motivation for Nimrod's followers and they all would have had to have some "buy in," as in what is in it for me? Again, the motivation could have been, "let's create another society with super-human creatures and maybe we could be like them." On a side note, have you all thought about this idea: The fame and dread of the Nephilim could have given rise to many mythologies of heathen people (e.g. Greek mythology) who, after the confusion of languages at Babel, were scattered throughout the earth.

Could you elaborate on this concept? tx

Since the Bible is a book of both history and prophecy, the numbers given therein may be either literal or symbolic. The context usually reveals in which sense a number is used. Certain numbers appear often in the Bible in an illustrative, figurative, or symbolic sense, and in such cases an understanding of their significance is vital to an understanding of the text. I look forward to your continued study and your analysis and thank you for sharing.

Amen brother; we should be concerned, but we know this is all the Bible prophecies coming true.

I really enjoy this line! I am going to use it. Thanks for being so clever and poignant.

When I was a lad in the 70s, the UN was on the nightly news almost every day, as it was a potent organization. But in recent decades, the UN has been plagued by scandal after scandal and now it is a feckless, defanged organization that cannot power its way out of a wet paper bag! The question for us Bible students is if the UN can achieve ascendency and become a world player (some Bible students point to its rise to become the "Image of the Wild Beast," as stated in Revelation) and the only way it can achieve power is for the governments of the world to give their power/allegiance to the UN, in a "deal" that some would refer to as a "new world order." Thoughts?

Insightfully shared!

Thank you for asking an insightful question and the for the solid explanations. I had never thought of this question and the answer bolsters my faith even more.

We said brother; we wonder amazed at the power of angels who can move through the vast space of the universe at will and then rejoice at the spiritual progress of us puny humans...

Yes, there is no letter "J" in Hebrew as Hebrew uses an entirely different alphabet than does English. I think you mean to say that Hebrew does not have the "J" sound, which would be written like this: Hebrew does not have the /j/ sound. Still, your points are well taken and yes, HOW we pronounce the divine name is far less important than that we USE the divine name. Some sounds are just not reproducible in some languages; you can google "critical age hypothesis for language learning" to find out what linguists believe regarding our inability to reproduce some sounds that in other languages, are easy to master. For example, the French Gutteral R sound is notoriously difficult to master for English speakers as we don't have that sound in our language and in French classes, I was conquered by that sound. As a Spanish teacher at the college level, there are some English speakers who can not roll their Rs if their lives depended on it and that is an important sound to make as mastering that sound needs to occur to change the meaning of some words. Bottom line: get as close as you can to the Hebrew pronunciation code and focus on the MEANING behind the words versus HOW they could/should be pronounced.

I appreciate your humility and practicality regarding safety and the Lord's protection.

Sir Isaac Newton! Great theologian.

Your math is straight on, but a little off on the number of seconds, but point well taken. Psalm 90:10 says we all have about 70 to 80 years of existence (pre-Flood humans were blessed with longer lives), so congratulations on your 81 years! How fantastic that you can use your strength and energies for the Lord!

Yes, it was required that brothers and sisters (children of Adam and Eve) would need to produce children together, at which time, the progeny would eventually be able to marry individuals who are distantly related. Also, it is likely that the genetic problems of producing children from close relatives was not an issue as people were only a few steps away from perfection. By the way, marrying your "half-sister" is genetically only ONE step closer than marrying your first cousin, which is LEGAL in 18 states now.

Once an entity CAN do something (i.e. has to the power to do something, like intrusive surveillance), does not mean that they will. But the temptation is there to abuse this power of penetrating observation. Human nature being what it is (fallen flesh, etc.), the government WILL abuse this power eventually and we will slide into a less than free populace. It is only a matter of time...

Thoughtful observations Dennis. I also ask myself, "so what is next?" Where will the government go next? A) Eye authentication? B) Gait recognition? C) Facial recognition? D) Automatic car license plate readers? E) Drone surveillance? F) More CCTV cameras? G) Others? And how does all this integrate into eschatology? Huummm...

If you are talking about the precautionary efforts that preppers take, then that would lead one into a pathway of putting your trust in man, versus putting your trust in God. We all know people who spend so much time on exercising and gym activities and the perfect organic diet, that they have little time left for the Lord. Again, this is an unbalanced attitude.

As a high school teacher in California, I can say that this is true. Still, this indoctrination is found in abundancy in the culture outside of school and if our children enter the workforce or college, this indoctrination will continue. Solution: Instill fire-resistant materials in our children (1 Corinthians 3:13).

Agreed! It seems foolish to "test the hand of the Lord"--Deuteronomy 6:16

True enough Cat: we see corruption in the public sector and in corporate America, with its focus on profits over the benefit of the earth and people. Hollywood also generates a lot of garbage (I am now hard pressed to find a decent movie to watch on Netflix).

Jesus did not get involved in the politics of his day, nor did any servants of God mentioned in the NT; it seems reasonable to follow that same pattern today...

So what is the purpose of this "posturing"? Does it gain something in bargaining and for what?

I teach Spanish at the college level and some native English speakers, simply can NOT roll their "r"s, which is an important sound in Spanish. Thus, no matter how hard they try, in this regard, they will always sound foreign and indeed, not rolling your "r"s can impede communication. For example, "pero" and "perro" are two totally different words and the only difference is rolling the "r"s. So can ALL humans pronounce "Yeshua"? I am not sure. In a quick google search I see that there ARE languages with no /s/ and modern Greek is one of them! So can the Greeks pronounce "Yeshua"? I am not sure. Just get as close as you can to the original pronunciation as you can is what I tell my students.