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Coliseum

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  1. Hi Melinda. Having been a hard-hearted atheist myself once, for twenty years, I know all the lines. I used them. But it does not matter. Every person wants to be loved no matter how tough he pretends his shield is. He may act as if it isn't true, but there are hardened criminals on Death Row who in tears have come to Christ. One of the greatest testimonies was of a man I knew at work---a Christian. I mocked him, I threw insults at him. I told him how worthless Christianity was and his god. I know that deep down he was hurt, but I didn't care. Yet, he never lost his testimony. He kept his cool as he endured it all. He remembered Jesus, who also endured it all. When the time was right and God saved me, I remembered Charlie. He was the first man I saw to apologize. He embraced me. Charlie was the only Christian at our workplace. He was teased, and jeered, and spoken to harshly. In the back of my mind, I could not understand how he could have possibly endured it. Now, I know. He didn't. It was Christ in him that once again, took it all. Paul said best. To paraphrase---"I don't care what you think of me. I don't even care what I think of myself. It only matters what God thinks of me." Don't give up, sister. God knows the price you are paying; it won't be in vain.
  2. Hi BJ. HTML must have a context with which to be understood. Coders design with different computer "languages" how their software is to be defined. Mathematics is a language too and is built using logic whose symbols, from axiom, through arguments, all the way to conclusion, is unbreakable. 2 + 2 = 4 is meaningful only when the "+" sign and the "=" sign are used. 2 2 4 have no meaning other than that they are useless numbers until they are defined by the symbols. BTW, I have gotten really good at typing, graduating from a mere bumpkin speed of 12 WPM to the unchallengeable speed of 18 WPM. My mother was Dorothy Lamoure's secretary a long time ago. She typed 120 WPM without error. She typed so fast, I could not see her fingers move. Maybe by next year, I will reach 20 WPM. I am so proud of myself.
  3. After observing and reading what many have shared, I believe the Coders are listening and reading with us, and many changes are taking place rapidly to try to improve upon what we are disclosing. Too, security must be the concern of all software developers, lest the site and her participants get hacked. Relatively speaking, the number of lines of code are comparatively small when we look at, for example, the number in Windows 10. Millions of lines must harmonize and sync together to form the smooth flow we see in a Windows Operating System. But it also took 20 years. Patience---and perseverance then---is our hero, to wait it out and enjoy the bumpy ride for awhile.
  4. No one knows what is in the heart of man except the Lord. The pain someone is suffering is not for me to judge. When someone is suicidal, he does not generally listen to reason, but compassion.
  5. Can you please share where this is found in the Bible? I can't find it. Thank you.
  6. A Nobel-Prize winner in Mathematics used to always believe he saw more people than there really were. When he played with children, he believed there were seven or eight when there were only two or three. While his perception was flawed, his intellect wasn't; when two men delivered to him the papers for his Nobel-Prize, he asked, "Am I seeing one person, or are there four"? The men assured him there were two. He laughed and gave them a hearty thanks. He understood, and accepted his state, and was even able to laugh at it. He was obviously very functional and literate as a Mathematics professor. Was it a mental condition, or was it demonic? The real question should be, "Is he saved"? That question is the only question that makes any difference. If saved, demons cannot possess a believer because Christ himself lives in him, and we read, "He is greater in you than he who lives in the world." If he is not saved, then from an eternal standpoint, it would not matter, though from his temporary time on earth, it may.
  7. Your enthusiasm and sparkle shines. Phil 4:8,9
  8. Once, a teacher shared with me: "If you can't read five pages, read three, and if you can't read three, read one. And if you can't read one, memorize it so that you can ponder over what you keep in your heart---but do something." Hiding God's Word in one's heart will never let you down. :)
  9. "The only certainty I have is my salvation that's it." That's a pretty good start. Without that, a man has nothing. Spurgeon, probably considered one of the best preachers---if not the best who ever preached---talked about his own blackness that he regarded himself having, and gave sermons about that color we perceive about our own nature: "Not so the genuine Christian; he hides his face, sighs in secret, and cries before God, because he is not what he wants to be; not what his Lord was; not fully conformed to Christ in all things; and just because these short-comings grieve and vex his righteous soul, he cries, “Look not upon me, for I am black.” All the while he may be of the highest type of Christian, yet he is not so in his own esteem. He may be a star to others, but he is a blot, as he thinks, to himself. In God’s esteem he is “accepted in the Beloved,” but in his own esteem he seems to himself to be full of all manner of evil, and he cries out against it before his Lord." Maybe, dear sister, you are just one of the more honest ones. :)
  10. Yes we do, and so did Jesus who became righteously angry. He wept. He was also fully human. He suffered shame on the Cross. He wanted the cup of God's wrath to pass from him, but then drank all of it for us. Paul said that it was through his weakness that Christ made him strong. God created us and gave us emotions. It is very normal to experience them. But we have Someone that the world does not have, so then when we go through the storms of life, He is there with us.
  11. BTW Paige, I really love your art. You should try selling it.
  12. Why do you say a person vilifies a place by merely acknowledging the truth of what he sees? Is not the expression "good evil" when we have, and are witnessing things which have not ever happened in my generation: In the 50's, people left their doors unlocked. There was trust between neighbors. People were left to their consciences to decide what was right and what was wrong. Universities were built from teachers who actually taught instead of condemned Godly principles and values, where political upheaval, uprisings, violence, mayhem, and murder were unseen, where journalists and news casters reported news without sensationalism. People understood what it meant to work for what they got instead of steal. Yes, these ideals are relative, but so was every century before us. This kind of culture where men were men and women were women, where children could play safely in the streets, where I could hug my different-colored skinned neighbor without hatred, where my religion and faith went unprotested. No one is vilifying what is true here---merely expressing the evidence of what has changed. Those are observable, objective, verifiable facts. In my opinion, every man is entitled to see what he sees and report it without having to be labelled or categorized as villainous. You shared, "Do you know what scripture says about those who call good evil, who substitute sweetness for bitterness and light for darkness"? Perhaps you view it that way; perhaps others don't. Where such things are unclear, God says He would make clear. That does not vilify someone. God also says to be wise, to watch, to pray. Jesus forecasts what we are to see and experience. To me at least, these things which are coming, and may be here even now, are evil. They are not to be delighted in, but cause us to be humbled, and thankful for what God has not taken away; if those are blessings, then we need more of them because our country is slowly losing them. That is not some obscure observation, nor should it vilify anyone who notices them. If I have misunderstood your argument, I apologize. Please unpack what you mean then. Thank you. Expressing the goodness of God, His many blessings, and our thankfulness for them does not negate what is happening.
  13. No matter how high we climb the mountain, we are still pulled down by the force of gravity. God will not continue to tolerate sin forever. God is pulling an arrogant, pompous, and prideful America down from her mountain---the gravity of sin is too great. The hammer has not dropped yet, and there may be periods of climbing higher, but God has continued giving us warning after warning after warning. 9/11 breached our walls of protection---a warning. Diseases are causing havoc---a warning. Natural disasters are being experienced in greater numbers---a warning. People are hungry without work to sustain them---a warning. You might be right about not crashing yet. But we do not know the outcome of this election---one God is in full control of. The Democrats are here to unravel this entire system of government---a pawn in God's plan perhaps. They will take religion and Israel with them. We are hanging by a thread---only a thread---over a great precipice. The signs of judgment are upon us. God gave Nineveh 40 days before annihilation; the Word tells us that from the least to the greatest---including the king---repented in sackcloth and ashes, and were spared for 50 years. God will put his Church through the fire first. Are we ready in this Laodicean era? We are barely distinguishable from the world. Jesus told us to be ready, to watch, to be prepared. Are we? Are we in "sackcloth and ashes," repenting before God, praying earnestly with deep humility and reverence before a Holy God that does not tolerate sin? Jesus is our only hope---our every breath depending upon Him. Needless to say this is only my opinion. I hope it is wrong.
  14. Thank you Paige for your genuine reply. I think many today awkwardly feel as you do about going to church; but if I may push back a little. Jesus loved his Church and died for it. He knows how hard it can be sometimes, telling us "not to forsake the local assembly as some have been in the habit of doing." In Revelation 2, Jesus talks about those few saints left in the Church of Thyatira, where Jezebel was doing great damage, who kept themselves clean. Jesus told them, "I will not impose any other burden on you, only hold onto what you have until I come." Nowhere in all the churches does he tell anyone to leave. He wants us to be overcomers. You go to work everyday in a "church" of godless people, yet you feel it is your duty "...to be cheerful and loving and do the best work I can because, I really work for my father." I think this is what Jesus desires of us in the church we set foot in. Many there need direction, and guidance. The Church is not about us. It is about God, and worshipping Him in the presence of all who come. You have an opportunity to help many people by showing them the love you have for them---even when they do not love you back. May God shine His blessings on you.
  15. First Caitlin, Thx for posting. You were very honest. You were not being deceptive. If more people told the truth---that they have all kinds of sin---it would go much better. You have told us your concerns. A man who once had everything had it taken away. He thought God loved him, but he believed afterward that God disapproved of him. So he began to share with God how he hated Him---that God did this to him. What did he ever do to deserve "this"? But the Spirit of God spoke to him and said, "Do you not think that I am not big enough to handle your feelings"? God continued: "You made this personal. You did not tell everyone else. You told me to my face." God went further: "Because you were honest with your feelings and did not withhold them to the only One who can help you....I will." There's a lesson here Caitlin. God teaches us to go to the one we have a problem with, a misunderstanding with, an unresolved feeling. We go to God. We tell the Lord everything we think about Him, good and bad. But we tell it to Him. God delights in our coming to Him, just as a child might go to his own parents with bad news. "Daddy, I have really bad news, and I need your help. I don't know what to do. I have cried for hours and told my friends, but they can't help me. I need you." What father would hate his child for coming to him for help? Go to Him Caitlin and pour out your heart to Him. Tell Him how you cannot love Him with all your "heart, soul, mind, and strength." (No one can, btw). Tell Him how you believe you have blasphemed Him. (Do you really think He doesn't know what is buried in the deepest recesses of your heart?) Do you remember when God told Abraham to slay his only son Isaac? Do you think that it was for God's benefit? No. It was for Abraham's, to experience his faith. God already knew the outcome---but Abraham didn't. You too must experience your faith. Blessings to you, dear sister.
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