TraceMalin

This will most likely be my last post in Worthy. I want to thank everyone for their prayers, support, and for welcoming me into your community. Thanks to this community, I was able to come to terms with my "religious fatigue." What wears me out is the concept of what is a "true" Christian? That adjective really fits well into contemporary cancel-culture schools of thought. It becomes a blanket statement that cancels another believer's relationship to God. There are core beliefs shared by all Christians: that Jesus was the Son of the one and only God, crucified as a sacrificial lamb to pay a blood atonement for our sins, risen from the dead, and ascended into Heaven to be with the Father, etc. Not having a fundamental belief in Christ certainly would call one's "Christianity" into question. But, for Christians who believe in Christ, they have accepted "the truth." Pilate asked Jesus, "What is the truth?" 37 Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice.38 Pilate saith unto him, What is truth? And when he had said this, he went out again unto the Jews, and saith unto them, I find in him no fault at all. "Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice." A true Christian simply is one who has heard the calling to Christ's salvation through the grace of our Creator. When I joined the forum, I said that I was just a normal Christian. I believe that any Christian who professes that Jesus is Lord and Savior is a true Christian. We may disagree about understanding, interpretation, once saved always saved, and even go so far as to question Paul or Biblical inerrancy without denying "the truth" in any way. "The truth" is Christ. We each hear His voice differently, but we know it is His voice. Judging other Christians as "true" or not, according to our own understanding, leads to division and to people leaving our communities.

I guess I'm not a true follower of Christ. Farewell Worthy.

In the ancient world, they didn't have today's technology. DNA evidence, fingerprints, forensics, video surveillance, wire tapping, and a host of scientific advances such as handwriting analysis, etc., are employed as witnesses for or against someone. The more evidence, the better. When it comes to he said/she said crimes, a lawyer almost doesn't have a case without some form of eyewitness testimony or other evidence to back something up. In our modern world, we can see how the Law of Moses has inspired due process. With eyewitness testimony being the least reliable, "or three" witnesses are wise. Lawyers feel the same way today in most western courts. Scientists testify on behalf of the evidence. The evidence can be witness to a crime.

They use pheromones instead of cell phones.

I first heard about the MRM when I watched this documentary: The Red Pill Movie

The next verse in Proverbs 6 is not entirely correct. Ants are ruled by a queen. 6Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise! 7 It has no commander, no overseer or ruler, 8 yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest.

I had cataract surgery in my 40's and ended up with 20/10 right eye, 20/20 left eye. Had laser surgery when the epithelial cells clouded the IOL. Needed 3 treatments with laser to get a perfect result. Would this help you, JTC? http://www.visitingneighbors.org/shop---escort-services.html If not, contact the NYC Sea Gypsies dive club. The VP is a former student of mine named Adam Riback. Tell them you are an old diver who needs help. The Dive Chair is an ENT physician and good friend of mine named Michael Rothschild. http://www.seagypsies.nyc/index.php

Halloween is a distinctly American holiday. Whatever its proposed origins it has become a folklore holiday. You can find as many scholarly articles claiming Halloween was entirely Christian as you can find scholarly articles claiming it has pagan roots. Now, I'm talking about legitimate scholarly articles by historians and folklorists who have Ph.D.'s in their fields and not opinion pieces by journalists and ministers. However, journalists and ministers are also in disagreement about Christian vs. pagan origins. Whatever the source, most Americans know nothing about Pope Gregory III or Samhain (pronounced sow-in). What is true is that neither God, nor the Devil, nor false idols are being worshiped on Halloween. It's a secular holiday that blended many traditions of Europe, Native Americans, and both Northern and Southern cultures. Only those participating in witchcraft or the occult are engaging in sinful activity. Satanists are the extreme and just about everything Satanists practice has been a growing offshoot of Anton Szandor LaVey's (real name Howard Stanton Levey) Church of Satan established in San Francisco in 1966. I have to laugh at the notion of an upside down cross being Satanic because church tradition has been that Peter was crucified upside down out of humility. (Source: apocryphal Acts of Peter). LaVey was a con artist, whose entire life was a lie, according to his daughter. I guess that would make him a great Satanist, since Satan is the Prince of Lies. LaVey founded his church on the Catholic feast of Walpurgisnacht, which celebrates a Catholic mother superior, Saint Walpurga, who was canonized in 870 by Pope Adrian II. LaVey declared one's birthday to be the most important day of the year in Satanism, Walpurgisnacht as the founding day of the Satanic church, and Halloween to be the three holidays Satanists would celebrate. Modern Satanism has nothing to do with any ancient rituals. It's all popular culture. American Halloween is a masquerade party carried from door to door that celebrates early American folklore. For adults, it might be a night of watching horror movies or going to a commercially operated haunted house or haunted hayride. The most popular Halloween costumes for kids based on a retail marketing survey are: 1. Princess 2. Marvel or DC superheroes 3. Spider-Man 4. Avengers superhero 5. Batman 6. Witch 7. Ghost 8. Vampire 9. Frozen princesses Anna or Elsa 10. Pirate If you want to make something evil, you can make it evil. For example, JTC has posted that he believes smoking is a sin because of the addictive properties and the health issues. If you subscribe to that school of thought, then candy is just as bad because of the sugar content and related health issues. We can take that further and claim if you are not eating in such a way that maximizes your health and prolongs the life God gave you, you are being sinful. That means we would have to watch our caloric, fat, and protein intake, maybe go vegan, never drink a Coca-Cola, a Starbuck's Pumpkin Spice Latte, or eat a croissant. As a personal trainer, I could create an entire ministry based upon those beliefs. Colossians 2 16 Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. 17 These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ. https://www.history.com/topics/halloween/history-of-halloween Halloween may have pagan roots to some, Christian roots to others, but it is simply an American tradition far removed from ancient Celtic festivals, Catholic holidays, and anything other than some of the most fun we ever had as kids. Those who practice the occult don't just do it on Halloween. Trick or Treating isn't a sin. Trying to conjure up the dead on Ouija board certainly is.

I'm thinking if we're standing in a long line we are either in hell or at the DMV. "Why is there a line?"

1. I'm Presbyterian. We never put too much emphasis or discussion on Jesus' second coming in my church, probably because no one figured it would happen in his or her lifetime, unlike the early church where they thought they'd live to see Jesus return. I think some of the signs have already happened. I honestly believe much of Revelation was directed against the Roman Empire and Nero was the number of the beast 666. https://detroitcatholic.com/news/gary-michuta/does-666-add-up-to-nero. My personal belief is that the second coming might be just as the first. The Jews were expecting a Messiah to deliver them from earthly enslavement such as the Roman occupation and not a spiritual one. Christians are expecting Jesus' return in a certain way, and I wouldn't be surprised if that return were much different than what we believe the scriptures are telling us. I'm sure that Jesus will fulfill scripture, but not in a way we Christians might think. 2. "Wars and rumors of wars." is supposed to be one of the first signs, but considering that there have always been wars and rumors of wars, that sounds like the status quo. There was the Pax Romana for 200 years, but before and after there was war. In modern times, we have wars and rumors of war daily. That ties into climate change. The climate has always been changing, but now we are looking at possible hardships predicted in our future that mankind has yet to face on a global scale. 3. IMHO, more Christians focus on judgment rather than paradise.

Son of God was definitely one of the more well-made Christian movies and portrayed Jesus with more charisma and a friendlier personality than many previous films dealing with the life of Christ. I like the classical acting in Jesus of Nazareth, but I liked the portrayal of Jesus in Son of God as a warm, inviting character. If you have never seen, Jesus of Nazareth, you can view the entire 6 1/2 hour miniseries here: Jesus of Nazareth

Due process of law is of paramount importance in a just and ordered society. Increasingly, young people are being taught the Machiavellian, "the ends justifies the means" attitude. This, especially from a leftist mindset. Like John Wayne, I always thought I was a liberal. He once said,"I have found a certain type calls himself a Liberal...Now I always thought I was a Liberal. I came up terribly surprised one time when I found out that I was a Right-Wing Conservative Extremist, when I listened to everybody's point of view that I ever met, and then decided how I should feel. But this so-called new Liberal group, (expletive removed), they never listen to your point of view." I thought of myself as a liberal in the sense of the Renaissance, French Revolution, American Revolution, and being open-minded to discovering truth over tradition. I'm registered as an independent voter and I've voted exactly 50% Democrat and 50% Republican in Presidential elections. Jesus, Himself, was more liberal than parochial. Today's liberals are no longer liberals. They've moved so far left that they are socialists at best, anarchists at worse. Machiavellian, "the ends justifies the means" attitude is taking over politics and the media. Leftism has become rebellion with too many causes and a poor understanding of the issues. Out of the chaos has emerged a lack of due process. Social media has given unchecked weight to voices. When what we read and what we saw once carried the weight of editorial review, now any voice in Twitter carries the weight of a Faulkner or a Hemingway. I've dated women who were victims of real rape. When I lived in Miami, I met a girl I'll call "Rebecca" scuba diving in Islamorada in the Keys. She had been a model, but had been raped when she showed up for a gig. She quit modeling and went into the H.R. field for a successful Miami restaurant. She was so traumatized, sex was out of the question. She appreciated dating me because I was willing to not have sex with her, and I saw her for the beautiful girl she was on the inside and not just a pretty face and fit body. Sometimes, we'd be kissing and then she'd just need to curl up in a ball, lie on my lap, and cry, while I stroked her hair. One of the loves of my life, Susan, was a flight attendant who died of cancer. She had been hit over the head while in college and dragged into the bushes and gang raped by three or four Spanish-speaking males. They forced her onto her face and beat her severely so she didn't remember much due to the beating and her level of intoxication walking back to her dorm from a party. The model never reported her rape because she felt like it would be too much of a burden to prove and she was afraid of losing her career at the time. Susan reported hers, but the perpetrators were never caught. While the #MeToo might have empowered Rebecca to come forward, there is also the danger of false accusations. I was accused of rape myself. I dated a girl I'll call, "Holly," who, at first, seemed perfect for me. She was a bookworm journalism major while I majored in English. At that time in my life, I was most attracted to petite blondes and she was 5'2" and 98 lbs. She was a well-bred Christian girl from old Southern money. Her grandfather had been a very famous and powerful man. They had TV evangelists over for dinner. She was crazy about me and I really loved her, but after a while, I became unsatisfied. Anyway, I decided to break it off. Weeks later, I felt bad about breaking her heart and I just wanted to let her know I still cared about her even if things weren't going to work in the long run. She responded, "I can't believe you are talking to me after what you did to me." I apologized for breaking her heart. She replied, "Not that! The fact that you raped me!" (Paraphrasing) "Raped you? We never even had sex." "Yeah. But, you wanted to. That's coercion." "What? How?" "That time you tried." "You mean the time I started kissing my way down your stomach and I asked you if you wanted me to stop and you said, 'Yes. No. I don't know ...' Then, when you said, 'Okay. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Stop. I'm not ready,' and I stopped?" "Yes! That's rape! I learned that in my gender studies class. I asked my professor about it. I made myself clear when I said, 'No.'" "'Yes. No. I don't know,' was clear?" "You should have known what I wanted." "Let me get this straight. You and I dated for two semesters. We never had a fight. We never said a hurtful thing to one another. I treated you like gold. I love you and showed you nothing, but love and tenderness. Yes. I wanted to have sex with you. I was in love with you and you're hot. That night I stopped as soon as you knew you wanted to stay a virgin. I never penetrated you or threatened you. I did nothing but go slowly and want to please you. How is that rape?" "Because ... you broke my heart!" This was 30 years ago in VA where there is no statute of limitations on sexual assault. Can we please keep due process in the age of #MeToo? Now, my grandparents who were staunch Christians would say, "See. This is what we warned you about and why you should wait to get married to have sex." Yes, they are right. But, sadly today, men are falsely accused of marital rape, and worse, molestation of their children by their ex-wives in angry divorces and custody battles. Courts are imperfect and the truth doesn't always come out, but it's so easy to make a false accusation that can ruin a life.

I've listened and looked at some videos online, but I haven't called him.

This would be a fun discussion in an English class. The KJV says, "eagles," and the NIV says, "vultures." This could be interpreted as Jesus was simply painting a picture of a dead body being pecked at by birds of prey, or if one wanted to read into it, "a dead body" could be a body of faith, believers or the church and the "vultures" could be those who would prey upon that body. Like, if the members of that body are asleep at the wheel and not paying attention, the opportunists could rise to positions of power and exploit others. The context of the verse doesn't help because Jesus is talking about the Son of Man returning and people being taken. Taken in death? Or, taken in some sort of rapture? Some Bible commentaries suggest that Jesus used the image of a gathering of vultures as a way of describing a sign that the second coming would take place. It's one of the more mysterious set of verses in the Bible.

Just one of the reasons in declining belief I've noticed is that ever since 9/11, all religions have been in the crosshairs in America. Christianity and Judaism were dragged into the condemnation of Islamic terrorism by the left. The left controls education and you've had a generation grow up with religion being mocked. Kids learn that the Israelites killed to get the promised land in the Bible, and the Israelis are accused of being the Nazis today when it comes to the Palestinians. The Spanish Inquisition and all the deaths from missionary expansion into the New World are taught in schools rather than the values of Christianity. "Thoughts and prayers" are now being mocked by leftist politicians when it comes to mass shootings against 2A supporters. The media no longer treats priests with respect due to the scandal of sexual abuse. The only people in America not attacked for their beliefs are blacks. During the Democratic Debate in Detroit, the Perfecting Church Choir opened with "America the Beautiful." The Perfecting Church is very Biblical. Not only are they not for same-sex marriage, but they believe the husband is the head of the home and wives should submit. If they were white, they would never have been on stage. It's trendy to be LGBTQ+ and God is out because He discriminates.

I'm just lasting as long as I can last and God knows how long that is.

This professor explains my view on hastening death. https://www.bibleodyssey.org/en/people/related-articles/suicide-in-the-bible

... and darkness was upon the face of the deep. When most people think of Florida, they think of sunshine, palm trees, sandy beaches, and theme parks such as Disney or Universal Studios in Orlando. Few tourists ever venture to "the real Florida" which is the slogan of the Florida State Parks system. Places like Madison Blue Springs, Morrison Springs, Peacock Springs, Lafayette Blue Springs, Manatee Springs and Wakulla Springs are nestled in the woods in near small towns found along the I-10 and I-75 corridors and feed into rivers such as the Santa Fe and Suwannee. You'll find amazing beauty in these parks with so many native species of plants, trees, birds, reptiles, and mammals to see. The gin clear water springing forth from the aquifer makes the water appear to be the bluest on earth. Below the surface, you'll find aquatic life such as bream and snapping turtles. You'll find history like a Confederate shipwreck called the Madison scuttled in shallow water in Troy Spring in 1863. And, you'll find geology. Underwater caves run for miles underneath the earth. Seemingly endless tunnels form labyrinthian routes like ant farms taking you beyond the daylight zone into a world of perpetual darkness where you can meet tiny blind albino crayfish and remipedes. Scientists have discovered that each cave system has a different species of remipede. The clarity and health of the water is important because it is what Floridians and tourists drink. Exploration of these aquifers began in earnest in the 1950's after Jacques-Yves Cousteau and Emile Gagnan invented the first practical Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus (SCUBA) in France during WWII. Divers quickly learned the perils of venturing into underwater caves. Around 400 people have died cave diving in the United States alone. You'll find diveable caves where you find karst terrain such as the Caribbean, Mexico, France, Russia, Africa, Australia, even Canada. The deepest underwater cave in the world is in the Czech Republic over 1,300 feet deep. The deepest underwater cave in the USA is in Texas at 450 feet deep. Most people who learn to dive are interested in diving in the ocean on vacation to see coral reefs in relatively shallow water usually no deeper than 60 feet. A few more advanced divers learn to dive to 130 feet. Diving below 130 feet is no longer considered recreational sport diving. We call it technical diving. Technical diving involves using double tanks or rebreathers with extra decompression tanks containing higher percentages of oxygen than found in air. Air is approximately 21% oxygen. Technical divers use mixtures of 50% to 100% oxygen to speed up the mandatory decompression stops required for deep diving. The combination of cave diving and technical diving skills allows deep exploration of underwater caves. "In the beginning was the Word ..." The godfather of cave diving was a high school math teacher from Jacksonville, FL named Sheck Exley. By the mid-1970's so many divers had died that the state of Florida was going to ban the sport. Navy Underwater Demolition Teams were called to Morrison Springs which had scene the most fatalities and blew up the cave leaving only an egg-shaped cavern to explore. Sheck looked at the accident reports and analyzed the reasons for fatalities. He determined 3 primary reasons. 1. Divers got lost in the tunnels and drown. 2. Divers ran out of air. Unlike diving in a lake or ocean, you can't surface when low on air. You have a rock ceiling over your head. 3. Diving deep on air caused the diver to be affected by narcosis and led to poor decision-making. Sheck wrote a book called, The Blue Print for Survival. He put forth these three rules: 1. Always run a continuous guideline into the cave from open water using a safety reel. 2. Always reserve at least 2/3 of your air supply for exit. Each diver is allowed to only use 1/3 of his tanks to go into a cave. If a diver runs out of air at the furthest distance from the exit at that point, each diver has 1/3 of the remaining donor's air supply to swim back. 3. Never dive deeper than the maximum recreational diving limit of 130 feet on air a cave. The Ten Commandments of Cave Diving By the 1980's, another cave diver named Wes Skiles figured out that dive light failure and lack of training were two additional problems still contributing to cave diving fatalities. 4. Always carry at least 3 dive lights. 5. Be trained for cave diving and don't exceed the levels of your training. These became known as "The 5 Rules of Accident Analysis." These rules saved many lives and the deaths of untrained divers venturing into caves became rare. Yet, divers were still dying. I personally lost my friends Mike Nast and Kent Hirsch. They were highly experienced divers who died in Mexico. Mike was a prominent prosecutor and Kent was a dentist. Mike was on a bit of a honeymoon with his wife Julie, a physician, when he and Kent didn't make it back. Their bodies were recovered 250 feet from the exit. A California cave diver named Jeff Bozanic wanted to figure out why trained cave divers were dying. He discovered an additional 5 rules that would save lives. 6. Do not solo dive in caves. 7. Maintain high levels of physical fitness. 8. Always analyze the gas you are breathing and properly label your air, oxygen, and helium cylinders. 9. Maintain your equipment properly. 10. Don't go "too far too fast" when using diver propulsion vehicles and technical diving equipment in caves. Build experience slowly. Skills cave divers learn are how to properly run guidelines, how to use directional and non-directional markers to create road signs on the line, how to deal with lights being out, finding your way home in the dark while holding a line and communicating by touch, how to deal with sharing air using a 7 foot long regulator hose for the out of air diver while the donor breathes a back-up regulator worn around the neck like a blingy necklace, how to share air in the dark, what to do if you get lost, what to do if your buddy is missing, how to swim without stirring up silt, how to swim into caves with extremely high current, among many other things. Most cave classes take 10 days to complete if the diver spends a year practicing perfect buoyancy control and propulsion techniques. Otherwise, it usually takes 2 years to complete. A four day class in basic propulsion and cave skills combining the Cavern & Intro to Cave courses, then a year of practice, then Apprentice Cave Diver followed by Full Cave Diver. Moses and the Prophets Signs were installed at the entrance to all the cave systems with a picture of the Grim Reaper, beckoning over a pile of dead divers, warning of death if you did not heed the sign and ventured forth without the proper instruction. The next big leap in cave diving became known as the "Hogarthian Configuration." A diver named William "Hogarth" Main developed a way of wearing equipment that would allow divers to wear twice the equipment a recreational diver would wear, but in the most streamlined way. Cave instructors began to teach this system far more than any other and continued to warn recreational divers of the hazards. Some were quite vocal, like the prophets of the Old Testament. John the Baptist One challenge for cave divers was the exploration of Wakulla Springs where the 1950's horror movie, The Creature from the Black Lagoon , was filmed. The cave is so deep that the opening to the cavern zone where daylight still penetrates is 150 feet deep. The cave is 300 feet deep. During the filming of The Creature from the Black Lagoon, two divers who loaned an air compressor to the movie company for filling scuba tanks did a few dives to the cavern that they couldn't access on their own since the spring was on private land. Various attempts over the years by private sector and government divers failed to map the cave. The state of Florida wanted to know where the water went and who was drinking it. Enter the WKPP or Woodville Karst Plain Project. The WKPP was a group of passionate cave divers who were drawn to explore Wakulla Springs. The project director was a middle-aged super fit, tough, gruff stockbroker who became a Christian. His name is George Irvine III or GI3. He is most known as "the voice crying out on the internet" with expletive-driven rants telling people about this new cave diving philosophy created by the WKPP. If every diver on earth didn't use their system they'd end up in a body bag. The philosophy was called Doing It Right or DIR. The WKPP set world record after world record exploring Wakulla. They pulled off miraculous dive after miraculous dive surveying 32 miles of underwater passages in 2 decades of work with a perfect safety record. Jarrod Jablonski & Casey McKinlay made the longest dive, a 27 hour dive, surveying over 8,700 feet of new passage, covering over 25,000 feet, a new underwater cave diving distance record for a single dive. Average depth of 260 feet, approx 11 hours of bottom time, 16 hours of decompression. They connected Wakulla Springs to Leon Sink and discovered mastodon bones deep inside the cave.They also continued the US Geological Survey information that springs are so connected that a major farming disaster or chemical run-off polluting the water in Tallahassee would also affect people in Tampa. It got attention. Divers wanted to know more. Jesus and the Twelve While George Irvine III was the voice and director of the WKPP, the man who would become known to the world was a quieter, calmer, extremely brilliant messenger. Jarrod Jablonski or "JJ," was the brains and leader of the entire outfit. JJ had started cave diving while a student at the University of Florida in Gainesville. He worked at Ginnie Springs, a popular tubing and camping resort which is also the capital of Florida cave diver training. JJ had a talent for carrying a lot of equipment and modifying the Hogarthian philosophy to allow divers to use DPV's (diver propulsion vehicles) and carry multiple stage bottle. A stage bottle is a full sized scuba tank with it's own regulator. We breathe stage bottles down to 1/3 or 1/2 gas and leave it, switching to another stage and continuing forward, the repeating the process on the way out. DIR improved upon every cave diving rule, improved the Hogarthian philosophy, standardized every piece of equipment to be worn in an exact location down to the finest detail of how to tie a bolt snap to a dive light, incorporated fitness and unified every diving procedure. Mostly, DIR demanded the highest level of diving skill achievement. It was like learning a martial art. It takes a lifetime to master. The passion and zealotry for the system became almost a religion. A small band of divers from the woods in Florida would soon change the world. No existing training agency would listen to JJ. He tried to bring the message to several agencies, but they were set in their old ways. They mocked the WKPP divers. Eventually, JJ created Global Underwater Explorers (GUE). GUE is now considered to be the absolute best diver training organization in the world. No one wanted to produce the gear they needed, so JJ also created his own manufacturing company called Halcyon. The gear is "expedition ready" right out of the box. Much of it made in the USA. Judas Iscariot One of the original WKPP divers betrayed JJ by stealing intellectual and material property to create his own company, but was arrested and sentenced to prison. His reputation in shambles, he disappeared. Paul of Tarsus A dive instructor named Andrew Georgitsis or "AG" (who was my first DIR instructor), who was not affiliated with the WKPP, became the training director of Jarrod's Global Underwater Explorers (GUE). He was a Greek South African and also a US citizen who traveled the world creating small pockets of DIR divers. They started out as small, silly named clubs like Team Foxturd or Team Roadkill. But, became organized into "churches" each ending in "underwater explorers" such as Northeast Underwater Explorers or Bay Area Underwater Explorers with leadership intent on following the rules of DIR and preaching to others. Andrew is credited for the explosive spread of the DIR philosophy. While DIR was originally for cave divers, Andrew adopted it to open water diving, shipwreck diving, and recreational diving and became the voice and the "go to" leader of the philosophy for much of the diving world while JJ was enshrined in myth and legend. Most of the DIR world never met JJ. Right away, as pockets of DIR believers and churches sprung up, they began to misquote, misapply, do things incorrectly, and needed constant chastisement. Schism Eventually, the disagreements became so polarizing that people sided with JJ, AG, others and groups fractured away from GUE creating their own training agencies and belief in the "true" DIR. Unified Team Diving (UTD), created by AG, and Innerspace Explorers, created by Achim Schloffel of Germany, along with GUE are three largest DIR training agencies. Some instructors teach DIR, like myself, outside these agencies almost like non-denominational churches. I was the training director with the Professional Diving Instructors Corporation (PDIC) and the Professional Scuba Association International (PSAI), but I taught DIR in my classes. There was no one standard in these organizations. What's really crazy is that JJ is still alive and you can talk to him or the other WKPP divers about all the rhymes and reasons for what became DIR, but people are caught up in their own philosophies so much that they don't bother. Now, when I look up DIR online, I see people who have poor skills, the wrong gear, and have no idea what they are talking about writing about what it is to be DIR. DIR has already been written down like the Bible, but like theologians today and churches today, people have corrupted DIR that JJ no longer has it on his gear. Halcyon used to be "the DIR equipment company" now the gear just reads "Halcyon." Halcyon means "denoting a period of time in the past that was idyllically happy and peaceful." I would imagine the twelve disciples missed the days together with Jesus around the Sea of Galilee like I miss the days of walking into JJ's dive shop, Extreme Exposure, in High Springs and talking to the source and meeting the small team of WKPP divers who were the epitome of humility while being extraordinary. Most of the WKPP divers were Christians. Some divers had Christian symbols on their cylinders. The cave training director of GUE is a devout Christian and another instructor is a deacon. Someone should make a documentary about the role their belief in Christ played in the courage and faith needed to do what no one else could do.

I think what might prove missmuffett's point the most is that you can still find thousands of traditional churches in small towns across America aligning themselves with denominations that are publicly supporting non-Biblical teachings without a full blown revolt such as Presbyterian churches. How can same-sex marriage even be a conversation? The Methodists aren't far behind. After days of passionate debate, deliberation, and prayer—and years of tension—the United Methodist Church (UMC) voted Tuesday to maintain its traditional stance against same-sex marriage and non-celibate gay clergy, bolstered by a growing conservative contingent from Africa. The denomination’s “Traditional Plan” passed, with 438 votes in favor and 384 against (53% to 47%), in the final hours of a special UMC conference held this week in St. Louis to address the issue of human sexuality. Well, thank God for Africa, right? I have gay friends and I love them dearly. My favorite film of all time is The Wild Geese with Richard Harris, Richard Burton and Roger Moore about a British mercenary mission in Africa to rescue a deposed African leader. Actor Kenneth Griffith played Arthur Witty, a gay medic, who was a brilliant character. He was the "mother figure" to the 50 men and officers hired for the raid. Homosexuals should be welcomed with open arms in the church no differently than fornicators, but I would hope that if I decided to have my way a girl in front of the altar, it wouldn't be condoned. A ceremony at the altar officially condones sodomy. Congregants should be the ones who struggle with their personal sins against the Word of God, not churches when the Word is clear. I think Jesus would prefer believers getting together who have a strong Biblical faith for "church" rather than paying the bills of institutions or having to travel so far every Sunday to be part of something that the disciples didn't even do. I once made a video about deep breath hold diving, called The Church of the Blue Water , because I started a freediving club and all of the original 7 members were Christians.

Here's some fun facts about 666. https://twentytwowords.com/11-curious-facts-about-666-six-years-after-the-disappearance-of-the-666-area-code/

Did you contact the brand and ask what the number means? 786 and 305 are Miami-Dade area codes. It's envogue to use area and airport codes. The ATL for Atlanta or the 570 for our local entertainment paper are examples.

My mother had a near death experience when her appendix ruptured as a kid in the late 1940's. I think she was 12 at the time? She floated above her body in the hospital and saw things that she could not have known otherwise. The doctor thought he lost her during surgery, but they saved her life. The doctor and nurses were astounded by what she recalled and things she knew. She is 100% convinced that an NDE is real and there is life after death.

Things I liked about church as a kid: 1. Feeling like you were doing something that would please God. 2. Hearing a sermon. 3. Spending time with people you only saw on Sundays. 4. Gave you a reason to get up early on a Sunday. 5. Feeling good afterward. Things I didn't like about church as a kid: 1. Feeling like the church used emotional blackmail to get you to attend. 2. Being pressured into volunteering to do things like being an usher. 3. None of the kids in Sunday School class or at church were friends in school or not in church. 4. Having to dress up. 5. Feeling judged by others. When I returned to church after a long absence what I liked was: 1. Feeling like you were doing something that would please God. What I didn't like was: 1. Female ministers. 2. Casual dress. 3. Empty pews. 4. A feeling that churches had abandoned the Bible and favored the LGBTQ+ community. 5. Not feeling the presence of God.

RDR2 is amazing! It's more simulator than arcade compared to RDR1. RDR1 felt like Atari in comparison. It has so many Easter Eggs and side quests. You aren't getting blitzed by endless bad gays as you explore. The open world takes you everywhere from snow capped mountains to cow towns to the bayou to big cities to the RDR1 map. You can hunt, fish, and animal watch. There are hundreds of birds, mammals, and fish. A great You get different breeds of horses, lots of different guns, and outfits. Endless customization. They took everything they did right with GTA San Andreas and took it to the old west. Arthur Morgan is such a cool character. It's a prequel. There are 104 story missions over 6 chapters and 2 epilogues, 20 stranger side quest characters giving you multiple missions each., and 10 companion missions. You can decide to enhance your reputation by attaining horseman, hunting, fishing, marksman, and other less honorable activities. If you played it and saw how well they constructed the plot and the seeming deep personal relationships you have with your gang you might have an idea how what I'm talking about. Instead of a gang of bandits robbing stage coaches and banks, a paintball team game where a match would take the place of a robbery. The team would meet people along the way and decide who and how to help. Like after a match you'd meet a character from another team who gets you involved in solving problems like his car breaks down and you volunteer to deliver pizzas for the day racing against time dealing with traffic or do things like touch football, delivering papers on a bike while dogs chase you, go skydiving, fishing, rescue people from a burning building, all kinds of things with a heroic and wholesome spin instead of murder, drugs, etc. Everything cool about GTA games, but without the crime.

I've got my mom, brother, sister, nieces, and nephews. Sonya had to move out of state to care for her dad. Her mother needed help. We're still together. I tried to get rid of her, but she won't have it. As far as prayers, either heal me or kill me. The current state isn't an option. I don't believe that God predetermines things for us. I think Paul meant salvation was predetermined for all mankind not individual believers. I think if Paul were here to ask he'd say he meant it for mankind in general. That makes sense that God had a plan for humanity and gave people free will. I believe God can intervene, but doesn't necessarily have a plan for everyone's individual life. Most Bible verses in the O.T. and N.T. can be attributed to mankind as a whole. The ones that point toward individual plans seem to be when someone is asking the Lord to intervene or the person knows they are special which is why they are in the Bible in the first place. God could very well have a plan for David, but not for the 4th soldier in line behind him. An example would be: Proverbs 3:5-6 5Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; 6in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. As an English major, I could make a 100% valid and powerful argument, even within the full context of all of Proverbs 3, that this could apply equally to following the law of the Torah vs. being guided by faith vs. both equally. That's why we have so much dissent with one another. The Bible isn't crystal clear like my 1992 NCAA Lacrosse Rulebook. I had just gotten my rulebook and was in a religion class when I brought up the fact that the NCAA lays out exactly what it is I can and can't do, yet God isn't as clear in the Bible with our souls on the line. Father Barone looked at me with a twinkle in his eye and said, "Yeah. But, are you going to read it?" I laughed. "Maybe God knows the appeal of a little mystery?" Touch'e, Father.