Mongo

Nope, he didn't. You're right about that. Sure. Again, if God had not wanted us to, he would have specifically said not to. This isn't saying God wants us to, either. There are many things that do not matter either way to God's plan. Space is merely another one of them.

The mark will be something you have to have in order to buy and sell. I wouldn't worry until they say this is the new standard and we all have to have it. And of course, this happens after the rapture so we won't be here...

In fact: If God had a problem with us ever going into space, he would have said so in the OT, restated it in the NT, and we would have know it. God knows what will happen through eternity, so He certainly would have covered this if it was an issue. And we all know the Lord has no problem in telling us what not to do. Therefore, the matter of space travel is something that is irrelevent to God's Word, as long as we don't replace God with it.

Um... Ok, look. The tower was not so man could get to heaven. The issue was not that they built the tower in the first place. The issue was that they had forgotten about God. They had forsaken the Lord in the interest of building the tower. God's judgement was to scatter them and destroy the structure they had built in lieu or remembering Him. If you recall, He does warn you He is a jealous God. Modern researchers know the tower was not created for anything more than celestial observations. Its structure, recorded in other documents, have led to this conclusion. They feel and state that the most obvious reasons that it was destroyed was because it was the object they gave God up for and God's judgement encompassed their entire transgression, not just the tower or them.

That was mean, Nebula. Here I was, enjoying the Astros win and drinking my iced tea and the next thing there's a huge spider sucking juices from a bug. To answer; Basically instead of quietly turning inward I boldly stand with Jesus before me. I don't "feel" a shield or any armor covering me, I just know that Jesus is between me and whatever happens. I remember how He protects me, even though I might be harmed. I remember how He knows my limits and whatever happens is within His intentions for me and to His plan. Sometimes I remind Him of these loudly, lol. Once I got to that point, things became easier to handle that were huge obstacles for me in the past. Its like walking in complete confidence the lions are not going to bother you. You have to have complete faith in God in those areas, but you're not doing it to test him. If you know that you can't or shouldn't be near some things, then don't go to them. Sometimes you have no choice. Say you were watching a movie about space and suddenly the movie takes a twist and has demons. At that point, if I had issues with that subject, I could either exit the movie or say to God, "Ok Lord, now here comes the hard part. Have some of my Pepsi and keep me safe for this." Sometimes you have to "dig down deep" within yourself first to muster the courage to call upon God. I've had someone point a gun at my head and tell me "You're going to die, what you think about that?" It took everything in me to go deep into my thoughts and pull up, "Forgive him, Jesus." Later, I was telling God, "What was that for? I left your parking space alone, no reason for that nonsense!" Yes, I talk to God like that all the time. If I manage to get the right card in Spider (a solataire version) and end the game, I thank him. When I see a good card to play in Hearts, I say "Thanks God, I missed that" or thank Him. When I hear that 5k people died in a bombing, I thank Him that it was only 5k people and ask Him to watch over those who are in need. I do these things as they come up in my life. I got this from a friend, a minister, who told me to train myself to thank God and praise Him daily. Eventually I got comfortable doing this with myself, then in public (because you know how people react) and now I do it when the Stros win or something good happens that makes me happy. I even pray for people here, or add the line "Please look after all those who have no one to pray for them" to my prayers (which sometimes are long, sometimes just a few words). You can do it, Nebula. I don't mean you have to get in there and tangle with things that make you uncomfortable, but you can train yourself to let go and be confident in God. We have to force ourselves into this as it does not come natural. You might never become comfortable with really strong issues, but you will be able to get over those sneaky pictures forum users put in there to make you snark your tea through your nose. I've always felt that you hav eto overcome the hard problems though because until you do the enemy has ammunition against you. Sooner we beat out our own demons, the sooner we can help someone with theirs. FYI - While I got a modicum of "heebies" from the picture, the first thing that went off was "Its just a picture". I mean, I kill spiders all the time. Its not like I jump onto the table and squeal like a little girl "EEEP!", though you will see me jump out of the way and make some other loud declaration that there's a spider near me (use thy imagination). Then I kill it, flush it, and go back to what I was doing. But I will get you back. Oh yes. I will. Mwahahahahahahaaaa...

Oh, don't go yelling hijack. The "Missing Day" hoax involves both parts of scripture. Now if this were to digress into a discussion about the moon...

To further add to the confusion; Scientists think there might be a link between Mars and events in history. Early writings indicate that ancient man was annually filled with fear as the god Mars would 'look down up them for many days and nights, filling the skies with chaos and unleashing terrible storms'. This has largely been ignored, but some feel that at one time the planet Mars was in an orbit that passed very close to the Earth and during this time a major shift in energy between the two worlds would take place. As Mars approached, energy created by the magnetic fields surrounding each would largely pass to Mars. As Mars receded, the energy would then shift back towards the Earth. These periods would cause atmospheric events such as earthquakes, intense storms, and tsunamis like those experienced recently. A splinter theory from this is that these events occured when Earth was protected by a barrier of vapor, which could have collapsed and extinguished nearly all life on the planet at one time. Enjoy.

Did you too hit the "ENTER" key by accident and the text just vanished? That's happened to me. I think it was the "ENTER" key.

The only real issue I have is the same one most Christians have and that's sexual. I've taken it by the horns a few times (as I told to Keith in a PM reply to his PM to me) and its paid off. But I don't do that a lot. I believe that if you withdraw you make yourself weaker to the temptation, so I don't withdraw but I don't go looking for it either. Sometimes you can't help your particular thorn stabbing you and other times you get this totally gratifying joy from God knowing that you walked away and the enemy is hollering loudly about it. Some people won't watch certain movies because they feel they are inviting temptation or trouble, while I watch them and when I see the boogeyman leaping from the roof I say, "Oh man, that's so fake you can see the wires!" They are looking at it one way, I am viewing it entirely another. Like this one, many saw it as a movie about possession, I saw it as a movie with Laura Linney. LOL I hear ya. I still get choked up at 'Where the Red Fern Grows', so I don't watch it anymore. I used to keep King of Kings, Ten Commandments, and some other religous movies and watch them as often as I did Dune, Star Wars, and Alien. My only problem is that none of them (the religious ones) are on disk and mine are too bad now to capture - I've even lost 2 of them due to watching to much. Some movies are just good stories and I appreciate them as such, I just don't like Christians telling me that by watching Alien I am sinning. Best all time movie is King of Kings. If you don't get a positive feeling from it and you don't get more understanding about the events, I don't what will do it then. But that's not what Sallystrothers asked. Sally said "I went to see it tonight. I don't like scary movies and especially ones involving spirits but my friend really wanted to see it. I would say the movie was good. It definitely emphasized that the supernatural is real, but it was a little too much reality for me. One of the interesting quotes at the end was "Once you have seen darkness, you will carry it for the rest of your life". I have found this to be quite true in my own life." Sally never asked how to fight back. Irene stated "Why would a christian even want to see this movie regardless of what your freind wants?? Do not plan on seeing it" To which I answered:Why not? Just because you're a Christian doesn't mean you have to turn inward into a secluded world of only the prim and proper and pleasant. I guess if someone was unsure about their Christianity they wouldn't want to view such things. For me, it was just a trippy drama with neat special effects at times. Don't worry about it. If you, or ANYONE, has anything to say to or ask me, they can do so. Keith did. Didn't ya Keith? Weeee! Ug... You keep them spiders. *shudders* Now I just creeped out all over again.

Sorry, that's "you" in the general sense and use of the word.

Ahh... Best I can recall (and this is as sloppy as it gets) Ok, well with Joshua it was that he was afraid his enemies would fall on Israel if the sun set, so he asked God to hold the sun and the sun stood still in the sky for about a day. The other time, that complete the missing day hoax, is when a man asks an angel for proof and when the the angel offers to hold the sun, the man says that that's been done - or - that can be done easily, but to make the sun go backwards would be proof so the angel says 'ok' and the sun moves backward in the sky about 10 degrees. Hopefully someone can place some scripture up here so you can read it in full and in context.

I have nothing against hypnosis. I've tried it myself, but it did nothing for me. Alas, the thing I needed it to help with hasn't been rectified by anything, including the man upstairs. Oh well, must not be meant to be. Weeee!

I see something, but I think you should pray on it because I don't know you and I would never wish to lead you from God's path. I will pray for you too.

Nebula, please read this as it will probably explain a lot more. Its long, I know. I promise I will never ask you to read anything that long again. So now, once you read that, you wanted to know how can I be insensitive to people who have lived through demonic possession? Well, I'm not. I neither pity them or worship them or place them in any special catagory other than beloved fellow Christian (if they are such). It simply doesn't bother me as it might others. Demonic possession usually removes the person from the encounter, few are ever aware of what happens and have to be told or view/hear recordings. Should we sympathize with someone we share no common experience with on the matter? No. We can empathize though. I feel that if your walk is strong you can view such things without fear or without compromising your faith. For some, they feel their walk is strong, but they choose not to risk it. That's ok too. Everyone has their level of comfort as someone so eloquently stated. Myself, I can do many things because I have been places I never want to traverse again and in faith I never will. If you've had to live through such things and can't view these sorts of things, then you have to do what's within your personal level of tolerance. Only you know what that is. I don't think any less of you if you can't do as I do, as one put it 'walking through temptation', because for each of us there is always one thing that Satan can use to hit us harder than a truck. I've got mine, you've got yours. Mine is just a little easier for me to avoid. Not fully avoidable, mind you (I wish, but I'm working on it), but its thankfully something I can usually stop. Weeee! Sometimes.

Sorry, but I think its clear. But maybe I need to turn it up and pour out my thoughts and feelings on this... See, I know people vary in their intensity of faith. I know some who are so strict a Baptist would choke on it (pun intended), and I know some who struggle with sexual issues and other bad habits. It doesn't make them not Christians, but the attitude of many on these forums are that if you are not perfect - not prim, proper and walking the straight and narrow, you have no business here. To me, its wrong. We're all Christians. I have gone through more personal trials than any Christian I personally know. I do not hate those who have not endured as I have, or seen what I have seen. I do not have the arrogance to think they are inferior to me. I do not think that they are less or more because of their station in life, status in the walk with Jesus, or anything else. Yet I have found severe persecution of fellow Christians where there should be none at all. I find it easier to debate with Aetheists and Muslims, who argue the most mundane and innate because they cannot see the truth, but at least with them there is hope they might hear love and you expect their harshness and hate. I don't care if you don't agree with me. I don't care if you don't like me. I don't even care if you think I am an evil, paganistic, demon-hugging Christian wannabe. However I do care that you treat all Christians who fail to meet your personal standards of measure with the same contemptuous manner that I can expect from those same Aetheist and Muslims. What in the name of God are you doing? Is there an exam for a new pharisee or something and I didn't get the memo? I personally know people who were turned off of God and Jesus, were fully walking in the pure spiritual mysticism found in materials like Letters from God because of people with these tunnels of perfection. I watched them pretend to hear your words and merely dismiss you at first chance. I have seen them pity you for the 'Jesus freak' they believed you were. I have talked to them and when they see me, they see someone who they relate to. They can't possibly relate to the self-righteous, fanatical, preaching fire and brimstone folks who seem to enjoy casting doubt upon their fellow Christians. But then they get around me, they are with someone they know was like them. They see I believe and I have a lot of faith and they see me pray for them. They look at me and think, "If Dave can do it, why can't I?" They look at you and they tune you out. How can you believe you work for God, but that I am the one who will be held severely accountable and found wanting instead of you? How can you say that your view or perspective is the only right one and those who stray from your tunnel vision are lost when we all believe in Christ and we all do our very best to live with Him in our lives? Do you even know that God told us that he knew we would fail, but he loves us anyway? How can you tell someone that watching TV is wrong? That watching movies is wrong? That watching sporting events is wrong? I'm not a goldfish, I need something more than mere existing and these things I choose. And moreso, how can you ever hope to show anyone struggling the Word the glory and beauty of our Lord when you can't even agree to disagree amongst you? You know, I have a lot on my plate to answer for, but this type of behavior won't be one of them. Oh yeah, I'll get nailed on shooting that goat off my car, but telling other Christians they are going to burn in hell just ain't in there. I beg you, please, to reason this - your walk is vastly different perchance from others. If for you you need the narrow path, then stay upon it and I will pray you do not drift to either side. But if you find that you feel that others are not living up to your expectations, I beg you to step back and think about it - its your expectations.

I'm not even going to address the rest of what you wrote, because this piece is so true. Has anyone else noticed that Hollywood is either rehashing old stuff or producing garbage? What happened to Sgt York?!

Hear, hear! And lets slap a helping of southern fried Loch Ness monster in there too! Weeeee!

They also asked how can anyone take it lightly. I think we answered that though.

It looked typical Hollywood and I was curious as to what would be the tale. Some Christians can view things like this and be "alright" with it, other can't. Either way, the usual Hollywood tripe was in there.

Why is it that we have some Christians who persecute other Christians based upon differences in customs? You've got fanatics who don't watch movies, TV, read books, etc, all because they claim these things are wordly. Why does this sound like they should be Amish? By what right do you have to persecute other Christians who do these, because you think you can or should? If you're concern is what you will be held accountable too, do you think that behaving in this manner is a positive or negative for you? The only qualifying certification to bring you to Christ is that you believe and confess your sins and ask for forgiveness? Or do you have to do more to be saved? We are not saved through our works, so then why do you then feel that your works either invalidate or validate your salvation? Why are those hated who choose to feast among the sinners? You wouldn't dare persecute Christ for this, but you persecute your brothers and sisters? Jesus went among the sinners because they needed the Word. Why then are those that do the same not Christians or wrong? Are they faking it? To what end? Why bother? No one can fake something for so long without either giving up or believing the lie themselves. So then what's the issue? Are they confused and you are more educated than they? Are they lacking and your duty is to enlighten them? Would you be helping them them if you convinced them to change their manner, or would you be harming them and/or others? I think very few will understand these questions, but I'm praying.

Maybe because they are still the leaders and people are praying they learned.

I think that we are not told because its not important that we know that information. Things that are not important to our salvation are not in the Bible and I guess these were not.

I live in Texas. We've had the big ones before and this is normal for us. The hurricane did not take the path that the media hoped for (or seemed to hope for) so the path did not strike heavily populated areas. I was here through it, I had no choice. I found the wailing of LA's governor and NO mayor to be typical of people who want to blame others. Its not the governments job to call in the guard or mobilize aid. The governors of every state actually took that power (they requested it) into their own hands so that they could decide when to excercise it. In Texas, Perry (a man I do not support) called for mobilization when Rita hit the gulf, even though the destination was not known. In LA, no one called for anything until after. I think these two things compound the problems everyone went through and create the severe contrast. I place the blame in LA on the governor and mayor, not on the political party (which I also do not support). The governor had taped a hurricane preparation message to be played in coastal cities, but he didn't push for it to go out until the week Katrina came in. Had they been reversed, it would have made little difference. If you think otehrwise, you are sadly misguided and I will explain why. NO sits below sea level and this means that without the levies they would get flooded. They also have poor drainage, further adding to the problems. True the levies were not maintained well, but they were maintained some. The other problem is that most Texas cites that were affected sit inland, but for Port Arthur. The path inland, had it been Katrina, would have seen the same results but probably more outages and for longer periods (we still have people without power from Rita). I think Nebula's observations are fairly accurate, but I wouldn't have said them out loud. I have to look at each one of them and agree that I think a lot of the problems rest in who runs things in the states. Not the parties, but the people and who they are. Perry is fighting for re-election in a state that goes either way, LA doesn't have this problem. And the people in charge in LA and NO, were flat lazy and incompetent. They want to blame Bush for their own faults, but alas the issues rest squarely upon them. Hopefully the loss of life and devastation taught them something. We should pray for those who had to endure this. There are children who are without families now and I think that takes precedence. Good observations though, Nebula.

While speaking of snakes, you know all those stories about them eating people are false, but for one? Snakes can crush you, but they can't eat adults.

Well the Muslims were saying the hurricanes that hit Amercia were Allah showing his contempt for the infidels, so maybe this is God showing Muslims that He's really in charge and not some conceived diety. Everything happens for a reason though, according to God's plan.