Jadzia44

People like you really terrify me. Yes, I agree we are all the body of Christ but what you are calling for is a one world religion. You do not promote acceptance, tolerance, indiviuality or unity. What you are promoting is comformaty, no individual beliefs or thoughts. Yes we should all work as one but you are asking me to compromise my beliefs. I say that because I doubt you would be willing to compromise your beliefs so that we can drop these "denominational tags" as you say. I am first a Christian but I am a Pentecostal. I am not ashamed to say it. Denominations are not bad. It is the closed minded people that are a part of them. It all sounds good on the surface to say things like we need to drop the denominational lines and be one body of Christ but what doctorine is this "one" body going to follow? Yours? Mine? And what if I disagree with you? IS that allowed? Or what I be excommunicated? At this rate Satan won't have to worry about ushering in the one world religion... The CHRISTIANS will do it for him. With you around no one can even ask what church someone belongs to because you would see it as "divisive". You are not asking for everyone to get along you are asking people to have no thought, no idea of their own and just be"one", all in aggreement, all the same. That kind of reminds me of only one thing.....Nazi I do not say these things lightly, I have been up all night thinking about this. I am not trying to be mean but I think Christians should get along ACROSS denominational lines and ACCEPT each other but without being ashamed of who they are and what they belief. Yes we are the Body of Christ but the body has different parts. The foot is not the arm and the arm is not the head. What you are asking is that we all become one part with no differences. I will not conform.

Thanks for sharing these Quotes.They were great and reminded me why President Ronald Regan was the great man he was. He will be missed for years to come. However Butero, I must disagree in part with you. President Carter was not the best president we have had but he is a good man. He has done a lot of good things for the Americal people since he has left his presidency. Not many men much less presidents have spent the time and labor in things like Habitat for Humanity and other organizations. I may not agree with him on everything but I applaud his efforts to help people and from I have seen and understand he loves the Lord. I respect him.

Ok, I am just a practical person. I see things in a practical manner and things that are not practical make little sense to me. That beieng said, it really doesn't matter what my take on the Sabbeth is. If you belief the in the Sabbeth or have some conviction about working on the Sabbeth then you should follow that not my take. However, (here is the practical part coming in) you live with your parents and you are to honor them. To the extend that it would cause you to sin? No, I don't think so but you can compromise. Do your chores in advance of "Sabbath" Don't wait till they ask you do them. If you have everything they need for you to do they will be little they will need to ask of you on the Sabbeth. I am not sure if you are considering the Sabbeth as Saturday or Sunday but whichever, do your chores the day before. You may have to stay up late and do what you can the night before but at least you will not have some feeling that you have done something wrong by doing these chores on the Sabbeth. Also, by doing the needed chores before being asked to will help make your parents happy too. One uestion for everyone else... They did not have paper plates or anything in the Bible days and still had to eat...did they just not wash any dished till the next day? Families ate together a lot in Bible days so there could be a lot of people and a lot of dishes piled up after just one meal. Just wondering how that worked.

Things at my church have been going in a different direction and I am really excited about. My pastor has really been trying to put some pratical insights into his sermons. It is on thing to say that God wants you to love each other and your neighbor but show me how to put that into practice. I will admit that my pastor has been "stepping on some toes" lately but I have really learned a lot. The youth pastor just did a wonderful mini- series on prayer. He was so frustrated with the "we need to pray more, amen and go home" sermons. He spent time explaining why we need prayer, how to pray,the benefits of praying and how to apply this to your life. I love our young marrieds class. Both the young marrieds pastor and youth pastor incorporates videos, mini- plays, stories to show the practical side of what they are teaching. I really come away feeling that I have learned something and the understanding on how to apply it. I have gone to services where I "felt" good and thought " yeah, this is what God wants me to do" but had no idea how to really apply it or how to start. The way pur pastors are doing right not, I reallly love church and feel that I could do these things God wants me to do and live for God in a more deep way!

I think I am a good example of going beyond denominational lines. As I have said in a few other posts, I have close friends of many different denominations. We share things, we do things together. My Catholic friend comes to my church's Easter Drama every year. I have helped out with his Christmas programs ( some years I have even sang and directed some of the program) My parents, who are Baptist have come to activities at my church. They even came to church with me on Christmas Day since they were in town. I have gone to things at their church. Could I attend their churches on a regular basis? Not really. While I can share and discuss with them (with no arguments mind you), I attend my church because I believe in the doctorine of my church. I do not believe that those that believe different are going to hell or anything. That is for God to decide anyhow, not me. I also know that some of my beliefs are not doctorinal but personal convictions. I do have a couple of questions for those that are constantly going on about the wrongs of denominatinal lines (not just here but other threads)which of my doctorinal beliefs will you have me give up? What beliefs of yours are you going to compromise on in order to deminish these denominational lines? I think we can and should share across denominations but if you want those lines to vanish someone has to be willing to compromise their own beliefs. I am not so flippant about my beliefs that I could just let them go by the wayside. Even in this thread this an on going discussion of Baptist vs. Pentecostal. Who is right? As I see it a lot of the problem IS NOT different denominations. It is having close minded people and stereotypes. I don't know how many times when I have said I was Pentecostal that someone made reference to people "hanging from the chandeliers". Which for the record I have never seen anyone to. Although, I would like to just once so I could go to my Baptist friend and say "oh so thats what you were talking about". While I am firm in my beliefs, I am open minded enough to share and get along with others. I agree not all Pentecostals are but I can only answer for myself. We have to be able to see beyond stereotypes and see the people and that starts with the individual. I only have one more thing to say. I unfortnately do not know how to put in quotes, but someone earlier was talking about how their Baptist church would not support a non Baptist efford. That really bothers me. I know my church has several community minded ministries. We actively support Star of Hope. Which is a Christian support for homeless. They are not a Pentecostal organization but we have a team that goes in to offer help, clothes,prayer, what ever is needed. We have several ladies that will go on Sunday morning that live at Star of Hope and bring them to church ( these ladies have asked to come to church), then take them for lunch before they have to go back. Proof you can reach across denominational lines without compromising your beliefs.

I was actually depressed today. I read my Bible some although today's Bible reading was in Leviticus so that was not much for uplifting. I then watched about 2 hours of home shopping network! Woohoo! I then had Blue Bell Homemade vanilla and that made me feel better. Of course unless you live here in the South you don't know what you are missing! I also only got a kids cup (one of those like I used to get in school with the wooden spoon) so I didnt over do it!

As far as the missonary work is concerened. Even if I was absoultely postive God wanted me to go off somewhere I would always talk to my pastor first. God has appointed my pastor as the shephard of our flock and I would always ask his advise in any major decision I made. For example my husband has a Christian band and we had been asked to led worship at several churches outside our denomination. We prayed about it and then went to our pastor. We of course was given our pastor's blessings but I felt so much better knowing that we had discussed it with my pastor. If iwas called by God to a mission field (outside of the home mission field) I would talk it over with my pastor if for nothing else for him to pray for us, over advise. He may be even to help with the financing of such an undertaking or over ways to help raise the funds to go. As far as helping someone in need. Yes, I would pray first but this needs action not just prayer unfortunately I am not in a postion to help someone financially. I am barely hanging on myself. Id o know that if I prayed about it that God could show me ways that I could help this person. I know that a friend of mine at church was looking around her house one day and noticed some common household products that she feltGod was telling her to bag up and bring to me. She did not hvae any money to help us but prayed and God showed her that in her house she had the very things we were needing and had been praying for but this started with prayer. So my answer would have to be pray although the wording on the poll is exact. I definatly could not do it on my own. Lastly, if I was up till late and got up for Bible study it would do me no good. I would be tired and compacted by my ADD the lesson would not even make since to me. Last Sunday I did miss church. My husband was driving all night back home and I sat on the phone and talked to him all the way home because I was afraid he would fall asleep. He didnot get home till almost 6 am and there was no way I was going to be able to get up at 9. I hated to miss but I also know that if I had gone I woul dhave slept through the service and then I would be distracting someone else on top of not paying attention.

A couple of years ago I started playing only Christian music in the car while on my way to work and on my way home. It made a big difference it made. This year I started reading my Bible everyday. I get the Our Daily Bread devotinal and I read it everyday along with the Bible reading listed to read the Bible in one year. They are small steps but I am working on them daily.

This has been one reason that I have not posted a lot more things than I have. I was/ am an inactive member of another board and things got really ugly. Even here I have found some things that really disturb me. The way Christians treat each other across denominational lines is crazy. Just look at the threads on Trinity/Oneness. I am a oneness pentecostal and I have friends that are Baptist, Assembly of God, Athiest, Muslim, Catholic and many others. I have never treated any of them or talked to them in the way that those threads get. We ask each other a lot of questions and discuss our beliefs openly. Yet when I go online to discuss issues with other Christians I am often met with hostility because of the actions of some other ignorant pentecostals. As my Atheiest friend reminds me every group or organazation has members that are so far fanatical you can't converse with them as well as a few that make you look bad but that isn't everyone. As my mother will tell you I enjoy a good debate. I often bring up topics just to get the ole thought process going. I think people should know why they belief what they belief. I also think people should be able to explain their beliefs amongst each other. I do not however think people should belittle each other. Treat each other badly. We are all the body of Christ and the body cannot witness to the world if it is fighting amongst itself. I just really want to thank you for starting this post avadoh because even Paul had to get onto Peter for his behavior. And sometimes we need to be reminded how to treat each other. Jesus said for us to love each other as He loved us. To love each other as we love our selves. To love, love love! Look at how many times in the New Testament we are COMMANDED to love each other. Love our neighbors. Love our ENEMIES. We need to treat each other as Jesus has commanded us to do and you cannot show love to someone if you are treating them like garbage and stomping on their heads.

Well my hubby did good this year. For the first time since the year we got married he brought me roses. 1 dozen pink roses. He did try to get Daises because he knows those are my favorites but all he could find were pretty ratty looking. The roses smell so pretty. I have them on the table beside my chair and I am just breathing in the great aroma. Also, my aunt got me a box of chocolates. I also spent the day with my grandmother. It was a great day. Hubby even got our AngelBaby girl a dozen of her own red roses!

More like a journal. One that I don't have to hunt down my pen and paper everytime I get ready to write. Whuch trust me in my house can be a big ordeal.

This was the advise I gave him as well. I felt the damage done was at the least what they guy had so far paid. I think what I am most angry about (aside from this being church people) is the lack of responsibility. They left the keyboard out in the open where kids could damage it. Kids known to have damage things. My feeling is that when they left the keyboard and it was damaged they decided a damaged keyboard was not worth what they are paying for it. I do agree that what they have paid into should be considered rent and damages. After all if you rent a car and wreck it you are responsible for the damages. Thanks for your advise.

Hey guys! I really need some thoughts on a situation with a friend of mine at my church. A friend of mine bought a very expensive keyboard. He decided to sell it to what he thought was a friend at church. A local music shop told him to take no less than $2,500 (which is still little more than half what he paid for it) but since he was selling to a church friend he agreed to $1,800 and to rather small monthly installments. They took the keyboard home and started making the payments. At this point they have only paid $800. The guy who was selling the keyboard found it left out in the open in the room where the kids have kids church. It has been massively scracthed up.He has since taken it home since he could not reach the buyers. At this point he would be lucky if he could get $1000 for it. The people who said that they wanted to buy have since stopped making payments and have refused to return their calls. They avoid him at church. The buyer has also been spreading rumors at church about the situation. Overall, this is a bad situation. My friend cannot afford to just give the money back especially since he cannot sell the keyboard now for what was aggreed to in this deal. My friend would not have gone this low or taken payments from anyone else but since this was church people he did. I hate to see this because people should not do this to people and those who claim to be Christian should NEVER do this to each other. Of course there is no contract. He didn't think church people would pull this. What should they do? For the records the buyer has not asked for the money back but then again that would be hard to do if you are not returning any calls! Please help! I don't know how this should be handled. Thanks for the help!

Thank you to all of you that checked them out! I appreciate it!

Well there was a fiction and I do mean completly fiction book written several years ago that asked that question. One major problem is that like with an organ transplant you would face problems of the host woman body rejecting the "foriegn" fetus. Her body would see it has a threat and would not maintian it. She would have to take medication similar to those of a transplant patient just to "fool" the body into accepting the fetus. Also, she would have to take some serious hormones prior to the transplant to make her body think it was pregnant. I really do not see how it would be possible given all the time persicion steps to make it possible and even if all that could be done there still would be no guarntee that the body would not reject the fetus. Just as their is no guarntee that a body won't reject an organ transplant. To me while on the sufrace it looks like a life saving treatment it would be just as cruel as an abortion. To put a fetus through all the surgeries, to remove and retransplant, all the hormone drugs and rejection drug therapy and for their to be no sure way to know if it would work seems horrible.