speckles

I see where you are coming from, I really do, I'm 44 and have no retirement and am very poor. While there is not much they can take from me, I do worry about my children and their future. Unfortunately my children are old enough that their beginnings could be so bad that they never really get past them. The thing is, the enslavement to banking interests has been the agenda of big business interests from the very beginning, or at least for a very long, long time. It has been the cause of all the wars, even WW2 and the hostage crisis in Iran. It was the cause of the S and L crisis back a while ago and now the cause of the housing crisis. In the end, all financial interests are going to end up under the fed with no oversight from anyone. And then the fed will merge with other international banks (officially, it's been connected for years) and then the financial world will be enslaved. It is, spiritually, caused by greed. But it's not caused by everyone's greed directly, only the greed for power of a few groups of people. However, the greed of individuals (like myself, I confess, I lived above my means long enough to go bankrupt and then decided to never be beholden to anyone again) has allowed this to go by unchecked. S and L's would not have been able to over extend credit if people had not wanted that credit. Fanny and Freddie would have been out of business if people all decided to save money until they could buy a house outright. Investment banks would not be failing if people had not asked for their services. We are, indirectly, the cause of this mess. However, in the future, we can be the agents of change to get out of this mess. They can only enslave us if we want what they have. I realise how badly you want to keep what you earned over the course of your life. But are you willing to be a slave in order to keep it? In keeping with the idea of not getting into conspiracies, let me just say that it really won't make any difference..... either way we are going to be slaves or dead..... and when it comes time to take the mark, it might be a bit easier for those who have nothing. So, I would say that I really am prepared to give it all up anyway.... I don't see any of us here taking the mark, but that's really another thread. Well, I'll refrain from getting too much into the end times and say that I believe the trib already happened, though I do think that biblical prophecy sometimes has more than one fulfillment and there might be another one. In any case I'm not too worried about the end times, though, as I'm beholden to no one and wont be tattooed, microchipped or forced into any state worship. Short of that, though, I think things could get pretty bad, but if enough people cared enough the efforts of people like the Fed and those mysterious dudes who appear to be behind all theoretically conspiratory events would get nowhere. Problem is that people think nothing can be done and do nothing. Even if I will be collared as a slave, I won't go willingly.

I would not be alone with anyone before I was engaged, to start with, that puts the kibosh an a good bit of that "hot and heavy" nonsense. Spend more time on the phone, going for walks in public, sitting on the bench in the park or hanging with friends. And stop kissing. That's what starts it all. These rules are not found in scripture, however, I find them very useful as I am a single woman who was once married and misses that particular act very much.

There is a subtle difference. It is subtle but it is a difference. Molinism answers the question of free will and sovereignty, but it opens up a can of worms that relates to perfection. Why would God, being perfect, conceive of anything less than perfect, or at the least less perfect than what is most perfect? It sounds like I am arguing against myself, but I am hashing this out in my head....no sense in being secretive about that. Well... If God is completely sovereign, He created Satan... And if man has complete free will, how can some things be decreed? If man is predestined, how can a genuine offer of grace be given to all (though we know it is) If God foreknew some things but gave man the ability to do them anyway...WHY? See, the other systems have questions too. That touch on the notion of perfection if you think over them.

Sounds like you've done some homework I am actually having some trouble distinguishing the difference between Molinism and Historical Arminianism. But then again I can't tell the difference between Amyraldianism and Calvinism either. I went on a search and it seems to be more of a philosophy than a theology, it's based on, I believe, a fairly Arminian system but it's more like a "ok, if we all have free will then how can God actually be sovereign, how can He change His mind?" thing taken and stretched to where you say...just before your mind snaps... well,,, if God created all possibilities and then just lets man choose one of them and goes from there, the God still caused it all, but man is still in total free will. It does leave a lot of work on God's part, whew I wouldn't want to have to worry about all the possibilities for all of the lives of all of the people that ever would be and then create realities around them all...but then again I have trouble baking a cake. I haven't seen anything troubling, though, other than I'm a 4 point Calvinist and disagree with it.

I totally agree. I dont want to suffer, but I am not going to become a slave to avoid it.

Sure. Maybe the neighbour wishes to borrow a cup of milk... I did not just see that. How fresh does this neighbor want the milk to be?

Boldly going where no internet has gone before?

Us partial preterests are not concerned about whether America is in prophecy. We just need to know that when the nation does good in the sight of God, it is blessed and when it does evil it is cursed. And that believers are supposed to be wise and that we are not supposed to be overly attached to the things of this world. Keep these things in mind and you'll get by in hard times.

On this we can agree.

Some of you better hope Jesus don't come visiting on October 31. Oh for crying out loud, I am His sheep and I know His voice. He'll call and I'll answer, end of discussion.

I never noticed where you are from but here in the South, if you open the door for someone it means that they are welcome. And those of us who practice Southern hospitality open the door rather frequently. But what if they are actually not welcome? They knock, not knowing if they are welcome, you answer so they think that they are, which puts them in a certain frame of mind only to be told, ever so politely, that you are busy or not interested. Around here, it is considered rude here to open the door just to tell someone that you are not interested in their company for whatever reason. It is more gracious to leave it closed. They know you are not available and leave. Well I could think of several reasons why you might not want to have company on a given night. Perhaps you are having a serious marital discussion. Perhaps you are listening to your child tell you about the bullies at school. Perhaps someone is in the middle of admitting some very embarrassing sin and confessing and asking forgiveness. Maybe you are on the phone talking a teenage friend out of committing suicide. Perhaps you have a contagious disease. It is so disrespectful and hurtful to the people you are interacting with in these cases if you put them off just to answer the door no matter what day of the year it is. But, if you always do that, then perhaps you would be lying to leave someone knocking on the stoop. But the rest of the world decides if they are available for company and decides whether to answer the door or not. And if they know that they are not available for company, they shut off the porch light. This stops people from knocking (or is supposed to when people follow the rules of etiquette). If you act one way the rest of the year and change it for Halloween, perhaps you have a point, but as for me and my house, I leave the light out and the door unanswered if I am not able for one reason or another to have company on other nights. So, if I were to decide not to participate in Halloween, then it would be odd and rude to answer the door and leave the light on. The kids would believe that we were available and had candy when we didn't. First off, I do not believe that participation in Halloween the way most people do has anything to do with the pagan holiday Samhain. It's like the atheists who give Christmas gifts and pretend there is a Santa clause when their kids are little. It's all secular with no spiritual meaning. When the kids ask my kids to dance in the field with all the pagan kids that night that I might draw the line. (if that is what they do, I do not have any idea really). My pagan and atheist and agnostic friends all have access to my home on a regular basis, but they would never expect me to participate in a holiday that I have no spiritual connection to. The guy who fixes my computers has a bumper sticker that says "Where there's a Witch, there's a way." He's here rather often, as we're rebuilding a whole bunch of them and he helps us. But he will be out doing whatever wiccans do on Samhain and I'll be inside my house popping popcorn and watching tv with my kids most likely. When society allows the abuse of one right for us, even if we do not think it's all that important, then it will allow the abuse of that right for someone who really needs to have it respected. Rights must be protected or they become suppressed by evildoers. that's first. Maybe you do not care about your privacy, but I bet that little old lady with a bad heart down the road does. You do her no favors by demanding that everyone give up this right, even if you do it in the name of Christ. Second of all, nobody I believe is advocating being a total recluse with no contact with their neighbours. They just want people to stay off the porch on one night a year, what's the big deal? You do not understand because you are swinging at a strawman. Nobody is advocating telling lies. All they are advocating is the right to be undisturbed one night a year by turning out a light and leaving a door unanswered. An unanswered door does not mean that nobody is home. It means that nobody is available for company. A dark porch does not mean that nobody is home, it means that no company is desired (or the porch light needs replaced). Because of this, nobody is lying.

Really? Could you please quote me chapter and verse from God's Word? I've never heard of the Right To Privacy in the Bible. I don't even think it's in the constitution. I would be very interested to hear your answer. Well for one thing, you have to determine first off where rights come from. They do not come from the constitution, they come from God. Therefore, even if something is not listed in the Constitution does not mean it is not an inalienable right. The constitution, in the 9th Amendment says as much " "enumeration of certain rights" in the Bill of Rights "shall not be construed to deny or disparage other rights retained by the people." The right to privacy runs through the entire bill of rights. You have the privacy of personal beliefs (1st Amendment), privacy of the home against demands that it be used to house soldiers (3rd Amendment), privacy of the person and possessions as against unreasonable searches (4th Amendment), and the 5th Amendment's privilege against self-incrimination, which provides protection for the privacy of personal information. The Liberty Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment states that "No State shall... deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law." Liberty is freedom and has meant that it protects the right to privacy of parents to raise children as they see fit, to make decisions about whether to have children and of individuals to terminate medical treatment without interference (a privacy right). The fact that the law forbids entry of a private dwelling without permission is an express declaration that there is a right to privacy. Otherwise people would be able to go in and out of your home any time they please. Notice I didn't mention stealing or damaging anything. If there is an intruder, he's breaking the law even if he's standing there breathing and not doing anything else. Here in SC we have the right to shoot those people, btw. We wouldn't have that right if there was no right to privacy. As far as for a biblical defense of that idea, I could give one if I had enough time and if you really want to listen. There is no deception going on Bib, that is what everyone arguing with you is attempting to get through your skull. You turn off the light and do not answer the door if it's knocked at. Nobody is yelling "I'm not home," nobody is telling their neighbours that they will be out that night, they just do not leave a light on and leave the door unanswered.

What you observed was in reaction to a statement insinuating that the failure to answer a door after the porch light is out was lying. That is legalism. I will defend the rights of my brothers and sisters in Christ to their freedom in Christ to the grave if I have to do it. And to insist that someone be required to answer the door simply because the person on the other side of it is celebrating a holiday is rude. One of our God given rights as human beings is the right to privacy, something that seems to be infringed upon quite frequently nowadays in the US and other places buying into the whole big brother thing. I wont allow people to have their rights infringed upon in this area and it is especially heinous when the invasion of privacy is attempted in the name of Christ, part of the Godhead who gave us that right in the first place. Over my dead body. Tell us how you really feel, sister, don't hold back!! Yep you can tell you have southron blood, ready to fight for liberty and all. ... But seriously, thanks for clearing that up. I had no idea why you were so hot about it, just like I couldn't understand why they were so insistent that people not answering the door was lying. It made no sense to me at all. especially since it was always the code to darken the porch if you didn't want to hand out candy. I never believed anyone was lying and when you latched on like a pit bull I was confused. You usually only do that about heresy.

Wow, who woulda thunk that leavin the porch light off was such a big deal. That's what everyone around here does if they don't have any candy for whatever reason. We were taught as younguns not to go to houses like that. Like LR said, it's respectful to stay away. I don't participate in Halloween, really, though I do not avoid it per se either. It's like Labor Day and Arbor Day, we know it's there but we only do something if we want to do it. We do all the fall stuff, the corn mazes, the "boo at the zoo" displays, that sort of thing, my kids like decorations no matter what they are for. And some times we've gone to masquerade parties that get put on by some churches if we have the materials and money to do so. Nothing wrong with it. I never heard of it called beggars night before, though somewhere I did hear it called mischief night a time or two. But it didn't seem to be disrespectful to children to have them called beggars when I'd seen LR use phrase in a few posts before that. Sometimes I think people go out of their way to be combative over the stupidest stuff here. Wonder why that is.

He could get into Hospice ministry. I don't know how well they pay where you are but here it's ok, but ... I had a friend who was a pastor, the church he pastored could no longer afford him, so he started hospice. He left the church to go into this full time, he felt like this was the most important work he'd ever participated in. I don't think they have a requirement that the ministers be affiliated with a certain church, *just now*, but that they have a license or something though is good.