PBfoot

"Of making many books there is no end, and much study wearies the body" (Ecclesiastes 12:12) How does one show himself approved to rightly divine Scripture? How can so many "approved" individuals have many different divinations?

Well, God is pro-Israel, but the question is exactly WHO is Israel. St. Paul talks about conversion of Jews, true. But he also explains that the tree of Abraham (Chrildren of Israel) has many branches that will be cut off and thrown away and many other branches that were not part of the tree will be grafted in. In other words, faith is what makes a true Israelite. Therefore, all believers, both Jewish and non-Jewish, are Israelites. And so, says Paul, for the purpose of saving ALL ISRAEL, including all the gentile believers, the Jews were hardened.

Something I'd like to know more about. I was under the impression that Walmart donates 5% of sales from sites that LINK to Walmart, not from their site sales in general. In other words, if Calvary Church.Org (fictitious) were to have a link to Walmart, then 5% of sales from that link would be donated back. Does somebody know if I am correct?

Note to self: Posts get a little incoherent late at night. Do not post after brain goes to sleep

First of all, do you think that McDonalds hasn't killed anyone? I'm not so sure of that. Secondly, I don't think a stripper could continue to be a stripper. And, yes, I'd have a problem with some roles in Hollywood if I were an actor. But I'm not sure that, suddenly, Stallone has a perfect understanding of God's will the instant he is saved. And, the whole point of acting is playing someone you are not. If the point of a movie is to show how someone was lost and rotten and then found redemption, that's gonna have to be portrayed believably. I don't know what his new movie is like, so I can't judge it. BTW, what about all the actors in the new movie about Esther. Are they Christian? Or are they just acting? What about the Jewish people in the Mel Gibson flick? They aren't suddenly Christian, so what makes it a Christian film? It's not true to the Bible. It's not even much more than a blood and gore film dressed with a Christian theme. One Night with the King is a glorification of Esther. What about Kurt Cameron, was it wrong of him to be on a sitcom? Now he is no longer there. Give Stallone some time before judging him too harshly.

I don't think it's correct to call this Israel the people of God, since they patently reject Jesus as the Messiah and are clearly all about a physical state. Jesus castigated them 2000 years ago for looking for political freedom rather than spiritual freedom. And I think it is really wrong that we support them without their having nuclear weapons, much less since they have them. If we want to spend money protecting innocent people, what about Rwanda or Darfur?

I believe that Stalone correctly identified that sanctification is a life-long process. Jesus wants us to still be in the world, to salt it. So Stalone is in the worldliest of worlds, and has great opps to salt. Doesn't make him perfect, even as Mel Gibson is not perfect. As far as the beer job goes, I'm sure there are many many lines of work where something is done which is not God-pleasing. There are millions of Christians who work for atheist and worse bosses and owners. Should they all just walk aways? Should I try to overthrow my immoral govenment? Should I stop paying taxes? I believe it was Solomon who warned us that being "too righteous" was not good either. I believe he meant to say that we shouldn't separate ourselves from others with some superiority complex. There was the short-live Christianity of Bob Dylan. Ther difference is that Stalone was instructed as a child about Jesus. Maybe not perfectly, but it makes a diff. "Train up a child in the way he should go..."