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Most people have believed throughout history that the True God, if he exists, should be eternally relevant and his works observable over time. (The difficulty for us is that he can work on vast time-scales compared to the typical human lifespan (or attention-span!))

I said the Jewish God was an *obvious* starting place for these basic reasons:

Over 3 billion nominal (mono-)theists (Jews, Christians, Muslims) trace their religious heritage to covenants made with Abraham of Genesis.

Throughout their history, and in accordance with their scripture, the Jews have been scattered, enslaved, conquered, slaughtered, etc. more than any other people on the face of the planet. And still today they retain their identity! Over the great span of recorded human history, Jerusalem (literally "City of Peace") has been the most fought-over city in the world. Armies of the Egyptians, Assyrians, Babylonians, Greeks, Ptolemies, Seleucids, Romans (Jesus 1, Jesus 2), Byzantines, Persians, Arabs, Crusaders, Turks, British, Palestinians, and many others have waged war over her. The Bible says this will continue until ALL nations rise up with the Anti-Christ against Israel in the battle of Armageddon, after which a lasting peace will finally be established by the true Christ (Messiah). How could such a tiny nation be at the "center of the world" for so long?

It is unprecedented in all of human history for a nation, language and culture to be revived after being scattered to the ends of the earth for 2000 years, in the way that Israel has been. Most conquered peoples assimilate into their conqueror's nations relatively quickly. But this was prophecied ahead of time. Speaking as a gentile Christian who loves the Jewish people, that there are still so many unbelieving Jews around for all the world to see is such a great boost to my faith, because it shows the Bible to be historically and prophetically trustworthy. Of course there is much more to this, but you have to study the Bible.

Despite what President Bush and John Ashcroft may say, the global war on terrorism is not being fought because "they hate our freedoms". At root, it is a religious struggle for control over the Holy Land. The Bible has a lot to say about the future, and to see the globalized political, economic, and religious landscapes all coming together in accordance with biblical prophecy blows me away. (Once when I was a physics student at Caltech, the students invited Richard Feynman to come into our class to talk with us. One thing he stressed, and I never forgot it, was how vital PREDICTION was to our UNDERSTANDING. It is generally very hard to predict what will happen in novel circumstances, even highly controlled ones. Prediction is our tool to winnow out a posteriori truth. I had previously rejected the possibility of God. But once I was challenged to look into biblical prophecy, I found more evidence for the truth of the Bible than I had imagined was possible.)

Most people have believed throughout history that the True God, if he exists, should be eternally relevant and his works observable over time. (The difficulty for us is that he can work on vast time-scales compared to the typical human lifespan (or attention-span!))

I said the Jewish God was an *obvious* starting place for these basic reasons:

Over 3 billion nominal (mono-)theists (Jews, Christians, Muslims) trace their religious heritage to covenants made with Abraham of Genesis.

Throughout their history, and in accordance with their scripture, the Jews have been scattered, enslaved, conquered, slaughtered, etc. more than any other people on the face of the planet. And still today they retain their identity! Over the great span of recorded human history, Jerusalem (literally "City of Peace") has been the most fought-over city in the world. Armies of the Egyptians, Assyrians, Babylonians, Greeks, Ptolemies, Seleucids, Romans (Jesus 1, Jesus 2), Byzantines, Persians, Arabs, Crusaders, Turks, British, Palestinians, and many others have waged war over her. The Bible says this will continue until ALL nations rise up with the Anti-Christ against Israel in the battle of Armageddon, after which a lasting peace will finally be established by the true Christ (Messiah). How could such a tiny nation be at the "center of the world" for so long?

It is unprecedented in all of human history for a nation, language and culture to be revived after being scattered to the ends of the earth for 2000 years, in the way that Israel has been. Most conquered peoples assimilate into their conqueror's nations relatively quickly. But this was prophecied ahead of time. Speaking as a gentile Christian who loves the Jewish people, that there are still so many unbelieving Jews around for all the world to see is such a great boost to my faith, because it shows the Bible to be historically and prophetically trustworthy. Of course there is much more to this, but you have to study the Bible.

Despite what President Bush and John Ashcroft may say, the global war on terrorism is not being fought because "they hate our freedoms". At root, it is a religious struggle for control over the Holy Land. The Bible has a lot to say about the future, and to see the globalized political, economic, and religious landscapes all coming together in accordance with biblical prophecy blows me away. (Once when I was a physics student at Caltech, the students invited Richard Feynman to come into our class to talk with us. One thing he stressed, and I never forgot it, was how vital PREDICTION was to our UNDERSTANDING. It is generally very hard to predict what will happen in novel circumstances, even highly controlled ones. Prediction is our tool to winnow out a posteriori truth. I had previously rejected the possibility of God. But once I was challenged to look into biblical prophecy, I found more evidence for the truth of the Bible than I had imagined was possible.)

"Creator" is another name for God. (Note the capitalization.) God is the Creator because He created the whole universe. He created you, me, our parents, and the very institution of marriage itself.

I always like that Freudian slip.

Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you. For he is God's servant to do you good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing. He is God's servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also because of conscience. This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God's servants, who give their full time to governing. - Romans 13:1-6

When Roper says that he'd cut down every law in Englend, he's actually being disobedient to God's law. So while this particular quote from the play indicts the common misperception of Christianity, real Christianity supports the same behavior More upholds.

NOTE: The above Bible passage is often misinterpreted to suggest that it empowers tyrants, etc. For example, some would say that the citizens of Nazi Germany were required, by the Bible, to support Nazi-ism. But that ignores a rather large, and obvious fact of life: Just because God ordains a person to a position, does not prevent that person from abusing their position or using their position improperly. God does not condone any authority that contradicts His own. So if you are trying to determine whether or not you should obey man's authority, the answer is yes, unless it contradicts God's laws as described in the Bible. If you're confused as to what those are, here's a good start.

$.02.

Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you. For he is God's servant to do you good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing. He is God's servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also because of conscience. This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God's servants, who give their full time to governing. - Romans 13:1-6

When Roper says that he'd cut down every law in Englend, he's actually being disobedient to God's law. So while this particular quote from the play indicts the common misperception of Christianity, real Christianity supports the same behavior More upholds.

NOTE: The above Bible passage is often misinterpreted to suggest that it empowers tyrants, etc. For example, some would say that the citizens of Nazi Germany were required, by the Bible, to support Nazi-ism. But that ignores a rather large, and obvious fact of life: Just because God ordains a person to a position, does not prevent that person from abusing their position or using their position improperly. God does not condone any authority that contradicts His own. So if you are trying to determine whether or not you should obey man's authority, the answer is yes, unless it contradicts God's laws as described in the Bible. If you're confused as to what those are, here's a good start.

$.02.

Funny comparison, TAOCP/SICP to Old/New Testament... I suppose Don Knuth doesn't transform you into stone if you can't solve your HM50-rated exercise; neither will SICP raise the dead, although good software design can certainly prevent the loss of many an innocent life...
The allusion to the Bible reminds me that here is a link to the thoughts of Knuth on religion (he is a committed Christian), if you are interested.

Jochen

P.S. (warning, joke!):
Q: How does a blind programmer tell whether his colleague is a BASIC loser or a Scheme poet when he uses his terminal?
A: The SHIFT+8/9 keys are worn out... :-)

How does this apply to people who have been blind since birth and suddenly (through some miracle surgery) have their sight restored?

you'd be pissed when the dove finally made it back with host not found.

Especially since history indicates that the standard retry time was seven days long. 14 days to send a one-bit message ("host found" vs. "host not found") sucks pretty hard.

Better make sure you get the hostname right the first time....

Wow . . . now there is a scary thought . . . a Government bible. What chould be different about it?

Sodom and Gomorrah couldn't be mentioned, due to their destruction based on their status as "wicked" by someone one elses standard.

The prophets of Baal wouldn't be burned to crispy lumps by fire from heaven (they "worshipped a different god" and that is clearly discrimination).

No killing of Goliath by David (violence isn't the answer to problems).

Man . . . all the fun stuff would be left out!

robi

Wow . . . now there is a scary thought . . . a Government bible. What chould be different about it?

Sodom and Gomorrah couldn't be mentioned, due to their destruction based on their status as "wicked" by someone one elses standard.

The prophets of Baal wouldn't be burned to crispy lumps by fire from heaven (they "worshipped a different god" and that is clearly discrimination).

No killing of Goliath by David (violence isn't the answer to problems).

Man . . . all the fun stuff would be left out!

robi

Wow . . . now there is a scary thought . . . a Government bible. What chould be different about it?

Sodom and Gomorrah couldn't be mentioned, due to their destruction based on their status as "wicked" by someone one elses standard.

The prophets of Baal wouldn't be burned to crispy lumps by fire from heaven (they "worshipped a different god" and that is clearly discrimination).

No killing of Goliath by David (violence isn't the answer to problems).

Man . . . all the fun stuff would be left out!

robi

...uses a complex mixture of DNA enzymes to determine where it should place its nought or cross...

Is it one of those obscure biblical units, like a cubit?

'Doth Job fear God for nought? --Job i. 9.'

Maybe it's some kind of animated character that ruins pizzas for fun.

Of course most relgions teach about God, heaven, how to get into heaven, how not to go to hell etc,. that is what religion is about, understanding what is beyond human physical perception and scientific observation.

All religion is not contradictory, they just teach different things. This is only contradictory if you assume they all must be right, a better question is: which teach the truth. Your examples 1 and 3 are classic illustrations of man working his way to God, taken to the extream. In most cases when this happens in the Christian faith it is because men try to change what the Bible says, for their own purposes. The Bible says, man can not reach God, but God reached out to man. Man only needs to accept God's gift.

BTW from Example 2, Christians did not kill Jews. Hitlar killed jews. Some churches did sanction Hitlar's government out of fear or in some cases power tripping.

Of course most relgions teach about God, heaven, how to get into heaven, how not to go to hell etc,. that is what religion is about, understanding what is beyond human physical perception and scientific observation.

All religion is not contradictory, they just teach different things. This is only contradictory if you assume they all must be right, a better question is: which teach the truth. Your examples 1 and 3 are classic illustrations of man working his way to God, taken to the extream. In most cases when this happens in the Christian faith it is because men try to change what the Bible says, for their own purposes. The Bible says, man can not reach God, but God reached out to man. Man only needs to accept God's gift.

BTW from Example 2, Christians did not kill Jews. Hitlar killed jews. Some churches did sanction Hitlar's government out of fear or in some cases power tripping.

Of course most relgions teach about God, heaven, how to get into heaven, how not to go to hell etc,. that is what religion is about, understanding what is beyond human physical perception and scientific observation.

All religion is not contradictory, they just teach different things. This is only contradictory if you assume they all must be right, a better question is: which teach the truth. Your examples 1 and 3 are classic illustrations of man working his way to God, taken to the extream. In most cases when this happens in the Christian faith it is because men try to change what the Bible says, for their own purposes. The Bible says, man can not reach God, but God reached out to man. Man only needs to accept God's gift.

BTW from Example 2, Christians did not kill Jews. Hitlar killed jews. Some churches did sanction Hitlar's government out of fear or in some cases power tripping.

Of course most relgions teach about God, heaven, how to get into heaven, how not to go to hell etc,. that is what religion is about, understanding what is beyond human physical perception and scientific observation.

All religion is not contradictory, they just teach different things. This is only contradictory if you assume they all must be right, a better question is: which teach the truth. Your examples 1 and 3 are classic illustrations of man working his way to God, taken to the extream. In most cases when this happens in the Christian faith it is because men try to change what the Bible says, for their own purposes. The Bible says, man can not reach God, but God reached out to man. Man only needs to accept God's gift.

BTW from Example 2, Christians did not kill Jews. Hitlar killed jews. Some churches did sanction Hitlar's government out of fear or in some cases power tripping.

• Has anyone in the last couple of decades attempted a translation from the oldest possible sources for the Bible's contents?

For a compendium of many translations see The Bible Gateway.

A quick look on the Net for more info should you be interested lead me to this page, which APPEARS to be a fairly decent resource for more info on this topic. (*I haven't reviewed it thoroughly just briefly--but it rings objective*)

There are several versions searchable here

The problem is that a literal word-for-word translation can be very misleading: different languages don't just have different words for things; they have different idioms, constructions, allusions, and thought patterns. This is especially true of things written two or four millennia ago, in a culture completely outside most of our experiences.

Dynamic equivalence is more than just a paraphrase: it aims to be a thought-for-thought translation, yielding a result that puts exactly the same thoughts into your head as the original language would have done to its intended audience. This is why the NIV and others are properly called translations, not paraphrases.

My favourite is the New Living Translation (NLT); it's intended to be as readable as the Living Bible (which was a paraphrase), but as accurate as the NIV. I find it really speaks to me; even compared to the NIV I found nuances and motivations &c much clearer. Well worth a look. (Disclaimer: I've no connection &c &c)

It's one of the many versions you can see at the Bible Gateway, another useful site.

I'm a big enough fan that I actually paid for the e-Sword CD. It's only $15 for almost everything.

For online Bible reference, check out the ultimate Bible search engine.

There are several several groups who have published rulebooks. The end of game scoring is very strange, and each rulebook has a different system, so players of this game are advised to carefully determine which, if any, are correct.

And in the Bible, too.

Stone the heretics alltheweb.com, MSN or AOL!

Oh wait, I meant NYT and Slashdot :-)

Well...Watchman Nee and Witness Lee's interpretation there is a bit "out there". Suggesting that the Antichrist's spirit was in Nero?

Furthermore, verse 15 doesn't say that everyone will be killed immediatly. IANAAGS (I Am Not An Ancient Greek Scholar :-), but based on the handful of other translations I briefly scanned, doesn't it also seem possible to be killed by, say starvation? If you need the mark of the beast (or an RFID tag on your arm or forehead) in order to purchase food, in an urban society you will eventually die.

The simple fact of the matter is, the overwhelming majority of biblical scholars (and Christians who are into that sort of thing) consider the book of Revelation to not be literal. Think about it. If you believe that the Bible is God's inspired word, and that God inspired someone living in Roman times (John) to write a "Revelation" of times far into the future through visions, then how could he describe the things he saw to people in Roman times but through allegory.

And if you're reading this and consider it off topic, consider the following. There is such a thing as a Christian Nerd (although I pale in comparison to several of my friends).

Futhermore, technology that sounds like the mark of the beast is certainly nerdy!

Yes...this always comes up anytime some story regarding chips underneath skin. But it doesn't sound too difficult to slip a RFID tag underneath a hand or forehead.

Sounds an awful lot like this.

You have 1 new message waiting for you.

Adam and Eve tried to enter "God mode." It was all downhill from there. Not good advocacy. :)

Well, Isaiah 13:10 mentions the sun right before the part about the moon: "The sun will be dark when it rises." Whoah! The sun doesn't rise! The earth is just spinning on its axis so that half its surface is facing opposite the sun. Does that make the verse wrong? Of course not. It's just a description of how the sun appears.

And how can the sun rise and be dark? There's no need for wild speculations involving quantum physics. Ezekiel 32:7 provides some more information about this prophecy. In this verse God says, "I will cover the sun with a cloud." A very dark cloud. Simple.

Moving on to the part of the verse actually questioned, common literal translations read, "the moon will not shed its light." The Complete Jewish Bible reads, "the moon will no longer shine." Isaiah is describing what a person will see, and light does in fact normally shine from the surface of the moon. The moon does not emit light; it does shine light in the same way that light shines from a bald head. It's like a TCP packet hopping from node to node from its source address to its destination address. There are many sending and receiving nodes along the way. From the moon to the earth is the second of two hops that "moonlight" makes. When the light shines (emitted) from the sun to the moon, it is sunlight. When it shines (reflected) from the moon to the earth, it is moonlight. If you were on the moon, you would see light shining from the earth ("earthlight"). Since light shines from the moon, that light is its own light for that route of its journey. It's not the original source, but it is the light source as far as most people are concerned. We know that moonlight is light reflected from the sun, but describing a prophetic vision in that way would have awkwardly avoided the common, straightforward, everyman expressions for describing visual appearances of such daily realities and would not have enhanced the prophetic picture of earthly conditions that Isaiah is trying to paint here for people to be watching for.

Leviticus 21:16-21 -- This is about the qualifications for priests in ancient Israel. Just as the animals given for sacrifice had to be without physical blemish, a priest handling the animals would also have to be without physical blemish. It is all symbolic. In contrast, the Messiah brought in the era of personal priesthood. Every believer is to be a priest. Don't ask me to explain the beliefs or practices particular to Roman Catholicism.

Exodus 4:11 -- I don't understand your objection with this text. Read the context.

Deuteronomy 14:7 -- I'll quote from this page:

[T]he Hebrew phrase for âchew the cudâ(TM) simply means âraising up what has been swallowedâ(TM). Coneys and rabbits go through such similar motions to ruminants that Linnaeus, the father of modern classification (and a creationist), at first classified them as ruminants. Also, rabbits and hares practise refection, which is essentially the same principle as rumination, and does indeed âraise up what has been swallowedâ(TM). The food goes right through the rabbit and is passed out as a special type of dropping. These are re-eaten, and can now nourish the rabbit as they have already been partly digested.

Isaiah 13:10 -- Yet again, see the context. This is prophecy to occur near the time of the second coming of Messiah.

Genesis 19:8 -- Well, it seemed that it was going to be either his daughters or the angels. Lot had a terrible set of options. Again, if you read the context, you'll see that Lot did not actually give his daughters over to the Sodomites. Even if he had, it wouldn't necessarily mean that God looked favorably on it.

Might I suggest a book? How to Read a Book by Mortimer J. Adler (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1940).

1. Understand the book - What is the author saying?
2. Interpret the book - What does the author mean?
3. Evaluate the book - Is the author right or wrong?

Every now and then, I stumble upon a website that is just a veritable tome of knowledge

There are 66 veritable tomes of knowledge in this single online compilation. It's completely searchable by word or numerical reference and available in many languages and versions. Five languages are offered in audio, too. It's all free.

Every now and then, I stumble upon a website that is just a veritable tome of knowledge

There are 66 veritable tomes of knowledge in this single online compilation. It's completely searchable by word or numerical reference and available in many languages and versions. Five languages are offered in audio, too. It's all free.

Read Genesis 3 for the details. God told Adam and Eve that they would die if they ate from the tree. The serpent told Eve that she wouldn't die, but would gain wisdom and be like God. It turned out he was wrong on the first point and right on the second. I can see why he is called the father of lies. The most effective deceptions use just enough truth to be enticing.

Read Genesis 3 for the details. God told Adam and Eve that they would die if they ate from the tree. The serpent told Eve that she wouldn't die, but would gain wisdom and be like God. It turned out he was wrong on the first point and right on the second. I can see why he is called the father of lies. The most effective deceptions use just enough truth to be enticing.

Most of these views are based out of old book written by a prisoner about 1950 years ago, on some island in the Mediterranean Sea. Well, actually, technically, two books. The other was written by a bureaucrat/sorceror in ancient Babylon, during the reign of King Darius. Both were and still are widely regarded as prophets and seers of the future and of another world/plane of existence. Both books have consistent prophecies, and the first prophet correctly predicted the fall of Babylon. All I'm saying is, if it's all quiet on the West Bank, well, it might be a good time to stock up on canned goods. Saddam Hussein wants to rebuild Babylon, and hey, that's another sign! Since he's not dead, he has done better than Alexander the Great (who died quite young) and various other leaders from the Babylon/Baghdad area who tried to rebuild Babylon but were killed. Of course, Alexander the Great was no coward. So, the US, France and the rest of the people who have tried have about 35 years to get this Israel-Palestine thing patched up. If you'd like to read the prophecies, they are at: The Book of Daniel
and The Revelation As with most things of this sort, it's pretty wacky stuff, and some of it may be in poem form. It isn't vague like Nostradamus, it's just not very simplistic. Nostradamus I think is credited with saying that two Popes after the really old man from Poland, well, that's supposed to be the last.

Most of these views are based out of old book written by a prisoner about 1950 years ago, on some island in the Mediterranean Sea. Well, actually, technically, two books. The other was written by a bureaucrat/sorceror in ancient Babylon, during the reign of King Darius. Both were and still are widely regarded as prophets and seers of the future and of another world/plane of existence. Both books have consistent prophecies, and the first prophet correctly predicted the fall of Babylon. All I'm saying is, if it's all quiet on the West Bank, well, it might be a good time to stock up on canned goods. Saddam Hussein wants to rebuild Babylon, and hey, that's another sign! Since he's not dead, he has done better than Alexander the Great (who died quite young) and various other leaders from the Babylon/Baghdad area who tried to rebuild Babylon but were killed. Of course, Alexander the Great was no coward. So, the US, France and the rest of the people who have tried have about 35 years to get this Israel-Palestine thing patched up. If you'd like to read the prophecies, they are at: The Book of Daniel
and The Revelation As with most things of this sort, it's pretty wacky stuff, and some of it may be in poem form. It isn't vague like Nostradamus, it's just not very simplistic. Nostradamus I think is credited with saying that two Popes after the really old man from Poland, well, that's supposed to be the last.

Revelation 13:4-18
Men worshiped the dragon [symbolic of Satan] because he had given authority to the beast [understood to be the Antichrist], and they also worshiped the beast and asked, "Who is like the beast? Who can make war against him?"
The beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies and to exercise his authority for forty-two months. He opened his mouth to blaspheme God, and to slander his name and his dwelling place and those who live in heaven. He was given power to make war against the saints [those who follow the Christ] and to conquer them. And he was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation. All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast--all whose names have not been written in the book of life belonging to the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world. [when conferred with other passages, this Lamb is symbolic of Jesus Christ, who was destined to be slain as a propitiation for the sins of humankind in order to reconcile the repentant to God. See Isaiah 53]

He who has an ear, let him hear.
If anyone is to go into captivity,
into captivity he will go.
If anyone is to be killed with the sword,
with the sword he will be killed. This calls for patient endurance and faithfulness on the part of the saints.

Then I saw another beast [the false prophet and sidekick of the Antichrist], coming out of the earth. He had two horns like a lamb, but he spoke like a dragon. He exercised all the authority of the first beast on his behalf, and made the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose fatal wound had been healed. And he performed great and miraculous signs, even causing fire to come down from heaven to earth in full view of men. Because of the signs he was given power to do on behalf of the first beast, he deceived the inhabitants of the earth. He ordered them to set up an image in honor of the beast who was wounded by the sword and yet lived. He was given power to give breath to the image of the first beast, so that it could speak and cause all who refused to worship the image to be killed. He also forced everyone, small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on his right hand or on his forehead, so that no one could buy or sell unless he had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of his name.
This calls for wisdom. If anyone has insight, let him calculate the number of the beast, for it is man's number. His number is 666.

• Fox
• Faustin (and all permutations of the letters that form names)
• Van Friese (and all permutations of the letters that form names)

Taken from the King James Version, so you can't even play the "modern devil-inspired translations" card: references to the moon in the KJV.

Easter is basically Passover with a new focus. Instead of (or in addition to) celebrating the rescue of God's people from the slavery of Egypt, it celebrates the rescue of God's people from the bondage of sin.

Matthew 26:26 tells us that Messiah Jesus, at His last Passover feast, took a piece of matzah, made the b'rakhah, broke it, gave it to the talmidim and said, "Take, eat; this is My body." The Seder matzah represents the crucified and now-risen Messiah.

Just as you celebrate God's grace exhibited through the Passover lambs whose blood saved the believers in Egypt from certain death, believers today celebrate the Lamb whose redeeming blood saves them from a certain death. Just as God raised up the water of the Red Sea to part and provide the way to refuge for His people on the third day after the Passover lambs were slain, God raised up The Way to salvation for the world on the third day after His Passover Lamb was slain. The angel of death passed over the believers in Egypt, and death passes over believers today.

All Jews and Gentiles who trust in the blood of the Passover Lamb should celebrate on Easter. Death has passed over them! The One Who died for us said, "I AM the Resurrection and the Life. Whoever puts his trust in Me will live, even if he dies; and everyone living and trusting in Me will never die." (John 11:25-26) Then He asks the gravest, most substantial, eternally-consequential question a person will confront in his entire life, "Do you believe this?"

Einstein was cool and you know I'm right.

Don't contest this with me.
A second source confirms this.

PI in the Bible

"The Bible says pi = 3."

Does the Bible say pi equals 3.0?

Does the Bible Give a Wrong Value for Pi?

I see four major issues in the relevant Scripture:

1. We don't know the exact length of a cubit.
2. We aren't sure of the complete geometry of what was being measured.
3. The Scripture is giving measurements of real-world objects, not presenting a mathematical theorem. If the numbers seem wrong to us, we're not understanding what was being measured.
4. We don't know what kind of rounding, if any, was being used.

On a tangent: Why do you write "J-sus" as you do "G-d"? To a Christian, it looks like you're giving equal reverence to Jesus and God, and thus, implying belief in the Tri-Unity of God. I assume it has to do with the command not to speak the names of other people's gods.

I appreciate your efforts to bring Jews and Chr-stians together

I'm just trying to do my part to undo 1,700 years of Greek and Vatican confusion, ignorance, and hostility that has separated us. We were meant to be one in the Olive Tree.

though your use of Hebrew terminology for J-sus is disturbing

To me, the church's use of Greek terminology for Yeshua is disturbing. Alas, the dominance of Jesus and the relative obscurity of Yeshua in the Gentile world obligates me to usually use the former term.

Like it or not, Jesus of Natzeret was Hebrew. He was a Jew of the Galil and taught Torah as a s'mikeh rabbi. His Jewish mother surely didn't give Him a pagan name! Jesus comes from the Greek Iêsous, which was a poor attempt by 4th century Greeks at pronouncing Yeshua'.

"She (Miryam) will bear a Son; and you (Yosef) shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins." - Mattityahu/Matthew 1:21 (New American Standard Bible)

The truth is: He was not named Jesus. The Savior was named Yeshua' (Y'shua'), or Y'hoshua', which is a contraction of YHVH and yoshia ("he will save"), resulting in the meaning "YHVH saves." Only now, using Jesus' authentic Hebraic name, does Matt. 1:21 make sense. The purpose of the Messiah was to save us from our sins, and that's exactly what He did. Yeshua is also the masculine form of yeshu'ah, which means "salvation."

Now I'll explain the interchangeable use of Christ and Messiah, in case you were disturbed by that, too. Christ comes from the Greek christos, which has exactly the same literal meaning as mashiach. Mashiach was transliterated into Greek as messias and came into English as messiah. All these terms mean the same thing. Some will argue that "Christ" has an anti-Semitic connotation, but that's in the eye of the beholder and is a matter I'll leave for a later discussion.

If your situation is as you say, then your g/f does not practice what she says she believes and is not what she says she is.

That is to say you cannot claim to be of a faith (any faith or non-faith) and yet live in open and willfull contradiction to the tennants of that faith.

For example, a vegetarian cannot claim to be one and yet eat any type of meat any time she/he wants. If they do, then they don't really fall under that belief system.

That is not to say that to be of a faith you have to follow all the "rules/regulations/ideas" of that faith, unless the belief of that faith is that anything less than 100% compliance is unacceptable. You just cannot continually and willfully disregard selected principles of that faith and only keep the ones you want. If that person does so, then they fall under their own catagory or branch of that faith.

For example a pacifist cannot believe it is ok to kill someone in special circumstances. They either believe the precept or not.

Bringing it back to your example; A Christian does not have to keep all the precepts of that faith to be called one. Far from it, because no one can. They must only continually strive to do so, and not live in open contradiction to those ideas.
robi

To be fair, the original poster quoted a verse from Matthew, which is in the "new testament". Your copy of "Dear Dr. Laura" refers only to "old testament" verses.

Nine verses later we get a nice on topic bit:
"But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.
And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell." - Matthew 5:28-29, The Bible, King James version.

To be fair, the original poster quoted a verse from Matthew, which is in the "new testament". Your copy of "Dear Dr. Laura" refers only to "old testament" verses.

Nine verses later we get a nice on topic bit:
"But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.
And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell." - Matthew 5:28-29, The Bible, King James version.

(assuming you are Orthodox Jewish from your use of "G-d")

When you say "a faith," do you mean Christianity as a whole, or just a personal, home-brewed (corrupted) Christian faith? You would be correct in saying that some people have a kind of "faith in Jesus" that allows them to commit any sin they want. But that is not in keeping with the calling of Messiah or the New Testament scripture.

Christianity doesn't allow sin any more than Judaism does. Both have to make allowances for sin, because the evil inclination is in the Adamic nature of every person. If Judaism didn't "allow" sin, you'd be up the creek without a paddle. Of course, that's not the case. See what David prayed in Tehillim/Psalms 86:5.

Admittedly, there has been a major imbalance in much of Christendom regarding the amount of teaching devoted to proclaiming grace compared to that imploring obedience. It is terrible that many supposed followers of Messiah do abuse His grace by making no effort to repent of sin.

Your comment should not have been moderated flamebait. Your post should be an alarm bell to Christians that we should continually examine our actions, attitudes, relationships, and every aspect of our lives in light of how Christ taught us to live. As an outsider of the church, you can only comment on what you see, and what you see is a lot of unrighteous living and phony religion.

I think that the emphasis on grace and forgiveness is more prevalent in Christianity, because Messiah Yeshua personally commissioned His talmidim to reach out to the goyim/gentiles who, unlike Jews, had (or still have) no tradition of thinking of themselves as part of HaShem's family. It is necessary to keep harping on the fact that one's sin and former disassociation with God will not prevent that person from being loved by Him or from having His Holy Spirit live within him/her.

The problem is that we can't uphold the law. We can't. CS Lewis recommends to anyone who seriously wants to be good, to try to do it all the time. Try to be good 100% of the time. Not 99.999% of the time. 100% of the time. Commit yourself to it for 6 weeks. You'll find, I think, that you can't do it. I certainly couldn't.

So what are we to do about the fact that we can't uphold the law, and yet are required to be judged by it? In the history of the world, there has been only one person who upheld the law. That person was Jesus Christ. He upheld the law fully. He, unlike anyone else in the history of the world, can claim his own righteousness. Yet what happened? He was sentanced to an execution, and not just any execution. An excruciatingly painful one. A crucifixion.

Why? Because the penalty for sin, for being unable to uphold the law, is death. That's what the law itself says. So you and I and everyone deserves death, since you and I and everyone has sinned.

That's where Christ comes in. The penalty for sin is death. And that penalty must be paid. Christ's death was the paid penalty for our sins. He lived a sinless life and yet paid the worst kind of sinners penalty imagineable. Because it was a perfect sacrifice (i.e. because Christ was sinless) his death is the paid penalty for all sinners throughout all history. His life will be the life which is judged by the law. But in order to be under the judgement of his life, you must align yourself with him. If you don't, you will be judged by your own life's measurement against the law.

There's much more to this than my over simplified summary. The book of Romans has much to say about it. But it's probably hard to understand out of the context of the entire scripture. I'd recommend, if you're interested, to read "Mere Christianity" by CS Lewis.

I think that people who would subject themselves to this have psychological problems. Seriously. If you want to view porn then view porn. If you don't want to, then don't. You have a problem if you feel that you can't control your own actions and must have someone watch over you. I hope that they eventually see how unhealthy such actions and attitudes are and seek counseling. Healthy adults take responsibility for their own actions and act accordingly.

A fundamental idea in Christianity is that no one lives consistently according to their own moral standards, all violate their own conscience.

Sometimes, that conscience has been conditioned through bad upbringing, bad experiences, etc. to count as sinful what actually is enjoyable, or no big deal. At other times, a person is so conditioned to accepted what is sinful as normal -- they've lost the ability to recognize sin.

To quote some bible, here's a passage from Romans chapter 7, discussing struggles with sin:

I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. 15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. ... For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19 For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do--this I keep on doing.

This particular passage turns into a repetetive, whining piece of text I never really liked. Sort of how I feel when I struggle with the evil I would not do. I'll admit my conflicted nature gladly.

This will change your mind.

Why does the US defend Israel so much, anyway?

I speak for myself and many Americans by saying that support for Israel is a matter of obedience to God.
In Genesis 12:1-3, God told Abram (later renamed Abraham):

"Go to the land I will show you.
I will make you into a great nation (Israel) and I will bless you;
I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you."

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