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he knock on a lot of sports is that "they're more fun to play than they are to watch" (*cough* baseball *cough* *cough*)

"He who lives by the sword dies by the sword" originating from a paraphrased "all who draw the sword will die by the sword" from Matthew 26:52 in the Bible. http://www.layhands.com/ModernPhrasesInTheBible.ht m

The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine nature--have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. (Romans 1:18-20)

Beware the bearers of FALSE gifts & their BROKEN PROMISES. Much PAIN but still time. BELIEvE. There is GOOD out there. We OPpose DECEPTION. Conduit CLOSING. Acknowledge.

Hi,

How you can trust the book... well, no book is perfect (except the Bible :-) ) but The Case for Christ starts with a skeptical viewpoint and interviews people about various logical aspects of Jesus' life, and how they correspond to the reality of the Roman world. It shows how it is indeed very possible that everything recorded in the Gospels could have happened, and it answers quite a few skeptics questions, including "what if the disciples were duped?" The author himself used to be a skeptic, and he went on a search similar to this and became a believer.

And thank you for NOT lowering your standards! If the God of the Bible really is the true one, there will be plenty of evidence to support that. And I believe there is.

Here's an interesting article that talks about hidden codes in the first five books of the Bible that really could have only been put there by God. There's a book called Genesis Codes by Yacov Ramsel that describes this more thoroughly. I haven't read the book yet (I just found it while searching for things last night) but I'm definitely hoping to read it soon.

Another book I'm currently reading, called Eternity in their Hearts by Don Richardson, gives the account of a bunch of anthropologists trying to disprove God by studying the religions of "primitive" people, expecting to find no real belief in a monotheistic God. Boy were they ever wrong -- not only did they find hundreds or thousands of examples in such belief, but some tribes (who would have not had any contact with Jewish or Christian witness) had legends that were strikingly similar to the Genesis account -- including the Flood!

Of course, far more important than all this is that God really does answer prayers today. Those that seek Him find Him. He comforts, guides, and even heals.

If you have any serious questions about any of this, feel free to drop me an e-mail. micah AT JesusIsLife DOT net

whoa. Please read this article, which is the most comprehensive Bible study I've seen on whether sinners will actually suffer forever. Unfortunately, there's quite a bit of evidence that they will.

Perhaps you should just look to the fact that you exist for evidence.

I'm not going to get into a debate about evolution here, but do you really think that beings as complex as humans could really evolve by pure chance? (I won't get into a debate on evolution vs. creationism because God could have used evolution to create. Even if He did that, what counts is that you see the hand of God in it.)

Seriously. We have extremely complex organs, especially our brains. But beyond that, we have emotions and feelings and consciences. How could all that come about by pure unguided chance?

but Ok, there's more evidence.

Did you know that a core belief in monotheism (God) is very prevelant among "primitive" peoples? I'm currently reading an absolutely amazing book called Eternity In Their Hearts, which documents many examples of that. There are many cases where God revealed to the people that they would soon meet someone who has His written word, and those people received the Gospel message joyfully (even after spending centuries fending off other religions).

Want more? Jesus Christ did many healings in Bible times to prove that He was Who He said He was. Guess what -- He still does the same thing today! This site has quite a bit of useful information on that topic. And I know it's true. I have heard of many supernatural, instantaneous healings from friends and church people, and have even witnessed a college friend being healed from Attention Deficit Disorder. It really happens. The name of Jesus is powerful!

Or perhaps the fact that the Bible presented a perfect picture of what the world looks like today is good evidence. 2 Timothy 3 sums up men's attitudes these days very well. Jesus talked in Matthew 24 about earthquakes, famines, etc, but "the end is still to come". There have been significantly more earthquakes and famines in the last century or two than previously. Note in verse 24:7 "Nation will rise up against nation." The Hebrew phrase "x against x" means a TOTAL conflict, where every "x" in the set was involved. Jesus basically predicted World War 2 here. Then there's the fact that Israel is a nation again, with their own "king", which was prophesied repeatedly in the Old Testament. Do you have any idea how unlikely that seemed, even in the early 1940s? Then the prophet Daniel said that "many will go here and there to increase knowledge" in the last days. Airplanes anyone? Travel is far, FAR more common now than it ever was before. And all this is happening at the SAME TIME! And there's quite a bit more, this is just a brief sample from my memory. Oh what the heck, here's a link to a pretty good list of them.

Here's an article that gives some interesting evidence that the Torah (first five books of the Bible, which contain the creation story and the Law of Moses) could ONLY have been given by God. Hint: there are codes embedded in the Torah that predict future events.

This is just a few examples of why faith in God, and specifically in the Bible, is entirely reasonable!

Perhaps you should just look to the fact that you exist for evidence.

I'm not going to get into a debate about evolution here, but do you really think that beings as complex as humans could really evolve by pure chance? (I won't get into a debate on evolution vs. creationism because God could have used evolution to create. Even if He did that, what counts is that you see the hand of God in it.)

Seriously. We have extremely complex organs, especially our brains. But beyond that, we have emotions and feelings and consciences. How could all that come about by pure unguided chance?

but Ok, there's more evidence.

Did you know that a core belief in monotheism (God) is very prevelant among "primitive" peoples? I'm currently reading an absolutely amazing book called Eternity In Their Hearts, which documents many examples of that. There are many cases where God revealed to the people that they would soon meet someone who has His written word, and those people received the Gospel message joyfully (even after spending centuries fending off other religions).

Want more? Jesus Christ did many healings in Bible times to prove that He was Who He said He was. Guess what -- He still does the same thing today! This site has quite a bit of useful information on that topic. And I know it's true. I have heard of many supernatural, instantaneous healings from friends and church people, and have even witnessed a college friend being healed from Attention Deficit Disorder. It really happens. The name of Jesus is powerful!

Or perhaps the fact that the Bible presented a perfect picture of what the world looks like today is good evidence. 2 Timothy 3 sums up men's attitudes these days very well. Jesus talked in Matthew 24 about earthquakes, famines, etc, but "the end is still to come". There have been significantly more earthquakes and famines in the last century or two than previously. Note in verse 24:7 "Nation will rise up against nation." The Hebrew phrase "x against x" means a TOTAL conflict, where every "x" in the set was involved. Jesus basically predicted World War 2 here. Then there's the fact that Israel is a nation again, with their own "king", which was prophesied repeatedly in the Old Testament. Do you have any idea how unlikely that seemed, even in the early 1940s? Then the prophet Daniel said that "many will go here and there to increase knowledge" in the last days. Airplanes anyone? Travel is far, FAR more common now than it ever was before. And all this is happening at the SAME TIME! And there's quite a bit more, this is just a brief sample from my memory. Oh what the heck, here's a link to a pretty good list of them.

Here's an article that gives some interesting evidence that the Torah (first five books of the Bible, which contain the creation story and the Law of Moses) could ONLY have been given by God. Hint: there are codes embedded in the Torah that predict future events.

This is just a few examples of why faith in God, and specifically in the Bible, is entirely reasonable!

Perhaps you should just look to the fact that you exist for evidence.

I'm not going to get into a debate about evolution here, but do you really think that beings as complex as humans could really evolve by pure chance? (I won't get into a debate on evolution vs. creationism because God could have used evolution to create. Even if He did that, what counts is that you see the hand of God in it.)

Seriously. We have extremely complex organs, especially our brains. But beyond that, we have emotions and feelings and consciences. How could all that come about by pure unguided chance?

but Ok, there's more evidence.

Did you know that a core belief in monotheism (God) is very prevelant among "primitive" peoples? I'm currently reading an absolutely amazing book called Eternity In Their Hearts, which documents many examples of that. There are many cases where God revealed to the people that they would soon meet someone who has His written word, and those people received the Gospel message joyfully (even after spending centuries fending off other religions).

Want more? Jesus Christ did many healings in Bible times to prove that He was Who He said He was. Guess what -- He still does the same thing today! This site has quite a bit of useful information on that topic. And I know it's true. I have heard of many supernatural, instantaneous healings from friends and church people, and have even witnessed a college friend being healed from Attention Deficit Disorder. It really happens. The name of Jesus is powerful!

Or perhaps the fact that the Bible presented a perfect picture of what the world looks like today is good evidence. 2 Timothy 3 sums up men's attitudes these days very well. Jesus talked in Matthew 24 about earthquakes, famines, etc, but "the end is still to come". There have been significantly more earthquakes and famines in the last century or two than previously. Note in verse 24:7 "Nation will rise up against nation." The Hebrew phrase "x against x" means a TOTAL conflict, where every "x" in the set was involved. Jesus basically predicted World War 2 here. Then there's the fact that Israel is a nation again, with their own "king", which was prophesied repeatedly in the Old Testament. Do you have any idea how unlikely that seemed, even in the early 1940s? Then the prophet Daniel said that "many will go here and there to increase knowledge" in the last days. Airplanes anyone? Travel is far, FAR more common now than it ever was before. And all this is happening at the SAME TIME! And there's quite a bit more, this is just a brief sample from my memory. Oh what the heck, here's a link to a pretty good list of them.

Here's an article that gives some interesting evidence that the Torah (first five books of the Bible, which contain the creation story and the Law of Moses) could ONLY have been given by God. Hint: there are codes embedded in the Torah that predict future events.

This is just a few examples of why faith in God, and specifically in the Bible, is entirely reasonable!

uh yeah. The Rapture will solve all kinds of problems -- traffic as you say, overcrowding, overpopulation, bandwidth clogs, etc.

As long as you don't mind replacing them with minor things like widespread chaos as planes and cars crash due to sudden lack of drivers, nuclear war as the one world government takes control, etc. I'm sure it will be a blast!

As for when....... who knows, but I think it's getting close!

Well you're right that the primary purpose of the mark is a symbol of (misdirected) worship. However, due to the nature of the one world government, it *does* seem likely that it will be a literal mark. In a cashless society, it would be quite easy for said government to require a scan of the mark for any transaction, thus being consistent with the scripture saying that the mark is required for anyone to buy or sell.

No generation before us would have had technology to do that, and that was my point.

There are an astounding number of other things, technologically and otherwise, that are required for the fulfillment of prophecy in Daniel and Revelation that are possible or practical for our generation and NO generation before us!

Please see this article for more info: The Signs of the Times

• Surprise element. The Bible says we will be changed in the "twinkling of an eye" and Jesus will "come like a theif". This is so we will always be ready. If it happened at the end of the tribulation, we would not be surprised when it happened.
  
• It should be noted that Paul's "Last Trumpet" does NOT equal the seventh trumpet of Revelation. Revelation was revealed to John about 30 years after Paul's death! He would not have known about those trumpets.
  
• These saints that the Antichrist will wage war against are the Tribulation Saints, those who will be saved AFTER the rapture. Revelation 7:9-14 seems to attest to this, saying that "a great multitude that no one could count" of saints will come out of the Tribulation.
  
• God's plan for the Trublation -- the final 7 years of human history on earth -- is to punish the unbelievers and give them a final chance to repent before REAL punishment. He NEVER intended to punish believers, and it is consistent throughout Scripture that God's wrath falls only upon those who reject Him. Compare with the plagues on the ancient Egyptions -- they did not affect the Israelites!