While as a Windows OS users for' 20 years I don't LOVE 8, I do see where they are trying to head. No Windows 8 is not perfect, but it is the first OS that is trying to bridge the tablet/laptop gap. I'm currently typing on my Surface and love a lot, hate a little. My hope is that over the iterations, I will love more and hate less.
The real game changer for me is that the keyboard is close to the screen and touching the screen for many things is a lot easier than keyboard shortcuts or using a mouse/touchpad. When I move to a laptop, I find myself touching the screen to try to do basic functions. I do wish all laptops came with a touch screen now and am understanding the direction of Win 8. For all of the failures and frustrations with 8, try to consider the direction they are heading and the potential awesomeness of small, portable, touch screen devices with real keyboards that allow for productivity and interactivity beyond the typical laptop and with most of what we like about tablets. My daughter's Lenovo Yoga is also perfect in this regards. My son's powerful Asus Win 8 laptop is a little frustrating...no touch screen.
My point comes down to this, anyone reviewing Window 8 should do so with a touch screen. Never install in a desktop. If you are doing a gaming computer, wait for MS to find a better balance between desktop use of their OS and the portable design, which metro is intended for.
Dang! I just was finishing writing a reply and I lost the posting box, somehow....now need to start over:( Perhaps I'll be more brief than I just was...and not lose it
If this is a serious question of yours and not just a desire to argue, I would highly recommend C.S. Lewis' book, "Problem of Pain". It is very deep. He is brilliant and does a good job of discussing this from every angle.
I'll do my best without writing a book, but ultimately, you can choose to agree or disagree (see, isn't free will a great thing...hehe).
From what I understand (which is limited in comparison to other apologist), when God created heaven, everything was good. There was no evil, but their was also choice. That led one angel to think more of himself and think he could be equal with God. Crazy thought, but he had that. He gathered a good portion of other angels to think his way. More stupidity. That pride was the start of the problem. Could God have created angels with no ability to sin? I would assume so. He didn't. Why? Love. God is love (please don't reverse the logic and try to claim that love is God) It is a statement of the essence of His Character not that each person who does what they call love is actually a god.
The basic quality of love is that is must be chosen (a choice) for it to be real. Love cannot be forced. If you try to force someone to love you, it is not real, is it? God chooses to love us (why, I don't know...we don't deserve it and are pretty pathetic). He wants to give us the choice to love Him back (or not). For that essential choice to exist, you must have the ability to choose Him or not choose Him. If God were the ruler of the whole earth today, you would not have a choice.
The truth is that God is not a controlling and forcing God. He is an allowing God. We don't want evil, but they still want a choice. The only choice other than God is life without God. That is what Satan wants and desires everyone else to follow. You are either for God or you are against God. All evil is simply people choosing something over God. For God to make it possible for us to freely choose Him, to freely love Him, there must be an alternative choice.
I look at the Bible simply like this....In the beginning, God gave Adam and Eve the 'keys' to earth. Adam and Eve handed the keys to Satan. Jesus came and took the keys away from Satan and handed them to the church. The problem as it is exists today is what the church is doing with the 'keys' to earth. Unfortunately, a lot are doing a pretty poor job. Is God tired of this and ready to bring it all to an end? I sure hope so! Soon! I'm ready for a real change.
I hope I did that argument justice. I feel like I could write a book...perhaps this thread will become one;) Thanks again for not being mean-spirited in your discussion here. All to often on/. I find that people that cannot enter into an intelligent discussion about God just claim anyone who believes in God is crazy and start name calling. Look back through history to see how many of the greatest minds in history did believe in God...and were very smart!
I think a common saying among the Christians has actually had the reverse effect they thought it would when someone said, "Hate the sin. Love the sinner." Problem is that they get confused and end up hating the "sinner" and trying to define who they are. Truth is, we're all screwed up (i.e. sinners). The only difference is that some are forgiven and some are not.
I do hate some things. I hate injustice. I hate evil. I hate the treatment of some women and children around the world. I hate evil done in the name of all religions. The real challenge is how you deal with those doing these things. That is the challenge that Christians face when seeing things that are evil and trying to respond.
If it helps add to your judgment of me, I used to be a project management consultant in the Silicon Valley earning LOTS of money (Bio-tech and IT). I gave that all up to help and serve the poor in the world. This year I have already been to India, South Africa and Kenya. Heading soon to Peru, Bolivia, Madagascar and back to India. I help bring clean water, food growing technologies, micro loans and enterprise, and a website designed to help encourage more to do the same. I believe it and I do it, and my family has made the sacrifice of not having all the "stuff" we could have had if I were still earning good money. I earn squat now, but living the life that Jesus lays out is far better than having millions...in my opinion.
I guess, the reason I'm writing so much on this thread is because I do understand the Bible and am living it out as best I can. I'm not perfect. I do make mistakes, but I'm trying hard to follow Christ. When people try to convince others that Jesus is a bad guy or God is not good, that drives me crazy, because I do understand the Bible, God and what we are called to do. If you find a place where people are really following Christ, you will never want to leave that place...it will be so good for everyone. Unfortunately, most of what people see is a religion ABOUT God and not those who have a relationship WITH God. I hate religion. I love relationship. The early followers of Christ were called followers of "The Way". People saw them and wanted to be a part of their group just because of the way they loved one another. On the outside, people wanted to join so they could learn and be a part of that love as well.
Great. now let's get the context of all of that, if you don't mind.
In Matthew, please read the whole chapter (or the whole book, if you really want to get context). The King James version you quoted is pretty hard to understand, in my opinion. here is a better translation. "Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword." Out of context most people would say that Jesus is a pretty mean guy. Since you are only quoting that verse and not all of the rest of the New Testament, I'll just stay in the context of that chapter. Jesus is talking directly to his disciples that He was sending out to do heal people and bring a message of good. He was telling them about the hardships them will encounter. He warned them that people will try to harm them and even want to hurt them (not much has changed today, eh?). He was stating that the message he brings is so hard for the religious to accept that they will be going to war against you....hence what you see today with the Muslims committing to kill Christians (and doing so broadly across the world without very much resistance from the world). Christ came with a message that ends up bringing out the worst in others....sometimes.
In Luke 22, Jesus was again talking to His disciples. He was once again telling them about the hard times that were about to come to them. He was telling them basically, "don't just sit on your butts and think that everything will be peachy all the time and no problems will ever come your way. Be ready to defend yourselves and your lives against evil." Read the whole book. You'll see how this fits and how it is still true today.
In Luke 22:49, the religious leaders were now coming after Jesus with a small army with swords. One of those following Jesus missed the point of the "sword analogies" and actually took a sword and cut off the ear of the servant of the priest. Jesus rebuked him and told him to put it away. Jesus then picked up the ear and put it back on to show that it was not His intention to even cut off an ear in defense of Himself.
Now, if you want to be an honest debater, Google what Jesus says about peace, love, humility, generosity, repentance and forgiveness. See what verses come up with those....and always read in the context of the whole New Testament. You can, if you want to distort it, prove anything you want using just a few words out of context...just look at politics today...don't do the same thing that politicians do by quoting only a single verse or sentence or phrase without the whole context, please. That would be fair.
No. God is a big boy. He isn't frustrated in heaven wondering what went wrong. It's no a surprise to him that evil would take the course it did. It was his plan back at the time of creation that He would send His son to die for our evil. That is what Jesus did.
You forgot the argument that, if God is omnipotent, can he create a rock so big that he can't move it? Either way you will claim then He is not omnipotent. He is not constrained by anything except Himself. He could say at any moment, "Enough is enough!" and it will all end. In fact, that is what will happen someday. There is a difference between power and control that I think you may be confusing. To say that you have the power, authority, and/or ability to discipline your children are all different things. God can, but holds himself back...at this time. He is allowing those that follow Him to try to make things right...though I would admit most followers of Christ are doing a pretty poor job of following Him and making a difference. I'll give you that.
So what you are trying to argue is that we can freely choose between good #1 or good #2. I'm arguing that people can either choose to believe in God and follow Jesus or not. That is the free will choice you have today. Nobody is forcing you, but they both come with consequences and results.
Lastly, I didn't say that God couldn't create a universe without evil. He chose to create it this way. When I get to heaven, I'll ask Him why he did it this way. You proposing that God is constrained or required to do anything is your presupposition, but I cannot see how it is required or constrained by anything. Our government, in the US, allows people to freely choose to do good or evil. Do evil, and we will try our best to make you pay the price of that. Our government is not constrained, it is showing self-constraint by not doing too much to CONTROL everyone and everything they do...which today in the US is what everyone is fighting for and angry with our government when it oversteps these desires.
BTW...thank you for not being rude, condescending, or arrogant in this discussion. It makes an intelligent discourse possible. It seems to show lack of intelligence when people just end with calling names. So, thank you again for that!
Many churches miss the teaching of Christ here as well. I'm a committed Christian and have been most of my life. Even though I went to a 'conservative' Christian college, upon graduation I got married. You know who we the ushers at my wedding? A gay couple that were involved in the theatre my wife was a part of growing up. We honored them and loved them the way Christ does. If all Christians actually acted the way Jesus did, they would actually show anger at the religious leaders (including pastors and priests that miss it...that is what Jesus did) and show love and compassion for everyone else.
God is all-knowing and did know that this was going to happen and had a plan in place to deal with it...Jesus
God is all powerful but in allowing free will (giving you the ability to choose) He has allowed evil as much as we desire it. People choose evil. You may not choose God. Who do you choose? If you are not for Him, you are against Him. Do you know who else is against God? Evil doesn't force itself on people. If God didn't allow this choice, you would be called a robot and have only good to do and not allowed to do anything else. The next logical question is why should there be free will. The answer is that love is only love when it is freely chosen. If your child is forced to love you, is it really love? If your child chooses to love you, you know the difference.
God is good, all the time. He does allow evil, but never condones approves or encourages priests to do evil things. That is each person's choice.
Uh, NO!! All evil is a distortion of what is good. Example. Rape instead of sex in marriage. God created sex (which I am personally grateful for and enjoy daily with my wife). Man with the help of whatever you want to call evil (evil spirits, the devil, 'evil') distorts the good thing and encourages many to do wrong.
yes, in the biblical concept, God create the angel that we now refer to as Satan, but the angel was created good and was good until pride caused him to think he was as good as his creator. Sounds crazy, but men and woman all around the world do the same thing with God today.
Satan has never created anything. he just tries to constantly corrupt that which is good.
It is what Christian churches teach. The problem is religion. A relationship with God causes people to love. The religion that has consumed a lot of Christians is about rules and trying to make the world follow those rules. Bible has been used to do the wrong things. That is what we call taking it out of context or missing the obvious point. The crusades were using the Old testament model of getting rid of evil as their guidance. They were misguided.
I've read the Bible over 15 times straight through. If you want to argue me on verses, i will quote the entirety of the New Testament (with nothing taken out of context). If you want to quote the Old Testament, I will simply say that it is a great example of the problems of man and struggle that God had in trying to deal with a sinful world...which led to the need and solution found in Jesus.
Please don't quote the evil done in the name of Jesus when it was never Jesus who said they should do that. That is simply more and more examples of men screwing up big time and trying to justify their actions with religion. I don't like any religion...including the spirit of religion that has captured a lot of Christians. I believe in a relationship with God and follow Christ. It is good. there is NO EVIL in what He did or says to do....ever!
You are mistaken. The Bible records violence (ancient...thousands of years ago), BUT the guidance it gives for followers of Christ (which is in the New Testament) is DEFINITELY not violence. The overwhelming guidance, instruction and command is to LOVE. It goes so far as to command "LOVE YOUR ENEMY". Unfortunately, too many followers of Christ don't fully understand this and fall into an Old Testament view of how they should behave.
If people really studied what the New Testament is calling people to do, you wouldn't find anything objectionable. It is all about, love, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, self-control, forgiveness, repentance, humility, etc... What is wrong with any of that? Nowhere in the New Testament (again, the instructions for followers of Christ today) does violence upon anyone even come into the picture. Read it before making blanket statements.
On my desktop, yes. On my Surface and my kids convertibles with touch displays, no. The Metro and the use of the tablets/laptop/computer makes a lot more sense. Before throwing out the baby with the bathwater, get yourself a Surface or convertible and spend some time using it for what it was really designed for....the bridge between tablet/phone and computer. As fewer and fewer people are buying desktops anymore, this operating system is the first attempt to marry tablet with laptop in functionality.
I hate it on my desktop (won't install it). I like it and it works well on my Surface.
Same with me, but I was about 13 and it was a Model 1 Level 2. I thought it was 16k, but could be wrong. The difficulty was that on mine, the k, r, s v, a and many other keys would randomly double or triple itself when typing. Which means I was using the backspace about 5 times per line. I would call it deep training to be persistent...especially the few times I worked all day on entering code I found in a magazine to only sit back, stretch out and accidentally kicking the power supply and deleting all my work. Boy, how disk drives changed my life after tape.
Moon, didn't you know it is your right to have an atmosphere. How dare anyone deny you your right to defend yourself. Who will you sue for damages? Your face has been forever changed and someone else must pay for that!
Health care is not a human right. It is a privilege. If you really felt that way (that it is a right), you would extend that to everyone in the world to get at least some health care, whereas the current 1st world understanding is that only they get complete and total coverage and the absolute best care for everything that may ever happen to them. I travel the world extensively in almost entirely with the poor and needy. I can tell you, there is not much attention given to them, while back home in the US, everyone is wondering whether they will be given a $100k surgery for free to fix their bad toe nail (obviously, an exaggeration).
My bet is that the government purchased the rock for their road projects. Look to India, you will find vast numbers of people that are enslaved by the government to crush rock for their roads (paid about $25/month for a family to fill a truck with sand/gravel). There won't be charges, because it will lead back to themselves.
Thank you for demonstrating my point. Though this article, quoting the UN, talks about insect farming AS ONE OF THE OPTIONS, they want to promote this as an alternative for more people around the world who are suffering from malnutrition, the article says. Here is the how this would play out:
People that are malnourished are often so because of lack of money to purchase food. If people start eating more insects, the poor (and malnourished) will try to get the bugs themselves or farm them (they won't have the money to purchase them). The result will be a more dangerous diet.
While many will look at this article in the context of their own living situation, the common failure of the UN is understanding how this will translate in the poor around the world.
Perma-culture, since you doubt it, too, can be easily looked up. I was in Zimbabwe last summer in areas where the UN had already been working with farmers. They were all talking about the UN reps and their plan to use perma culture as a way to improve yield. Not one of them was even going to try it, nor could they, unless they wanted their family to starve in the first three years.
My point is to step outside of our worldview when proposing ways to help and understand what will really happen when we head down a road. This is not a good idea and will be shot down by people that have real practical experience and knowledge in 3rd world conditions.
The reason is that some cultures, like India, that are predominately vegetarian by choice or situation are often malnourished. While you may be able to maintain health in 1st world conditions and supplement your diet with all kinds of vitamins or special plants, those around the world without a Whole Foods store are suffering from malnutrition that could be avoided with a little meat added to their diet. Ever seen a malnourished child that eat a lot of food. I have. Promote vegetarianism is developed countries, but help those in less developed countries get what they need today so their children get a fighting chance in a hard life.
I see your point, but as someone that travels a lot to 3rd world conditions to help the poor (Kenya tomorrow), I can tell you that the UN often doesn't think things through well. The problem with this is two-fold: 1) Insects can digest and carry more disease than plants. The fact that insects are animal and not plant allows them to be carriers...like Malaria for mosquitos. 2) The insects are actually crawling around in the crap. Plants aren't. Food needs to be prepared carefully. This care of washing and cooking to the right temperature and separating raw meat cutting surface from cooked meat surface is not well practiced around the world.
While there may be same "value" in this food, I would easily imagine more people getting sick from trying to eat the insects and digesting the bad stuff inside and outside them.
Want to see other bad ideas from the UN, look up their Perma-Culture. While the concept is proven and helpful, try to going to poor people barely growing enough food and convince them to go 4 year with below normal crops in hopes that 7 years from now you will have a bumper crop...oh, yeh, then through in a drought every 7 years and see how much this idea helps.
This is true for developed countries where the children who excel in those subjects can find a job where that matter. Whoops! Forgot to include most of the population in the world where this study will fall apart due to opportunities.
love you, too. You're so sweet and kind. Must be nice to be in a country that doesn't care about anything the people in the country produce and what happens to it around the world. Be glad China, Iran, North Korea or many other countries around the world are not a super-power.
Slashdot Mirror
While as a Windows OS users for' 20 years I don't LOVE 8, I do see where they are trying to head. No Windows 8 is not perfect, but it is the first OS that is trying to bridge the tablet/laptop gap. I'm currently typing on my Surface and love a lot, hate a little. My hope is that over the iterations, I will love more and hate less.
The real game changer for me is that the keyboard is close to the screen and touching the screen for many things is a lot easier than keyboard shortcuts or using a mouse/touchpad. When I move to a laptop, I find myself touching the screen to try to do basic functions. I do wish all laptops came with a touch screen now and am understanding the direction of Win 8. For all of the failures and frustrations with 8, try to consider the direction they are heading and the potential awesomeness of small, portable, touch screen devices with real keyboards that allow for productivity and interactivity beyond the typical laptop and with most of what we like about tablets. My daughter's Lenovo Yoga is also perfect in this regards. My son's powerful Asus Win 8 laptop is a little frustrating...no touch screen.
My point comes down to this, anyone reviewing Window 8 should do so with a touch screen. Never install in a desktop. If you are doing a gaming computer, wait for MS to find a better balance between desktop use of their OS and the portable design, which metro is intended for.
Dang! I just was finishing writing a reply and I lost the posting box, somehow....now need to start over :( Perhaps I'll be more brief than I just was...and not lose it
;) Thanks again for not being mean-spirited in your discussion here. All to often on /. I find that people that cannot enter into an intelligent discussion about God just claim anyone who believes in God is crazy and start name calling. Look back through history to see how many of the greatest minds in history did believe in God...and were very smart!
If this is a serious question of yours and not just a desire to argue, I would highly recommend C.S. Lewis' book, "Problem of Pain". It is very deep. He is brilliant and does a good job of discussing this from every angle.
I'll do my best without writing a book, but ultimately, you can choose to agree or disagree (see, isn't free will a great thing...hehe).
From what I understand (which is limited in comparison to other apologist), when God created heaven, everything was good. There was no evil, but their was also choice. That led one angel to think more of himself and think he could be equal with God. Crazy thought, but he had that. He gathered a good portion of other angels to think his way. More stupidity. That pride was the start of the problem. Could God have created angels with no ability to sin? I would assume so. He didn't. Why? Love. God is love (please don't reverse the logic and try to claim that love is God) It is a statement of the essence of His Character not that each person who does what they call love is actually a god.
The basic quality of love is that is must be chosen (a choice) for it to be real. Love cannot be forced. If you try to force someone to love you, it is not real, is it? God chooses to love us (why, I don't know...we don't deserve it and are pretty pathetic). He wants to give us the choice to love Him back (or not). For that essential choice to exist, you must have the ability to choose Him or not choose Him. If God were the ruler of the whole earth today, you would not have a choice.
The truth is that God is not a controlling and forcing God. He is an allowing God. We don't want evil, but they still want a choice. The only choice other than God is life without God. That is what Satan wants and desires everyone else to follow. You are either for God or you are against God. All evil is simply people choosing something over God. For God to make it possible for us to freely choose Him, to freely love Him, there must be an alternative choice.
I look at the Bible simply like this....In the beginning, God gave Adam and Eve the 'keys' to earth. Adam and Eve handed the keys to Satan. Jesus came and took the keys away from Satan and handed them to the church. The problem as it is exists today is what the church is doing with the 'keys' to earth. Unfortunately, a lot are doing a pretty poor job. Is God tired of this and ready to bring it all to an end? I sure hope so! Soon! I'm ready for a real change.
I hope I did that argument justice. I feel like I could write a book...perhaps this thread will become one
Thanks, Yoda, I love the quote! You're da man!
I think a common saying among the Christians has actually had the reverse effect they thought it would when someone said, "Hate the sin. Love the sinner." Problem is that they get confused and end up hating the "sinner" and trying to define who they are. Truth is, we're all screwed up (i.e. sinners). The only difference is that some are forgiven and some are not.
I do hate some things. I hate injustice. I hate evil. I hate the treatment of some women and children around the world. I hate evil done in the name of all religions. The real challenge is how you deal with those doing these things. That is the challenge that Christians face when seeing things that are evil and trying to respond.
If it helps add to your judgment of me, I used to be a project management consultant in the Silicon Valley earning LOTS of money (Bio-tech and IT). I gave that all up to help and serve the poor in the world. This year I have already been to India, South Africa and Kenya. Heading soon to Peru, Bolivia, Madagascar and back to India. I help bring clean water, food growing technologies, micro loans and enterprise, and a website designed to help encourage more to do the same. I believe it and I do it, and my family has made the sacrifice of not having all the "stuff" we could have had if I were still earning good money. I earn squat now, but living the life that Jesus lays out is far better than having millions...in my opinion.
I guess, the reason I'm writing so much on this thread is because I do understand the Bible and am living it out as best I can. I'm not perfect. I do make mistakes, but I'm trying hard to follow Christ. When people try to convince others that Jesus is a bad guy or God is not good, that drives me crazy, because I do understand the Bible, God and what we are called to do. If you find a place where people are really following Christ, you will never want to leave that place...it will be so good for everyone. Unfortunately, most of what people see is a religion ABOUT God and not those who have a relationship WITH God. I hate religion. I love relationship. The early followers of Christ were called followers of "The Way". People saw them and wanted to be a part of their group just because of the way they loved one another. On the outside, people wanted to join so they could learn and be a part of that love as well.
Not sure who this is directed to? Who are you talking about?
Great. now let's get the context of all of that, if you don't mind. In Matthew, please read the whole chapter (or the whole book, if you really want to get context). The King James version you quoted is pretty hard to understand, in my opinion. here is a better translation. "Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword." Out of context most people would say that Jesus is a pretty mean guy. Since you are only quoting that verse and not all of the rest of the New Testament, I'll just stay in the context of that chapter. Jesus is talking directly to his disciples that He was sending out to do heal people and bring a message of good. He was telling them about the hardships them will encounter. He warned them that people will try to harm them and even want to hurt them (not much has changed today, eh?). He was stating that the message he brings is so hard for the religious to accept that they will be going to war against you....hence what you see today with the Muslims committing to kill Christians (and doing so broadly across the world without very much resistance from the world). Christ came with a message that ends up bringing out the worst in others....sometimes.
In Luke 22, Jesus was again talking to His disciples. He was once again telling them about the hard times that were about to come to them. He was telling them basically, "don't just sit on your butts and think that everything will be peachy all the time and no problems will ever come your way. Be ready to defend yourselves and your lives against evil." Read the whole book. You'll see how this fits and how it is still true today.
In Luke 22:49, the religious leaders were now coming after Jesus with a small army with swords. One of those following Jesus missed the point of the "sword analogies" and actually took a sword and cut off the ear of the servant of the priest. Jesus rebuked him and told him to put it away. Jesus then picked up the ear and put it back on to show that it was not His intention to even cut off an ear in defense of Himself.
Now, if you want to be an honest debater, Google what Jesus says about peace, love, humility, generosity, repentance and forgiveness. See what verses come up with those....and always read in the context of the whole New Testament. You can, if you want to distort it, prove anything you want using just a few words out of context...just look at politics today...don't do the same thing that politicians do by quoting only a single verse or sentence or phrase without the whole context, please. That would be fair.
...I only find good in the bible
No. God is a big boy. He isn't frustrated in heaven wondering what went wrong. It's no a surprise to him that evil would take the course it did. It was his plan back at the time of creation that He would send His son to die for our evil. That is what Jesus did.
You forgot the argument that, if God is omnipotent, can he create a rock so big that he can't move it? Either way you will claim then He is not omnipotent. He is not constrained by anything except Himself. He could say at any moment, "Enough is enough!" and it will all end. In fact, that is what will happen someday. There is a difference between power and control that I think you may be confusing. To say that you have the power, authority, and/or ability to discipline your children are all different things. God can, but holds himself back...at this time. He is allowing those that follow Him to try to make things right...though I would admit most followers of Christ are doing a pretty poor job of following Him and making a difference. I'll give you that.
So what you are trying to argue is that we can freely choose between good #1 or good #2. I'm arguing that people can either choose to believe in God and follow Jesus or not. That is the free will choice you have today. Nobody is forcing you, but they both come with consequences and results.
Lastly, I didn't say that God couldn't create a universe without evil. He chose to create it this way. When I get to heaven, I'll ask Him why he did it this way. You proposing that God is constrained or required to do anything is your presupposition, but I cannot see how it is required or constrained by anything. Our government, in the US, allows people to freely choose to do good or evil. Do evil, and we will try our best to make you pay the price of that. Our government is not constrained, it is showing self-constraint by not doing too much to CONTROL everyone and everything they do...which today in the US is what everyone is fighting for and angry with our government when it oversteps these desires.
BTW...thank you for not being rude, condescending, or arrogant in this discussion. It makes an intelligent discourse possible. It seems to show lack of intelligence when people just end with calling names. So, thank you again for that!
Many churches miss the teaching of Christ here as well. I'm a committed Christian and have been most of my life. Even though I went to a 'conservative' Christian college, upon graduation I got married. You know who we the ushers at my wedding? A gay couple that were involved in the theatre my wife was a part of growing up. We honored them and loved them the way Christ does. If all Christians actually acted the way Jesus did, they would actually show anger at the religious leaders (including pastors and priests that miss it...that is what Jesus did) and show love and compassion for everyone else.
God is all-knowing and did know that this was going to happen and had a plan in place to deal with it...Jesus
God is all powerful but in allowing free will (giving you the ability to choose) He has allowed evil as much as we desire it. People choose evil. You may not choose God. Who do you choose? If you are not for Him, you are against Him. Do you know who else is against God? Evil doesn't force itself on people. If God didn't allow this choice, you would be called a robot and have only good to do and not allowed to do anything else. The next logical question is why should there be free will. The answer is that love is only love when it is freely chosen. If your child is forced to love you, is it really love? If your child chooses to love you, you know the difference.
God is good, all the time. He does allow evil, but never condones approves or encourages priests to do evil things. That is each person's choice.
These are good questions. Keep them coming!
Uh, NO!! All evil is a distortion of what is good. Example. Rape instead of sex in marriage. God created sex (which I am personally grateful for and enjoy daily with my wife). Man with the help of whatever you want to call evil (evil spirits, the devil, 'evil') distorts the good thing and encourages many to do wrong.
yes, in the biblical concept, God create the angel that we now refer to as Satan, but the angel was created good and was good until pride caused him to think he was as good as his creator. Sounds crazy, but men and woman all around the world do the same thing with God today.
Satan has never created anything. he just tries to constantly corrupt that which is good.
It is what Christian churches teach. The problem is religion. A relationship with God causes people to love. The religion that has consumed a lot of Christians is about rules and trying to make the world follow those rules. Bible has been used to do the wrong things. That is what we call taking it out of context or missing the obvious point. The crusades were using the Old testament model of getting rid of evil as their guidance. They were misguided.
I've read the Bible over 15 times straight through. If you want to argue me on verses, i will quote the entirety of the New Testament (with nothing taken out of context). If you want to quote the Old Testament, I will simply say that it is a great example of the problems of man and struggle that God had in trying to deal with a sinful world...which led to the need and solution found in Jesus.
Please don't quote the evil done in the name of Jesus when it was never Jesus who said they should do that. That is simply more and more examples of men screwing up big time and trying to justify their actions with religion. I don't like any religion...including the spirit of religion that has captured a lot of Christians. I believe in a relationship with God and follow Christ. It is good. there is NO EVIL in what He did or says to do....ever!
You are mistaken. The Bible records violence (ancient...thousands of years ago), BUT the guidance it gives for followers of Christ (which is in the New Testament) is DEFINITELY not violence. The overwhelming guidance, instruction and command is to LOVE. It goes so far as to command "LOVE YOUR ENEMY". Unfortunately, too many followers of Christ don't fully understand this and fall into an Old Testament view of how they should behave.
If people really studied what the New Testament is calling people to do, you wouldn't find anything objectionable. It is all about, love, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, self-control, forgiveness, repentance, humility, etc... What is wrong with any of that? Nowhere in the New Testament (again, the instructions for followers of Christ today) does violence upon anyone even come into the picture. Read it before making blanket statements.
On my desktop, yes. On my Surface and my kids convertibles with touch displays, no. The Metro and the use of the tablets/laptop/computer makes a lot more sense. Before throwing out the baby with the bathwater, get yourself a Surface or convertible and spend some time using it for what it was really designed for....the bridge between tablet/phone and computer. As fewer and fewer people are buying desktops anymore, this operating system is the first attempt to marry tablet with laptop in functionality.
I hate it on my desktop (won't install it). I like it and it works well on my Surface.
Same with me, but I was about 13 and it was a Model 1 Level 2. I thought it was 16k, but could be wrong. The difficulty was that on mine, the k, r, s v, a and many other keys would randomly double or triple itself when typing. Which means I was using the backspace about 5 times per line. I would call it deep training to be persistent...especially the few times I worked all day on entering code I found in a magazine to only sit back, stretch out and accidentally kicking the power supply and deleting all my work. Boy, how disk drives changed my life after tape.
That's the way I read it, too! Haven't used this in a long time, but I actually am LOL.
when you don't have an atmosphere.
Moon, didn't you know it is your right to have an atmosphere. How dare anyone deny you your right to defend yourself. Who will you sue for damages? Your face has been forever changed and someone else must pay for that!
Health care is not a human right. It is a privilege. If you really felt that way (that it is a right), you would extend that to everyone in the world to get at least some health care, whereas the current 1st world understanding is that only they get complete and total coverage and the absolute best care for everything that may ever happen to them. I travel the world extensively in almost entirely with the poor and needy. I can tell you, there is not much attention given to them, while back home in the US, everyone is wondering whether they will be given a $100k surgery for free to fix their bad toe nail (obviously, an exaggeration).
My bet is that the government purchased the rock for their road projects. Look to India, you will find vast numbers of people that are enslaved by the government to crush rock for their roads (paid about $25/month for a family to fill a truck with sand/gravel). There won't be charges, because it will lead back to themselves.
and the people in the USA and the most dogmatic assertions will include GOP as the root of evil
Thank you for demonstrating my point. Though this article, quoting the UN, talks about insect farming AS ONE OF THE OPTIONS, they want to promote this as an alternative for more people around the world who are suffering from malnutrition, the article says. Here is the how this would play out:
People that are malnourished are often so because of lack of money to purchase food. If people start eating more insects, the poor (and malnourished) will try to get the bugs themselves or farm them (they won't have the money to purchase them). The result will be a more dangerous diet.
While many will look at this article in the context of their own living situation, the common failure of the UN is understanding how this will translate in the poor around the world.
Perma-culture, since you doubt it, too, can be easily looked up. I was in Zimbabwe last summer in areas where the UN had already been working with farmers. They were all talking about the UN reps and their plan to use perma culture as a way to improve yield. Not one of them was even going to try it, nor could they, unless they wanted their family to starve in the first three years.
My point is to step outside of our worldview when proposing ways to help and understand what will really happen when we head down a road. This is not a good idea and will be shot down by people that have real practical experience and knowledge in 3rd world conditions.
The reason is that some cultures, like India, that are predominately vegetarian by choice or situation are often malnourished. While you may be able to maintain health in 1st world conditions and supplement your diet with all kinds of vitamins or special plants, those around the world without a Whole Foods store are suffering from malnutrition that could be avoided with a little meat added to their diet. Ever seen a malnourished child that eat a lot of food. I have. Promote vegetarianism is developed countries, but help those in less developed countries get what they need today so their children get a fighting chance in a hard life.
I see your point, but as someone that travels a lot to 3rd world conditions to help the poor (Kenya tomorrow), I can tell you that the UN often doesn't think things through well. The problem with this is two-fold: 1) Insects can digest and carry more disease than plants. The fact that insects are animal and not plant allows them to be carriers...like Malaria for mosquitos. 2) The insects are actually crawling around in the crap. Plants aren't. Food needs to be prepared carefully. This care of washing and cooking to the right temperature and separating raw meat cutting surface from cooked meat surface is not well practiced around the world.
While there may be same "value" in this food, I would easily imagine more people getting sick from trying to eat the insects and digesting the bad stuff inside and outside them.
Want to see other bad ideas from the UN, look up their Perma-Culture. While the concept is proven and helpful, try to going to poor people barely growing enough food and convince them to go 4 year with below normal crops in hopes that 7 years from now you will have a bumper crop...oh, yeh, then through in a drought every 7 years and see how much this idea helps.
This is true for developed countries where the children who excel in those subjects can find a job where that matter. Whoops! Forgot to include most of the population in the world where this study will fall apart due to opportunities.
love you, too. You're so sweet and kind. Must be nice to be in a country that doesn't care about anything the people in the country produce and what happens to it around the world. Be glad China, Iran, North Korea or many other countries around the world are not a super-power.