Once. Twice. Up to bat for three (?)... You'd think I learn!

Red wrote "Mike, you are quite possibly the first Christian...", and I
would say "Red, you are quite possibly one of the few ppl who ever
accused me of being a christian"

Usually I'm chased away as a heretic. Thanks for the compliment!

Red: Your comment sounds like there's an expectation that 'satan' is
some anti-god. and if that were the case, the pre-destination idea would
fall apart. I say satan & God get along quiet well, (as described in the
Book of Job) and that satan has a job to do, just like everyone else in
creation.

Them's is fightin words!

In another thread she asked "Let me ask you a weird question - any of
you who read this - If exist as a pile of clay, animated by God's breath
alone, than for what purpose were we created at all? Possibly as an
amusement, or maybe we are on a mission to gather information and when
our essence returns to the maker it is gleened from us. Just questions,
not a confrontation as I like everyone am only seeking knowledge and
truth. again you guys are terrific!"

I would have to say its the same "dopey" feeling a parent-to-be has. You
want to create life, its the better side of our nature. I would say God
has a self-less motivation to simply create a thinking, powerful being
for the sake of the being to exist. Not far removed from wanting to have
a baby really. You know the baby is going to have difficulties, pain,
and struggles, eventually die, but, you do it anyway. Why? for the sake
of existance. We dont expect our children to glorify us, or be our
servants. We dont get 'angry' when they dont salute us at every occasion
- not at all. Creating life for the sake of life is its own reward.

I missed a posting on sex? damn... i'll be back in a minute. I like
Red's style and honesty.

I would have thought of "satan" by its hebrew meaning of "blocking the
path". Not as a demonic "beastie". So, I would have thought of the
'Church of Satan' to be a word play with the point to 'un-block your
perspectives'. But, thats not what I understand from your posting.

Tell us more. What is it that most ppl just dont "get" regarding the
'church of satan' ?

I'm blind so it doesnt matter.

As long as Edith brings me my beer, I'm happy.
-Archie

Wether or not Patrick was on a "support" mission, or an "evangilizing"
mission, he has earned the credit of bringing christianity to Ireland in
the form we recognize it today.

That would be no big deal, other than the fact that his 'mission' was
successful without the usual bloodshed, revolution, martyrdom and so-on.

Ok:

The interesting thing is that the study of modern man, through 'writing'
has arguably around 10k to 5k of 'archeological evidence' to work from.
Of course there are the "arrow heads" and other such items, but, they
cant be 'dated'.

In the study of the permutations of DNA strands particular to the human
species, and the paternal gene markers, runs only about 6,000 to 10,000
years worth of back tracking.

The study of fossils is terribly flawed. Fossils are chemically stone.
Stone, but its very definition, contains no Carbon-14, so it cant be
radio-carbon dated. Fossils are 'dated' by the depth of the rock-strata
they are found at. Of course, thats flawed because the fossils are found
on ...the surface. Its your guess what the 'strata' is.

The guy who invented Carbon-14 dating thought it would be useful to try
the same idea on other isotopes. In particular he chose trans-uranium
isotopes because they would be found in volcanic rocks. He soon dumped
the idea because it was inconsistent. Then he turned his attention to
isotope dating of Nitrogen - in the air. He came to the conclusion that
the atmosphere of the earth was ... you guessed it... less than 10k
years old. Contrasted with the inconsistency of trans-uranic dating, he
dropped the whole idea entirely.

Then there is the 'little' problem of an incomplete fossil record of the
evolution of man. To date there isnt an established chain of fossil
remains to fit the theory. There are many interesting data points, but,
the "curve" is far from complete. Again, these fossils cant be dated.
Worse, over 80% of the 'early man' skeletons were later retracted as
'primate species'. That doesnt leave any sufficient evidence.

Also, take a look at the worlds population level. What is it now
6billion or so? If you look at world-census figures over the last 300
years, and use the logarithmic scales associated with population growth
to "project backwards" the population, you come to the conclusion that
the current population is based on growth numbers going back...5 to
10,000 years ago.

oh he's a crafty one that sly satan.

I dont think I ever experienced 24hrs worth of hail/sleet. Other than
making a mess of the roads, its no big deal. The "tick tick tick" sound
of the hail against my window sounds like static-shocks, or a bee
whapping against the pane.

Like a jail?

Ha ha - didnt think of it that way. The one's I was referring to where
porcelain, but, same idea. Some of the houses in Japan were not much
larger than a jail cell.

Its all part of the New World Order set up by the mega-corporations
that, in reality, run the govt. For example, Easter is controlled and
manipulated by the giant mega-corp Cadbury. You might be surised to know
that Mars (company that makes M&Ms) and Hershey's are actually
subsidiaries of Cadbury Holdings Ltd. (Look it up on the FTSE-100
Market)

-Mike

When I was in Japan the average 'western' toilet had a sink built into
the top part of the toilet. Makes perfect sense - and is a great
adaptation to the "small-ness" of everything in Japan.

Only the idea just sounds gross.

Accidentally I found a website that sells them, and after looking at it,
I thought, "even tho its a great idea, I'm not going to do it". (
http://www.sinkpositive.com/ )

Would you?

I'm one of those nuts that say "6000 yrs more or less" (but not for the
usual fundamentalist reasons - the fundies dont like me).

Where do you stand?

In 1962 a small town in PA had a coal-mine fire. It took 20 yrs to put
out the "main flames". The coal is still burning - 45 years later. Check
out this web site - includes pictures, looks like a volcano smoldering
under the ground in rural PA:

http://fogonazos.blogspot.com/2007/03/centralia-mouth-of-hell.html

um....wait... where we talking about that WW2 movie?

I have a slightly different view:

God made Adam from Dirt. He told Adam that when his last day came, that
he would return to 'dirt'. To this very day we celebrate this as Ash
Wednesday. What then seperated Adam from dirt? Only 1 thing - that was
the "breath God put through his nostrils".

Only that spark of life, which came from God, seperates us from dirt.
When we die, does that 'breath' dissapear? No, its from God, so its "of"
God...its "Godly". It returns to "God", as God is neither dimmished or
changed.

So what value of any "rememberence" of Earth life is useful to 'God'?
None of it. When we die, our identity dies in the grave. The essence of
Life, the breath of God, is eternal, but, there's nothing unique to us
about it.

In short, everyone has a spark of God in them, that spark is Eternal,
never corrupted, never changed, never diminshed.

Redykeulous, I can always count on you to give me a run for my money!

If there was free-will Judas wouldnt have betrayed Jesus. Lets say Judas
DIDNT betray Jesus, then there'd be no Last Supper, no Stations of the
Cross, no Good Friday, and no Easter Eggs or Chocolate Bunnies. In other
words, there'd be no Christianity, and anyone who feels that 'christian
salvation' is the only way to heaven, would be crowded into 'hell'.

So, your salvation rested on Judas betraying Jesus. Sounds like
pre-destination to me!