Satan is no "arch enemy". He is a powerless being who carries out the
will of God, and reads out the sin's against man upon his final
judgment.

Read the book of Job. Satan is no red-horned "devil". Thats all pagan
mythology my friends.

Whats gas going for in Canada (in/around Montreal) these days? I'm
thinking of heading up to Montreal this weekend. Anyone know the
exchange rate?

Suggestions on what to see/do/avoid are very welcome!

-Mike

Spidey,

You wrote that I was "adding to the scripture", I summarized Genesis
Chapter 1, thats true. But, I accurately summarized it as "God made
men/women [1:26]" in the plural. Genesis 2 speaks of Adam/Eve only. Cain
and God discuss his punishment, speak of multitudes of OTHER ppl
existing.

Jesus spoke of Adam, in the context as the first Man to know of God. I
dont dispute that.

I met Mother Theresea when I was in grade-school. She made a "support
the Mission in India" tour through the Catholic Schools and popped into
our little school.

Fast forward 20 years and I find myself reading the newspaper that she's
being cannonized into Sainthood while I am sitting in India. Sitting in
the same city that she started her India mission (Varanasi) and a few
hours later found myself at the bldg she started her mission from.

Hows that for strange circumstances?

Week 4 really, I missed class last week. Tonite was an interesting
night. Good class material, and the group is starting to "gel". We send
emails to each other during the week "...hey so/so is putting on a show
c'mon out and see them..." - that sort of thing. Some ppl really
interact very well, and I find myself a little better than usual -
meaning, a little more social than I would normally be. Thats great, its
an improvement for sure - just got a ways to go.

Towards the end of the class it was my turn to "perform" with a lady in
the class. Jen, is shy, but seems very thoughtful, and I've been
thinking how pretty and how "different" she seems. So we were told to do
a skit "slow dancing" with dialog. Wow, what fantasticaly pretty green
eyes she has. I was feeling awkward, I dont touch ppl I dont know very
well. As it turned out, neither does she. She was visibly uncomfortable.
Teacher interrupted. Told her to relax. After class I asked Jen if I was
being particularly lecherous (in a good laugh way), she laughed and
shyly admitted that she was just very nervous.

*sigh* now I'll be thinking about Jen all week. How cool was that to
find yourself dancing with a pretty lady that you had previously only
daydreamed about! <GRIN!>

Hi Spidey,

I take a different approach. There were many ppl living on the Earth
long before Cain. If we read Genesis literally - assuming that each
verse and chapter is in sequential order, then we read that God made
man, and women, (plural) in Chapter 1, verse 26.

Later, in Chapter 2, God made Adam personally, from clay. Adam was the
first man that God revealed himself to, and so he is "the First Man" in
that respect.

With that in mind, we read about Adam/Eve/Cain/Able, and Cain's
banishment from the Garden. He laments that he will be cast out by
EVERYONE ELSE - God marks him so that NO ONE else will kill him. He
marries, and builds a CITY for thousands of other people. Clearly Cain
and God were very aware that there were multitudes OF OTHER people.

Scripturally supported that there were other ppl besides Adam & Eve.

Genesis 4

13 And Cain said unto the LORD, My punishment is greater than I can
bear.

14 Behold, thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth;
and from thy face shall I be hid; and I shall be a fugitive and a
vagabond in the earth; and it shall come to pass, that every one that
findeth me shall slay me.

15 And the LORD said unto him, Therefore whosoever slayeth Cain,
vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And the LORD set a mark upon
Cain, lest any finding him should kill him.

16 And Cain went out from the presence of the LORD, and dwelt in the
land of Nod, on the east of Eden.

17 And Cain knew his wife; and she conceived, and bare Enoch: and he
builded a city, and called the name of the city, after the name of his
son, Enoch.

The "virginity" aspect of the "Virgin Birth" is due in part to a
mistranslation of "alma" into "virgin" [Isaiah 7:14] in the Septuguant.

The 1st century translation of the hebrew bible in to Greek
mis-translated the messianic prophecy that the messiah would be born
from a "young woman", into the literal "virgin woman". The astute gospel
copy-editor connected the "un-wed" Mary story with the mis-quoted
prophecy, and the rest is history.

I been to her house. Literally! Tradition holds that after the
Assumption, she traveled to Ephesus Turkey, where she was taken care of
by St. John until her death. Some traditions say she was "taken up" at
her death. Other traditions say she returned to Jerusalem and died
there.

It is interesting that Mary, as the mother of Jesus, is the only woman
NAMED in the Quran. Interesting isnt it?

I disagree.

Take it from a man's perspective. I schmooze my way into asking you for
a date while we were standing in line at Starbucks. You are impressed by
my confidence, charm and persistance, so you agree.

Now what? Am I going to REALLY suggest that our first date be several
hours together in the dark (as in a movie, or a dinner/movie thing)? No
way. A romantic walk on the beach with a goon you just met at Starbucks
- nope.

First dates have to be neutral. Comedy show was a great idea! Coffee was
another great one. But definately nothing romantic - otherwise you'd
come off as a creep.

Your thoughts?

-Mike

Survey Says.....

Not likely to fly. Thanks for all your input, I teased him tonite
throwing in your comments!

-Mike

This I beleive...


My views are whacked. I beleive in the literal interpretation of the
Bible. I beleive that its content is reasonably accurate. Thats right, I
beleive in a "young earth", but literalism runs both ways. I beleive
Adam wasnt the 1st man.

I beleive The Law applied to Jews only, and for a limited time - until
the time of the Messiah. That messiah is Jesus. I beleive Jesus was man,
not divine. I beleive he died, and did resurrect.

I reject the idea of a 'hell'. I reject the idea of a 'heaven' [at least
in the way most ppl beleive it]. I reject the idea that "innocent
non-christians" rot in 'hell'.

My mission in life is to make people's lives around me better. Make them
better by my actions, not necessarily my words. In doing this, I am
making "heaven on earth" a literal reality.

Feel free to email me if you violently disagree, or would like o know
how-on-earth did I come to these conclusions.

-Mike

Well, if a pastor was able to clearly see that you'll be rotting in hell
for THAT, then I'll surely be in hell for several eternities for my
misdeeds!

Damn good thing that pastor wasnt elected Supreme Being of the Universe.

Not sure what SpiderCmb's true intent was on the original thread, but,
here's my thoughts which should be contradictory to my usual content &
themes.

Evolution is a demonstrable, and predictable reality. You can see the
adaptation of species to a changing environment directly. Its a useful
and workable theory that can be employed (like selective breeding).

Now, I will throw in that the concept of dinosaurs "evolving" through
millions of years into apes...into humans is only a theory. There is no
measurable, demonstrable history of observation to this. There cant be -
no objective evidence can exist for "pre-human" times - nobody was there
to record it. So we theorize on the Origin of Species, and we can
reverse apply Evolution, as a theory, to make sense of the fossil
record.

Its the 'reverse application of evolution' that is the 'theory' aspect.
It's a useful manner of explaining some data, but, its not absolute. It
will always remain "theoretical" in the same bucket of "wishful science"
like Black-Hole-Time-Travel.

If you are the type of person who takes offense at the idea that humans
are descended from Apes, take heart, the "Theory of Evolution" doesnt
'prove' anything. It takes just as much faith to accept a religious
decree of humanitie's origins as it does to accept a new-age theory of
millions of years of biolgical filtering.

Still, the 'theory of evolution' is very real, and it has real
application in our daily lives.

-Mike

Thanks for all the thoughts being posted. I was most impressed with
Adventure's statement about being helped by the Mormons without being
coerced into joining the church.

The guy I share an apt with has recently divorced. He's bitter, and even
though he's a young guy (mid 20s, very fit) he's taken up a very hard
edge about romance.

We were talking the other day, and he said that he was demanding a
'dowry' of any serious potential "next-wife". I thought he was just
being foul, but, he was serious. Worse, he's getting traction with his
idea. The idea goes like this:

He states the obvious: women have a strong financial incentive to work,
marry/divorce, collect alimony/child-support, re-marry and repeat. He's
not saying that they purposefully do this, but, it clearly works to
their benefit.

So, Jim feels that to counter that incentive, he wants a dowry to be
paid (approx $25k to $10k), and a pre-nup agreement drawn up to help
shelter his liability.

I laughed and called him a misogynist nut, "C'mon Jim no woman is going
to even consider that"

"You're right Mike. No woman that I want to deal with. Now, I've been
dating several women already, and they're completely aware of my
feelings on this. A couple dissapeared expectedly. Now, the ones who are
foreigners are considering this as a business arrangement."

I was really surprised. He's dating several lovely ladies, all VERY VERY
educated foreign women, who are aware of his "Dowry" plans. They seem
perfectly OK with the idea of marrying for citizen-ship, and enjoying
his company in the mean time.

...whataya all think?

Helping a man when he's down. Can't argue against that one. Pretty good
fundamental position to start from.

OOOh +1 for the Adventure Man, caught the "Hadith" slipping in under the
radar! Good catch.

The economy is pretty good for those in a position to take YOUR money.
ha ha.

I hate to say it, but, some of the "wishful thinking" scenarios of
economic cluster-fukcs outlined in the "Communist Manifesto" really do
seem to be coming into focus.

$2.80 Edison,NJ

There is no "limits" to the amount of fossil fuel, at least not in the
"we're gonna run out in our lifetime" sense. Two generations ago used
coal, and there was the same 'coal is a finite resource - woe unto us'.
Two generations prior to that was using hardwood. Point being, we'll
exit the "Fossil Fuel" age, into something else, before we ever really
run dry.

The price is what the market will bear. Thats all there is to it. Sure,
short-term fluctuations are attributed to seasons, wars, greed, and
typo's. Fact is, we probably could afford $4.00 a gallon. Its only after
$6/gallon that we'd do anything about it.

1988 Pink Floyd at the Meadowlands

I'd been to concerts before, I'd been to sporting events too. But, this
was the only time I ever felt that the *stadium* was dwarfed by the
performance. The music, the effects, the props... just incredible.