Thursday, August 04, 2005

dead space...

hmmmm... the editing mechanism put a lot of dead space in my last blog.

Tuesday, August 02, 2005

the plan of salvation...
















































































































































































You Must:

Where The Bible


Says This:

What The Bible Says:

Hear the Gospel message

John 5:24

Most assuredly I tell you, he who hears my word, and believes him who sent me, has eternal life, and doesn't come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.

Acts 15:7

When there had been much discussion, Peter rose up and said to them, "Brothers, you know that a good while ago God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the Gospel, and believe.

Romans 10:17

So faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

Revelation 3:20

Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, then I will come in to him, and will dine with him, and he with me.

Believe that Jesus is the Christ (Savior), the Son of the Living God, that He died for all sins, arose to life again, and will return for His followers

Mark 16:16

He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who disbelieves will be condemned.

John 3:16-18

For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
For God didn't send his Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through him.
He who believes in him is not judged. He who doesn't believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the one and only Son of God.

John 8:24

I said therefore to you that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am he, you will die in your sins.

John 11:25-26

Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me, though he die, yet will he live.
Whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?"

John 20:31

...but these are written, that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name.

Acts 16:31

They said, "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household."

Romans 10:9-10

...that if you will confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
For with the heart, one believes unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

Hebrews 11:6

Without faith it is impossible to be well pleasing to him, for he who comes to God must believe that he exists, and that he is a rewarder of those who seek him.

1 Peter 1:8-9

...whom not having known you love; in whom, though now you don't see him, yet believing, you rejoice greatly with joy unspeakable and full of glory receiving the result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

Repent (turn away) from your sins

Luke 13:3-5

tell you, no, but, unless you repent, you will all perish in the same way.
Or those eighteen, on whom the tower in Siloam fell, and killed them; do you think that they were worse offenders than all the men who dwell in Jerusalem?
I tell you, no, but, unless you repent, you will all perish in the same way."

Acts 2:38

Peter said to them, "Repent, and be baptized, everyone of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Acts 17:30

The times of ignorance therefore God overlooked. But now he commands that all people everywhere should repent,

2 Corinthians 7:10

For godly sorrow works repentance to salvation, which brings no regret. But the sorrow of the world works death.

2 Peter 3:9

The Lord is not slow concerning his promise, as some count slowness; but is patient with us, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

Confess before others that Jesus is your Lord and Savior

Matthew 10:32

Everyone therefore who confesses me before men, him I will also confess before my Father who is in heaven.

Romans 10:9-10

that if you will confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
For with the heart, one believes unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

2 Timothy 2:19

However God's firm foundation stands, having this seal, "The Lord knows those who are his," and, "Let every one who names the name of the Lord depart from unrighteousness."

1 John 1:9

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us the sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Be baptized (immersed in water) for the forgiveness of your sins and to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit

Matthew 28:18-20

Jesus came to them and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth.
Therefore go, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I commanded you. Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Amen

Mark 16:16

He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who disbelieves will be condemned.

John 3:5

Jesus answered, "Most assuredly I tell you, unless one is born of water and spirit, he can't enter into the Kingdom of God!

Acts 2:38-41

Peter said to them, "Repent, and be baptized, everyone of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
For to you is the promise, and to your children, and to all who are far off, even as many as the Lord our God will call to himself."
With many other words he testified, and exhorted them, saying, "Save yourselves from this crooked generation!"
Then those who gladly received his word were baptized. There were added that day about three thousand souls.

Acts 22:16

Now why do you wait? Arise, be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord.

Romans 6:3-5

Or don't you know that all we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?
We were buried therefore with him through baptism to death, that just like Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life.
For if we have become united with him in the likeness of his death, we will also be part of his resurrection;

Galatians 3:26-27

For you are all children of God, through faith in Christ Jesus.
For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.

Titus 3:5-7

not by works of righteousness, which we did ourselves, but according to his mercy, he saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, which he poured out on us richly, through Jesus Christ our Savior; that, being justified by his grace, we might be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

1 Peter 3:18-22

Because Christ also suffered for sins once, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring you to God; being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit; in which he also went and preached to the spirits in prison, who before were disobedient, when God waited patiently in the days of Noah, while the ark was being built. In it, few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water.
This is a symbol of baptism, which now saves you-- not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who is at the right hand of God, having gone into heaven, angels and authorities and powers being made subject to him.

1 John 5:5-12

Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
This is he who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ; not with the water only, but with the water and the blood. It is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth.
For there are three who testify: the Spirit, and the water, and the blood; and the three agree as one.
If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater; for this is God's testimony which he has testified concerning his Son.
He who believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. He who doesn't believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has given concerning his Son.
The testimony is this, that God gave to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.
He who has the Son has the life. He who doesn't have God's Son doesn't have the life.

Stand firm by serving Jesus Christ every day for the rest of your life

Matthew 10:22

You will be hated by all men for my name's sake, but he who endures to the end will be saved.

Matthew 24:12-13

Because iniquity will be multiplied, the love of many will grow cold.
But he who endures to the end, the same will be saved.

Mark 13:13

You will be hated by all men for my name's sake, but he who endures to the end, the same will be saved.

Luke 21:19

By your endurance you will win your lives.

1 Timothy 4:16

Pay attention to yourself, and to your teaching. Continue in these things, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you.

Hebrews 10:36

For you need endurance so that, having done the will of God, you may receive the promise.

James 1:12

Blessed is the man who endures temptation, for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life, which the Lord promised to those who love him.

something I sent to a friend after coffee...

It was Romans 6 verse 4 from TNIV... We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

What I latched on to was the phrase "in order that". Seems like cause an affect.

The NAS reads... Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.

Here the phrase is "so that". Still sounds very cause an affect to me.

I feel in my heart that baptism is a requirement for salvation. As I remember, you do not believe so.

balanced budget...

I've another idea for our government that I don't think has much chance of success. I like the idea of a balanced budget ammendment, but with a twist from the current text. First, I think only a declaration of war is appropriate as an excuse to borrow. None of this military conflict crap. Congress should have the guts to declare war if it is appropriate. Second, I have another major twist... Why not reboot the budget process by borrowing the amount for next year's budget. This would be the last act of borrowing with the exception of the option above. Then the taxes gathered while the borrowed money was spent would be saved for the next year. There wouldn't be any question as to estimates of the number of dollars. Even better, rather than allocating specific dollar amounts for programs, allocate a percentage of next year's savings. The cycle would then roll from year to year, gathering taxes for the next budget year into savings, while spending the savings from last year's taxes. The huge amount of cash in the savings should scare the hell out of any adversary (except the irrational ones we seem to be dealing with lately), to avoid pushing congress to release that money to wage a war.

The huge borrowing of to reboot the process may the problem. What would that do to the economy? Would it be off set by the fact that year over year borrowing would stop. What would happen to economic stimulus through government spending? Not sure...

give them what they want...

What if we give them what they want, the terrorists that is. Let's leave. Let's spend the kind of money that this war is costing us on a scientific effort to remove petroleum from our economy. We can leave them to fight amongst themselves, and we can stop all the other ills that petroleum causes as well.

not that i like w...

I think Bush got caught in the spin game. I think he is an honest man that got duped. The war in Iraq (can we call it a war, the was never a declaration from congress), was started because of "weapons of mass destruction"... but they are not there. What I think really happened in Saddam wanted to make it look like he had them, and succeeded, so much so that it fooled our government and Britain's into action.

Monday, August 01, 2005

final thoughts on her and video games...

I believe that video games, at least up to the T (teen) rating that I have observed, are benign to the vast majority that play them. They don't cause unacceptable behavior nor do they have any real benefit beyond entertainment. There are exceptions to both of these points at the edges of large samples. The bell curve representing large samples are sufficiently concentrated around the mean such that the edges do not warrant study nor funding to deter as it will be too difficult to isolate and correct. Therefore I do not wish anyone in power to allocate my tax dollars to chase a red herring that spins well in the media, but in reality is just a way to boost one's exposure to an end we can all only speculate about.

Observing only my son and a few of his close friends who play these games... When I ask myself, do I think should I encourage this activity? No. Not any more so than say encouraging him to join the chess club. It's not going to be the "trigger" to anything significant.
Then maybe I ask myself, do I think I should discourage this activity? No again. I will regulate it, "T" rating an below, not to exceed the time left over after homework and proper bedtimes. But would do that with activity associated with winning a chess tournament also.

Video gaming is just new. Something seen as very complex and stimulating (both correct observations) that the majority, especially in our age group and older, have never experienced. So a little understood phenomenon gets into the news because a particular game, "Grand Theft Auto", should have gotten a "AO" adult only rating instead of "M" mature. Some might take advantage of the lack of understand in a demographic that tends to be likely voters to make it seem as if they are capable of solving a non-existent issue.

So I am not the least bit concerned about the affect of video games on my children nor on my community. What I am concerned about are politicians that may grab headlines by pushing social agendas that are a waste of time and money, but because of name recognition, audience polarization, and oddly placed sympathies may try to gain advantage within the electorate so they may push an agenda to which I am opposed.

So, the bottom line is... I am not concerned about video games. I am concerned about Hillary Clinton. I do not like her politics nor her demeanor. In her husband I observed a liar and a panderer. In her, I fear that she too is a panderer (no evidence yet of lying) when she grabs on to a non-issue such as this. Not to say that I like Bush any better. Which would we rather have honest/stupid or smart/liar. Alas the last politician that I voted for that I felt good about was Ronald Reagan, and that was in 1984, eleven years ago.