Burl

Thanks. When I read the Bible it seems clear to me that God has a sense of humor.

Divine inspiration.

Not a policy. Just a tweet. Barely worth mentioning.

July 30, 2017 Matthew 13:31-52 31-32 Another story. “God’s kingdom is like a pine nut that a farmer plants. It is quite small as seeds go, but in the course of years it grows into a huge pine tree, and eagles build nests in it.” 33 Another story. “God’s kingdom is like yeast that a woman works into the dough for dozens of loaves of barley bread—and waits while the dough rises.” 34-35 All Jesus did that day was tell stories—a long storytelling afternoon. His storytelling fulfilled the prophecy: I will open my mouth and tell stories; I will bring out into the open things hidden since the world’s first day. The Curtain of History 36 Jesus dismissed the congregation and went into the house. His disciples came in and said, “Explain to us that story of the thistles in the field.” 37-39 So he explained. “The farmer who sows the pure seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, the pure seeds are subjects of the kingdom, the thistles are subjects of the Devil, and the enemy who sows them is the Devil. The harvest is the end of the age, the curtain of history. The harvest hands are angels. 40-43 “The picture of thistles pulled up and burned is a scene from the final act. The Son of Man will send his angels, weed out the thistles from his kingdom, pitch them in the trash, and be done with them. They are going to complain to high heaven, but nobody is going to listen. At the same time, ripe, holy lives will mature and adorn the kingdom of their Father. “Are you listening to this? Really listening? 44 “God’s kingdom is like a treasure hidden in a field for years and then accidentally found by a trespasser. The finder is ecstatic—what a find!—and proceeds to sell everything he owns to raise money and buy that field. 45-46 “Or, God’s kingdom is like a jewel merchant on the hunt for excellent pearls. Finding one that is flawless, he immediately sells everything and buys it. 47-50 “Or, God’s kingdom is like a fishnet cast into the sea, catching all kinds of fish. When it is full, it is hauled onto the beach. The good fish are picked out and put in a tub; those unfit to eat are thrown away. That’s how it will be when the curtain comes down on history. The angels will come and cull the bad fish and throw them in the garbage. There will be a lot of desperate complaining, but it won’t do any good.” 51 Jesus asked, “Are you starting to get a handle on all this?” They answered, “Yes.” 52 He said, “Then you see how every student well-trained in God’s kingdom is like the owner of a general store who can put his hands on anything you need, old or new, exactly when you need it.”

It takes more than six months for our government to even draw up an RFP! Maybe we should do like Australia and just ship illegal immigrants to an offshore desert island surrounded by racist sharks.

Illegal immigration is down 70%. Trump IS the wall. Obamacare has not been "revoked" at all. It is failing rapidly, but it is still there. How many bills I do not know, but number of bills passed is an irrelevant statistic. Trump is an independent with little support at all in our corrupted legislature, so I'm very surprised he passed more bills than Obama. The Eurasian Trade Zone is the new economic reality. No more free money for the US as we lose reserve currency status. Pensions are now failing and entire municipalities are bankrupt. I predict a new US dollar devalued to 75¢ within a year, and dropping to a quarter soon after. The US is irrevocably sliding into third world status. The Bush/Obama/Clinton team delayed this by starting wars and stealing oil and gold, but those were only short-term solutions. The best we can hope for now is to not get sucked into international fascism. There is nothing anyone can do to fix this. Trump or no Trump it really makes little difference.

Respectfully Paul, you seem to be getting a low info version of US political news over there. The big issue in world politics is the Eurasian Trade Zone and the upcoming GCR and dollar collapse. Everything else is a footnote.

Trump's claim was that he would make America great again. This is not possible under Basel III rules, but he has managed to undo some of the damage caused over the last 16 years. No lie; he is just overly ambitious in setting goals.

Trump has accomplished more in six months than the Bush II/Obama team did in sixteen years.

Better than expected for a student driver. ISIS is out of Iraq and we are getting out of Syria, both big improvements in world peace. TPP and NAFTA are cancelled. Global fascist control is now a lost cause in large part because of Trump. I don't remember another President with this many merit badges on his sleeve in only six months. Slow start on voter fraud reform and human trafficking/pedophilia though. The real test will be how well Trump is able to cushion the hard landing the US is taking as the dollar continues to lose reserve currency status. The long predicted pension collapse has begun in ernest, so the economic crisis started by Nixon in 1971 is finally hitting home.

Go back only a few hundred years and compare what we thought we knew then to what we think we know now. We know an incredibly small percentage of the universe, and most of what we thought we understood has been disproven. Except religion, of course.

Of course. I am thoroughly theist.

You have certainly adopted an anthropomorphic belief system in this question, as well an an incorrect assumption about Christianity. We do not believe that God became man. We believe God incarnated in a human body creating a unique being fully God and fully man in one instance. Jesus conception, birth, death, resurrection, ascension and session created a fundamental improvement in mankind's relationship with God. Disbelieve if you must, but at least disbelieve correctly.

Some people need understanding and some people do not. Remember fully half of the human population is of below average intelligence.

Actually you have indeed adopted an anthropomorphic belief system. Your speculative idea that the Holy Spirit is 'interested', that the distribution of the bible is goal seeking behavior on God's part is completely anthropomorphic. Jesus made a permanent improvement in the relationship between God and mankind. The bible is a useful artifact if one wants to understand what happened but understanding is optional. The vast majority of Christians are perfectly happy without really understanding and there is nothing wrong with that.

Yes. I started a small nonprofit in 1990. On two occasions we were in financal difficulty and I prayed for insight as whether to fold or not. Both times an unexpected donation for exactly $3k arrived that week. I also experienced a very complicated set of family issues related to aging. I prayed, especially at communion for insight into the resolution of this insolvable problem. The answers arrived just in time. Praying for evidence of the efficacy of prayer is the first step since you have doubts. Pray for evidence, insight, revelation, faith. Don't pray for a pony; pray to feel like one.

Yes and no. Both/and. God is a superset containing both plus much which is not understood.

It is more accurate to say that nothing, animate or inanimate, exists outside of God.

Then I don't understand your question. When we think/feel/observe God acting in this way we label it the action of the Holy Spirit. To just call it God is correct but loses descriptive value. Air might be called oxygen, or hurricane or lift if one is speaking about flying. There are more and less specific ways of talking about the same thing based on function, purpose, etc.

No, this is description not definition.

Holy Spirit is a specific term for God acting directly on, within or between people.