Topics

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Off-Topic / Legal Question: What Would the State Have Done Had I Not Settled with My Killer?

« on: February 12, 2014, 04:58:57 am »Message ID: 850092

Okay, what happened (a big reason behind all my God-questioning ) is this: at a school-sponsored, -sanctioned, -(supposedly) protected event, I made the mistake of assuming that student-pedestrians had the right-of-way, meaning (to my 14 year old mind) that I could run across the street with full faith that all the licensed drivers had the mental wherewithal to NOT slam me into a fatality!

(They call it a near-death, since I'm obviously not dead now; but I was-"without life-signs" for seven minutes, -comatose for a few weeks, -paralyzed for a few months and -severely disabled for a few years, and I STILL CAN'T run, 'carry open drinks without spilling' or -'see out of a fifth of my left eye!')

Did I not mention that when talking about the loading/unloading-zone outside my apartments that's usually BLOCKED by some lazy driver 'legally' parking there ('legal' because there's no "sign" saying otherwise ... which is like saying it's legal to run red-lights if there's no 'sign' saying you have to stop at them  )

Maybe that's what I was thinking when I--pushing a cart down the path to the curb where another vehicle was parked IN MY WAY--decided I ought to SLAM a dent or two into the car. (The thinking: when I got in a car's way, it & it's operator don't THINK TWICE before destroying me!)

Maybe I should've brought that up when the vehicle's owner called the cops & (using a death-warning) 'convinced' ME to apologize, but the idea that 'he could`a killed me' overshadowed the fact that I was 'right' (i.e. my 'rightness' wasn't worth dying for, in this case).

That brings me to my question: if my parents had not settled the case with the violating driver, would the State have seen to it that 'justice were served' (myself getting a fair payment, the driver paying it)? Or do they just not care?

Oh, the settlement I got is 'enough' (barely); but some of the damage doesn't go away, and the settlement is rarely enough to give me 'stupefaction'---the misbelief that everything's alright so long as I'm not 'upsetting the house-of-cards.'

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Debate & Discuss / Real Bible Study (Guiding Our Lives TODAY with "Leviticus," "Luke")

« on: February 12, 2014, 03:55:21 am »Message ID: 850081

I intend to post each of these questions as individual topics (or to let you quote the Scripture & discuss in a topic you start---posting a link to the topic in your comment below), but you know how intentions go ...

Leviticus 1 What Part of Christ Is 'an Offering Made By Fire'? - Luke 5:37 What Were 'Bottles' Made Out of in Jesus' Day? - Luke 6:42 Why Aren't Christians Quick to Pull Their Own Motes Out First?

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Debate & Discuss / Should Fate/Destiny/Serendipity Outweigh Reason when Deciding to Marry?

« on: February 10, 2014, 03:01:10 pm »Message ID: 849631

A PARADE-article by an online-dating writer seems to think that's how it works; even though we've got 'automatic, instamatic' dating-services to analyze everything and tell us exactly who is best for us & -why, we apparently need some 'happy coincidence' like "a shared best-friend between our mothers" or "the advice of a horoscope/fortune-cookie" to cement the match!

For me ... well, there's no "reason" I should be alive-&-active (by 'reason,' I should be hooked-up to a machine costing my-parents/insurance-payers bazillions in life-support funds  ); & therefore &iquest:even less? reason a woman should marry me.

Right now, I think of myself as 'protecting' women from marrying me by NOT giving them a reason to; but one day one woman will 'accept the challenge' and marry me even after I go so-far as 'giving her reason NOT TO!' 

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Debate & Discuss / Scripture vs. Scripture: Should One Share out of Abundance or -out of Nothing?

« on: February 10, 2014, 11:59:24 am »Message ID: 849548

Reading Luke 3, I remembered an account from Luke 21 and wondered, "Which charity means more?"

In Luke 3, John the Baptist tells priests that they should offer a coat to a brother that has none ... IF they themselves have two. But Jesus tells His disciples in Luke 21 that the woman who gave 'two mites' (which she really should've kept to buy food with) gave more than ALL the wealthy givers who gave mere fractions of their large fortunes.

But wouldn't it have been better if the poor woman spent the mites on food that she could eat while making bigger profits (donating the proper portion to the temple)?

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Off-Topic / "The End is Only the Beginning; What Pushes People over the Edge?" DATELINE NBC!

« on: February 08, 2014, 08:17:15 pm »Message ID: 849006

On NBC that "DATELINE NBC"-commercial comes on, saying "The End is Only the Beginning; What Pushes People over the Edge?" and I always reply, 'PEOPLE WHO KEEP MIXING UP THE STORY LIKE THAT! ...  GRRRRRRRRRRRRR'

I get the feeling of needing to grab that announcer by the throat & going "No, stupid! The End means no one else has to worry about it!"

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Debate & Discuss / What Is the Purpose of a "Word Chain or Countdown"?

« on: February 08, 2014, 07:59:25 pm »Message ID: 849003

I think the purpose of a word-chain/countdown (like this count-to-1,000,000) is to show 'faithfulness' (sort of like 'reciting the Pledge of Allegiance every morning in public-school, back before the ... something-something ... Liberals! 

What do you think?

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Debate & Discuss / The Bad Decisions Surrounding Aaron & the Golden Calf

« on: February 07, 2014, 12:44:46 pm »Message ID: 848585

You remember the story---Moses was up getting the Commandments from God, the impatient people made themselves a Golden Calf to serve as god, Moses got angry & (among other actions) broke the stone tablets that held the commandments.

The first thing I noticed here was that there (apparently) wasn't even a moment's indecision on high priest Aaron's part---the people were like 'Hey! Moses is gone & we don't know when he'll be back; make some gods for us to follow,' and Aaron (in the very next verse) was all 'Okie-Doke! Gimme your golden earrings to make into something to worship!' ... no 'But the God who leads you exists without any representation before you!' no 'Be patient, brothers & sisters!'

Makes me think of a recent decision from an Oklahoma judge O.K.-ing same-sex marriage ... not because Our Father needs him to, but because 'the people don't know any peace but what the government writes in their records.'

But the punishments God commanded on the Hebrews foretell the punishment in store for the 'lascivious' people of today (is 'lascivious' the right word there? I don't even care what it means  )---along with the broken commandment-tablets, Moses ALSO made them drink the water that he poured the melted calf into AND -licensed a band of Levites to go through & randomly massacre Israel.

Now--since the judge's decision doesn't exactly pull our worship away from God--I don't think there'll be such violence. But I think the problem is that we can't agree on the answer to "Whom do you serve?" (the RIGHT agreement being 'we don't know.')

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Debate & Discuss / I Thought the Urim and the Thummim were Joseph Smith's Decoder-Stones, but Look!

« on: February 05, 2014, 01:35:04 pm »Message ID: 847926

Those are the names of two special rocks set in Aaron's breastplate---I wonder what they do there  (and am too 'lazy' to bother asking somewhere else on the Internet  )

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Off-Topic / Why Is Moving-Air Cooler?

« on: February 05, 2014, 01:11:09 pm »Message ID: 847910

A worker at my apartment-complex tells me to keep the ceiling-fan running slowly in the winter in order to circulate the hot air back down to the ground.

But why is it--when the air is even-hotter--running the ceiling-fan FASTER keeps you cooler?

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Debate & Discuss / Does This Ephod-with-Memorial-Stones Still Exist Somewhere?

« on: February 05, 2014, 12:50:31 pm »Message ID: 847905

In Exodus, God told Moses to make a worship-costume for Aaron---with a special breastplate that held two special stones, attached to an ephod that had two more special stones engraved with the names of the 12 children of Israel (coz apparently either Dinah or Joseph didn't count anymore), and a garter set with 12 stones for the 12 tribes.

Sounds like an important relic, so where is it now?

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Debate & Discuss / Exodus Shows that God ALSO Wants to Keep Politics Out of Worship!

« on: February 05, 2014, 12:30:37 pm »Message ID: 847884

Politics is 'how our leaders are chosen.' (I mean OTHER-THAN the democratic-process ... they become KNOWN to vote-upon by Politics, yeah?)

Politics (and therefore Government) broke away from the church when Moses' father-in-law suggested that--rather than wear himself out listening to ALL the court-cases people brought up against each other--he appoint Judges to hear the people's lawsuits.

The big difference between Worship & Law came to me while I was reading God's instructions on building The Tabernacle in the book of Exodus. He there was explaining 'how long the curtains should be' & 'what to make the carrying-stave out-of,' and I thought to myself, "Why wasn't he this-exact as to the punishments for various sins etc."

Maybe He went into a little more detail in Leviticus, Numbers & Deuteronomy, but I think the reason He didn't is because ... He Really Doesn't Care!

(Lord knows  I don't mean that in a bad way. He shouldn't care; I mean, WE won't care when we're lounging in Purgatory's waiting-room!)

All that He cares about is that we give Him all the credit!

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Off-Topic / Can Manning Blame Jon Stewart (The Daily Show) for Loss of the Super Bowl?

« on: February 04, 2014, 11:15:23 am »Message ID: 847527

Because Peyton Manning (quarterback of the Denver Broncos) gave The Daily Show with Jon Stewart an interview, in which Jon Stewart asked Manning 'how he handles putting himself in harm's way with five-to-seven giant pot-roasts rumbling in to try to destroy him.'

Manning DID reply 'I trust the seven-to-nine pot-roasts who are defending me as I put the ball into play,' but the 22-0 lead the Seahawks held over the Broncos at halftime could be seen as evidence that either Manning's pot-roasts were 'dropping the ball' or that Manning himself was second-guessing that trust.

Oh, the mind-gremlins unleashed by Jon Stewart! 

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Debate & Discuss / What Does Manna Mean?

« on: January 31, 2014, 12:07:54 pm »Message ID: 845456

I'm sure people "know" that it "means" 'the bread the Hebrews ate when it appeared on the ground in Exodus.' But did you know that That's What They Called It BEFORE They Knew They Could Eat It?

A more-exact (phonetic) translation from the Hebrew is mon, a Hebrew/Egyptian creole of "what"---sounds like another case of 'mistranslation' (i.e. words originally meant one way--it is what?--are taken differently---what? is what it is!)

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Off-Topic / How Do You Capitalize Letters (in Names, Pronouns) to Show Respect?

« on: January 31, 2014, 11:41:25 am »Message ID: 845439

Obviously, first-letters of all names & of pronouns referring to the 'highly-esteemed' (God, Jesus, some prophets, royalty).

But what about if you use the names or esteemed pronouns where they would be capitalized anyway (at the beginnings of sentences, major words in titles-&-subjects)? I know 'common grammar' just capitalizes them like any other ol` sentence-beginning, but don't names-etc. deserve MORE?

For instance: Writing 'Him' (referring to God) in a subject-line, wouldn't it be better to make it "HIm" or "HiM" or "hIm" or "hiM" or "hIM" or "HIM"?

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Debate & Discuss / What God Is There For

« on: January 31, 2014, 10:55:58 am »Message ID: 845422

I'm not asking  I'm telling you: God is there so that leaders don't have to take the blame for what happens (as Moses & Aaron used God in the Exodus).

Sort of like when Jesus told us, 'I do not do these things of myself.'