ho hum....

its Thursday morning and I have just been doing my usual pastime of moderating a christian chat room.

Some of the views expressed by people who follow one or another doctrine appear to be totally at odds with what the bible teaches and when you challenge them, they say "No the bible doesnt reeally mean that".

Example John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotton Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish....."

Recently I was told that the word "whoever" doesnt really mean that, it actually means something totally different, despite several dictionary definitions indicating : "who⋅ev⋅er : whatever person; anyone that, etc ". I was told that it really means only those who God selects.... Now how on earth does any one manage to get only those God selects from the word whoever?

Some one else told me that the word Hell doesnt really mean that as there is no such place, despite the bible saying there is, then they go on to say they believe what the bible says, (but only if it agrees with their wrong doctrines I guess).

I wonder how many pastors that are teaching this stuff will one day stand before Jesus to have Him say to them "begone...I never knew you....".

it stinks man......

I just went to visit the "revived" Journalspace, as a friend told me it was back. I shouldn't of bothered, its not a patch on what it was before the big crash or what ever destroyed the data on the disk drives.

Thats a pity as many of us maintained blogs there; some for several years, all gone due to the spiteful action of some unknown party. Its to be hoped that some of them kept back-ups of their blogs as some were quite professional in the way they were set out. Maybe some will relocate their blogs to here and carry on, however I dont doubt that some will be so disappointed by the destruction of the data that they never blog again...and that will be a great shame.

Sitting on the fence

I was in a christian chat room earlier and a chatter asked aquestion: Should they attend and take part in a wiccan wedding?

My view on this is that you cannot keep a foot in both camps you are either a christian and accept all its values or you are not.

Attending a wiccan ceremony as a christian implies support for that religion as I see it. Meeting people of other "faiths", if wicca can indeed be called a faith, is one thing, after all Jesus met with sinners and ate with them, but I dont see that He ever attended any event that was gainst what is taught in thye Bible. If one doesnt meet non-christians you wont be able to witness to them and introduce them to Jesus.

Others, including an ex wiccan person said there was no harm in attending such an event and that they would do so. Not to be unkind to that person the Bible does say that dogs return to their own vomit, meaning that sinners are drawn back to thir sins to commit them again often.

As for me, I will serve the Lord.

Time marches on

My goodness, is it really over two years since I posted in here?

Talk about water under the bridge, so much has happened in that time, mainly boring stuff nothing that needs to be reported on in a blog.

I am only making this entry because of the time lag and to show I sill live and breathe.

imploding or plain self destruction?

I have been reading and commenting in another's blog, the person is having an apparent struggle with memories of an affair they had.

When I used to be an active first-aider, one of the first things we were taught is "move the patient from the danger, or move the danger from the patient" . To a point they have done this physically they changed jobs, the other party being a worker at that place. However mentally they are still there, they by their own statements dwell on it day and night.

I know they have other issues to deal with but that's the main stumbling block as I see it. They say their wife hates them, I don't think she hates him per se, I think she hates the guy he has become, or is becoming.

Change is hard and forgiveness even harder, but without a deliberate and concerted effort together the other woman out of ones mind and a total and unreserved forgiveness from both parties in this marriage, I cannot see it going anywhere but down.

We in our marriage have had our ups and downs too, we have come close to breaking up on a couple of occasions due to various issues, but we survived them and in the surviving grew stronger together.

I know the required change is gonna be painful, almost like major surgery without an anesthetic, but it must be done if there is to be a chance for survival here.

Otherwise all I can see is an implosion.

friendships never last for ever

I haven't posted much in this journal recently, reserving it for more serious thoughts than the usual useless drivel and banter I post in my "normal" blog.

But I think a lot. Mainly thoughts I keep to myself, like why do apparent friends suddenly stop being so? I am guilty of that also so I am not pointing fingers at any one in particular. We, my wife and I had a joint friendship with another couple that had gone on for years, and suddenly it stopped. we stopped phoning each other, or calling on each other, no particular reason except they moved house a couple of times and because of rising land prices have moved forther and further away from the city.

I wonder, did we or they just get bored or lazy? I know of at least one other blogger that feels that way about another they have been friends with for years, then suddenly silence.

My little bird is flying the coop

Well not so little any more, she being an adult and over 21, but she really is flying the coop. Flying the skies in fact, Wednesday morning 1 am our time, (thats 1 pm Tuesday USA Eastern time), she board a plane for UK and Europe, gonna be away 6 weeks.

This will be her 3rd trip over there, she is going alone, and intends to meet up with some of the friends she made while living over there for three years.

She is soccer mad also, so I think there is an intention of visiting Germany while the World Cup is on, she probably wont get to see any games live, but I gather that most venues will have large TV screens set up outside for the many fans who cannot get insid the stadium.

(On an aside, talking about large screens, my son just bought a 6 ft screen tv for his lounge room, its a wide screen format. I suggested he get some wide angle glasses to ensure they can see all the screen at once. Its enormouse).

Put downs?

Why is it that so many people seem to want to put them selves down in blogs? Call it self effacing, humility, insecurity, or what ever, why put yourself down?

I don't mean the kind of entry that is soul searching and usually leads to some kind of spiritual release for the blogger, I mean the "every body hates me", "I am nothing, nobody", "what a waste of space I am" kind of person. Don't they realise that when Jesus said these words:
John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life..... that He was talking about them too? When He allowed himself to be crucified, he was dying for their sins too.

There are sufficient ill-willed, cranky, peevish people in the world (some even call themselves "christians"), to do the putting down for you, so why put yourself down?

Just give me a call I do the putting down for free........