Islander

Sorry PC. I was rather sharing with you the current situation with AJ and why we should terminate this endless diatribe with him. It was not directed at you.

That is simply not true. There are judges with more experience, better credential and less vociferous about their political leanings. The list was very short and made of politically colored candidates. Out of 100 judges or so assigned to the 13 circuits it is a certainty that there are many better qualified than her. The selection criteria tainted the process from the start. They wanted a woman and a Hispanic all the better, period.

That is the hypocrisy of the double standard. I am so sick of the political correctness in this country. We have now abandoned any reservations about the perception of political pandering. It HAD to be a woman and a LATINO to spice up the court. What a pile of garbage.

PC: For a very long time I worked helping people realize that there was nothing to fear but fear itself, as the quote goes. If one looks at Christianity from the "other side" for example it is seen as a false religion, a failed religion and a flawed religion. For everybody else in the globe the notion that a deity will come down from heaven and allow himself to be killed is completely counter intuitive and ridiculous, to say the least. It would never happen. It is non-nonsensical and incomprehensible to them. This is why most of our proselyting in polytheistic countries or even in the ME will be fraught with bitter disappointment. For some, as AJ above, they are not willing to even entertain the possibility that the claim is true. He is not willing to pray sincerely for he is ALREADY convinced that he knows the truth. That position is not biblical, he can not document it or sustain it but he holds on to his belief that he already knows and there is nothing else to know. Imagine if we find more letter from the Apostle Paul!!!! He surely wrote extensively since he also traveled quite a bit across Asia Minor and the congregations. But we have just a few letters. Imagine ALL the scholars and others agree they are authentic. Would you accept them? What would be the criteria for acceptance, religious/theological/ spiritual/political? Who would be in charge of voting or whatever to incorporate it into the cannon? Most people in the West grew up within a Judeo-Christian society, with values, laws and norms driven by such traditions. Just about everybody heard about "the bible" since the 11 century. So more than a true witness of Christ most (I am not saying all) Christian have adopted a tacit acceptance and later a belief in Christ and the bible but it is not rooted in the original tradition of Christianity, of the Apostles and prophets, of revelations and miracles. In fact. for the last 2000 years, clergy have but declared heresy on anybody that made such a claim as visions, revelation and angels. Until very recently the notion that God can do miracles by the hands of His servants was not the subjects of sermons in evangelical circles. The claim that Joseph made was earth-shaking. The Book of Mormon is simply a work that Joseph could not have cooked on his own or even with help in 1830. Thousands of forgeries from the 1-4th century AD are around and were all rejected. We can spot them. The Book of Mormon sets the bar so high that the ONLY alternative is to reject it from the outset. The encouragement is simple but powerful; to ask God, the Eternal Father in the name of Christ if the record is true. But some WILL NOT do it. They fear the possibility that they had been misled, misinformed; they think of the countless hours of study and effort involved. The emotional toll seems so great that it needs be the WE are wrong. No matter the fulfillment of prophesy, no matter the witnesses, no matter the millions that testify of this truth. Just as the Israelite afflicted by the serpents in the desert: And he did straiten them in the wilderness with his rod; for they hardened their hearts, even as ye have; and the Lord straitened them because of their iniquity. He sent fiery flying serpents among them; and after they were bitten he prepared a way that they might be healed; and the labor which they had to perform was to look; and because of the simpleness of the way, or the easiness of it, there were many who perished. 1 Ne 17:41

For this AJ dude it is just argument for argument sake. He thinks he is "witnessing to the Mormons and trying to save them" He did not dare answer my post, like many others he ignored them for his strategy is just contention. We should just stop answering his borrowed circular reasoning theories.

The doctrine is one and clear. PEOPLE develop ideas about and interpretations of it that vary when they do not listen to the prophets. But by the same token, that are some Christians that are pro-abortion and others pro-life. Some favor the death penalty and some don't. Some cohabit before marriage but some don't. They all fit inside the Catholic church, for example.

You do not elaborate much on him. It would seem to me from your brief description that he has lots of different problems that you should, indeed, be concerned about. You speak nothing of his Priesthood and standing. Romantic bliss is no substitute for reality. Take your time. I am not sure about the reply you heard in regards to your prayer. Grandma' just to say: "If you are in a rush make sure you dress up slowly. You don't want to go out half naked in a hurry."

I have a hint for you: Waterbboarding is not torture. We have, for political reasons extended the definition of torture to slapping. In real life, and you can ask anyone familiar with intelligence work, torture is about physical pain.Waterboarding is based on psychological drivers and fear rather than pain. But again, you know nothing about that, you already made up your mind and this is just a philosophical exercise for you. So, in other words, it is a useless exercise because you will never be presented the prerogative where you would REALLY have to wrestle with that question. You are just taking the high moral ground from the comfort of your home and behind the protection of your keyboard. The harsh reality is that under certain circumstances I can turn you into a monster where you will hate yourself the rest of your life for what you had done. But at that moment, pressed by the circumstance and under the threat of death the scenario NEVER looks that clear, it is never a clean cut moral turn with the "ONE WAY" sign pointing. You know just about nothing on the subject and all you are doing is joining the chorus in this philosophical debate. So, let's just agree to disagree.

I am also a convert of 10 years. I have seen some come and go as well. It has nothign to do with the doctrine and much to do with deciding to hold on to the iron rod. The letters of Paul detail his constant exhortation to the brethren to remain steadfast on the faith and the doctrine they have received from them and not to go back to the ways of the world. The parable of the seeds on Matthew 13 comes to mind. People can recognize the truth. But they don't always do what it takes to stay the course. They find the path but walking in it all the days of our lives, being faithful to the word of God; that is the real errand.

AJ: Your reluctance to consider the matter prayerfully and sincerely is more of a psychological barrier than theological one. We are asking you to pray to God, the Eternal Father in the name of His Son, Jesus Christ who is the Savior and Redeemer of ALL mankind if this work is of men or of Him. It will be a sincere prayer to your God and My God, Christ, whose work we do, of whom we prophesy and in whom we trust for salvation and everlasting life. Only He can reveal to you that this is His Church and that He has revealed these things for all who desire to believe and seek the truth. You have ascertained truth as far as you have been able to understand and receive it. Your spiritual search has led you here and it is not random. Again, if the bible is to be trusted, your situation, your very predicament is found there. At the time of the ministry of the Savior, the religious leaders and most of Israel accused Him of being a sinner, unclean and the devil himself. How can they be so confused, how can they be so blind on the face of so much evidence? Many saw His miracles, they marveled at the fact that a poor peasant from the backwaters of the country would demonstrate such insight into scripture and the Law. But the wisest of the wise knew of the mysterious ways of God and warned against rushing to judgment. Jesus, after all was a poor, uneducated, unimportant Galilean. Other than faith and a witness of the Holy Ghost you would not know about Jesus. We were not there. Billions today do not know about Christ and His salvation. When they heard that [the witness of the apostles], they were cut to the heart, and took counsel to slay them. Then stood there up one in the council, a Pharisee, named Gamalie lPaul's teacher some time later, by the way] , a doctor of the law, had in reputation among all the people, and commanded to put the apostles forth a little space; And said unto them, Ye men of Israel, take heed to yourselves what ye intend to do as touching these men. For before these days rose up Theudas, boasting himself to be somebody; to whom a number of men, about four hundred, joined themselves: who was slain; and all, as many as aobeyed him, were scattered, and brought to nought. After this man rose up Judas of Galilee in the days of the taxing, and drew away much people after him: he also perished; and all, even as many as obeyed him, were dispersed. And now I say unto you, Refrain from these men, and let them alone: for if this counsel or this work be of men, it will come to nought: But if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it; lest haply ye be found even to fight against God. AJ, 180 years later and 13 million Church members, hundreds of Temples and 60,000 missionaries the world over testify that God has never abandoned His children, that The Savior lives, that this is His Church and He raised up a prophet, a simple, humble boy in the ONLY country in the world where the work could come forth without being smothered by tradition and corrupted doctrine. I know this to be the absolute truth. I found God and received a witness of Christ's forgiveness not from preacher or teachers of religion, not from books or radio programs. I will not bother you with the details but the choices are simple. You would remain as you are, doubting the truth of which we testify, denying the possibility that God speaks and reveals His will thru prophets today as He did in times of old. Or you can search with all intent and sincerity if what we testify of is true. If you are not willing then I wish you the very best. You need not worry about me. For I have found truth and salvation in Christ. For He is my Redeemer and I know that on the appointed day I will stand to embrace Him for His love for me and the redemption he offered me.

JPL: There is no list. The most important element of the process is to truly be converted. You must receive thru the Spirit the truth and the reality of the things you are about to learn. Without that certainty there is no conversion. Talk to the missionaries for that is their task. They are there to seek and find those who are looking for the truth and they will teach you the things that you need to know and get you on the road to baptism. No worries and I hope you find what you are looking for.

I agree with justice. To be converted means to be committed, to be convinced, to be settled in ones mind with a spiritual witness that what you are doing is the will of God. Once you are absolutely sure then you must abandone the hesitation, the doubt and uncertainty that the enemy will surely try to bring to your mind. Remember that we battle with a cunning adversary that knows and understand your weaknesses better than you. You must avail yourself of every weapon to combat him and "taking away the space and stage in which he dances is the best way to shut down his act..." my grandma just to say. That means your thoughts. Stop talking to yourself about how difficult this is and how much you desire to do the easy thing and all that other stuff that you hear in your mind. Slap yourself every time you find the thought creeping into your mind. Decide on your course and start walking. Do not think about it, just do it.

Maybe because I am a convert, I refer to myself as a Latter day Saint and I call the Church by its proper name. The name "Mormon" applied to myself or the Church does not synch with me. It creates dissonance in my ears, sort of.

Following the same logic then we should have just clean up the mess at 1 WTC, bury our dead and move on with life. And if we capture anybody we should just deport them to their countries of origin since imprisoning them cost so much money we should use that to feed the poor. Dialogue and the political process works really well when everybody plays by the same rules. When somebody wants you dead, no matter what you say or do to try to compromise, the rules of the game MUST change a bit to accommodate the new reality. You would not last very long otherwise. We can sit here and pragmatically discuss these issues. But if you would have seen how terrorists decapitated Daniel Perl in Pakistan (nothing to do with Afghanistan or Irak by the way), if that would have been your husband and the father of your children, if you capture one of the cell members before the fact, I am certain you would not put him in an air conditioned cell and wait for him to voluntarily offer information that would help save your husband's life. I know I am biased, I was a soldier. I have seen things that I pray everyday my children not anyone would have to see for as long as they live. In fact, I would go to war today and die to protect this nation as it is my legacy to my children. War is hell and nobody descend there unless you really have to. There are things in hell that would stop you heart if you had to see them. The realities of war are seldom appreciated from the comfort of our homes. There are some out there plotting to kill you. This is their purpose in life and they welcome the opportunity of dying themselves in the process if it accomplishes the objective. They are reared to believe that is a sure way to reach their god. Think about your own commitments to your God and you could begin to understand. In the current environment the most committed wins. We have 100 years of recent recorded history to prove it. Just some thoughts.

It boils down to money. It cost about $1500 per linear foot of fiber installed to the home. They can only install fiber to the home in brand new neighborhoods but less likely on existing homes. The next weave will be wireless. But the backbone is owned by the usual suspects and that is why little progress is being made currently.

Those detained at Gtmo have much better conditions than some inmates in some of our prisons right here int he US of A. Of course, they have the press and the ACLU to thank for that. Most people have never seen the inside of a prison anywherelse in the world, of course. The schizophrenia driven by political interest and partisanship will be the downfall of this nation. From a psychological standpoint, the need for constant grandstanding, showmanship, exhibitionism, agitation, paranoia, obsessiveness, incoherent and delusional behavior this nation exhibits; if it were a person it would be locked up in a mental institution. “A house divided against itself cannot stand.” Abraham Lincoln

The next wave of internet innovation will displace traditional content delivery channels and extinguish many of them. We are seeing already how the internet has reduced influence and control of the content and moved it away from the traditional outlets (newspapers, TV and magazines) and created a much wider, richer (also crazier) well of information. IP TV is the next step. Content will be created independently and distributed on a subscription base also independently of the TV and satellite networks. So you will be able to watch what you want to rather than being fed junk together with you choice. We will see a lot more niche programming become truly successful.

I can see where your argument comes from, but consider this. For the longest time, most gun owners have found that the common ground with the gun lobby (read manufacturing and distributors) is very small. But because of the aggressiveness of the gun control crowd they have become bed fellows of convenience. The constituencies are very diverse and the needs, culture and interest, say in Montana, are different than in Palm springs, CA. Because just about ALL the legislation about gun ownership comes from the gun control side it puts the rest of the people on the defensive. In the last 20 years or so just about all legislative attempts hinted, at least in the eyes of some, at slowly but surely eroding gun ownership rights. Case in point England and Australia where gun rights are gone. Some suggest that law enhancements aimed at the criminal elements will bear better fruit than trying to restrict gun ownership. After all, most gun violence in this country is perpetrated by people that are not legal gun owners, anyhow. The argument continues,, of course.

It seems futuristic but it is true. Most people have ONLY a 4-5 day supply of food at home. A big jolt of the earth's crust, the freeways collapse and the food supply is disrupted. You could see some very ugly things in the streets. And that is not a far fetch scenario. I have seen several refugee camps. They are not pleasant. Yep, you ALL should overcome your aversion and apprehension about guns and purchase some, learn how to use them REALLY well, practice as a family how to use them appropriately in case of emergency and store them safely. And pray you'd never have to use them.

The pain and disappointment at this stage are unavoidable. You don't have to go into painfully excruciating detail about your "sins." They already know you have gone wayward and they are also avoiding the conversation, believe me. They will continue to pray and hope that you would mend your ways. Nothing you say willl make them stop trying to bring you back into the fold. You be polite, have compassion for their pain and do not try to "assert" your free will on their faces. In oder words, do not wear your rebelious/sinful ways on your sleeve. Just be courteous and polite. You are an adult and you do not have to divulge details of your private life. It serves no purpose other than adding insult to injury.

The issue here is multifaceted. But from a purely legal standpoint a child has no legal right to receive or refuse medical treatment on his/her own. Sexual behavior excluded (that seems more a political issue than a medical one), children can not seek or receive medical treatment on their own. They enjoy protection under the law and they become a ward of the state whenever parental protection is absent or negligent. For example, the parents could be arrested and the children removed by the state if it is found that they are not providing adequate health care. This case is in reverse. The state can compel a child to receive care for he is willfully and intentionally endangering himself. From the family standpoint I wonder how is it that he rather die than get better. The family must have some serious issues.

Why are we arguing about this. Obama is a "nominal" Christian just like Bill Clinton was a Christian and many other people in America today. He HAS to be (or at least call himself one) with a name like Barak Hussein Obama in the US. He had no choice other than to associate himself with Christians or he would get nowhere politically. A gamble that paid off, obviously as he managed himself to get elected to the highest office in the land in what is perhaps the shortest political career in history. Even his reported hero; JFK, served the people of New England for 13 yers before getting elected President. Obama is a "Sunday" Christian. He stood before the world and denied the Christian heritage of America so I am not surprised he is pro-abortion. The fact is that it means very little these days to call oneself "Christian." You can, after all, be a serial killer and call yourself Christian, a drug addict, homosexual, an abortion nurse. You can be what you are, do what you please and call yourself a Christian on Sunday.

Yep...Moderator, Moderator? Where are thou, most mighty and powerful rulers of this realm? Pam, her highness? Inflict upon this unruly and misguided intruder thy touch and brand the skin of his avatar with the sign of the unfit (BANNED)....and send him on his merry way, please;);) PS: I am reading (paraphrasing at times) Shakespeare's Henry the VII to my kids. I could not stomach the SHO rendition. Can you tell?

It is great!! Is there an actual site where you can see scheduled programming?

Don't go too far. In certain exclusive neighborhoods missionaries seldom go because all they do is ring intercoms and a maid would answer and she will not open the door for them. That can go on for miles and days. So, they rather trek over the mountains and into the Southern California desert where, although 120 degrees hot for 4 months out of the year, there are humble and willing people to listen and accept the Gospel.