KScience

2 factors that influence the virus spread:
- How dense the population is.
- How dense the population is.

Kid got kicked out of private schools at junior age..... they can be selective and no more would admit him.  This was his 3rd secondary school and as the worst school in the authority (and 2nd worst authority in the country) its where kids ended up.
I wish I could say the attitude was a one off

Kid got kicked out of private schools at junior age..... they can be selective and no more would admit him.  This was his 3rd secondary school and as the worst school in the authority (and 2nd worst authority in the country) its where kids ended up.
I wish I could say the attitude was a one off

Not when there are huge fines for missing school.  Again the poorest in the community have the least chance or kicking against the pricks
 

Not sure that proxy baptisms for the dead would have had any practical meaning before Christ's resurrection.

I have a brother and a cousin that have to share on facebook every new thing they get.   My brother posted a picture of his new camping trailer.  My cousin immediately had to respond that they just bought a bigger one.  The thing with my cousin...4 years ago they were in so much debt they didn't know how they would get ahead.  Then my uncle died and left her more money than she even knew he had.  Plus a house and so much more.  So now she acts like she is one of the wealthy ones.

Anyone know when the church is resuming MIA activities?  I just found the hymn book in an old piano bench we had stowed away in our basement. 

 
 

I don't understand people who brag about having lots of money, perhaps because I'm not one of them. Is being born into a rich family really something to be proud of? The mindset escapes me.

If he makes that much money, one would think that a private school would be a better option.

Homeschooling is not very common in the UK, and most home schooled children are definitely of middle class. You have to register to homeschool, and with most local authorities on skeleton staff that wont be straight forward; plus most parents would not even consider that they could.  Mind you working in inner city schools for years I met many parents who were poorly educated, struggled with basic numeracy and literacy and would not have the faintest idea about where to start.
As a secondary school teacher I actually suggested to a parent once that they should consider homeschooling as they did not value the curriculum that was being offered to their offspring. The parents evening meeting had started along the lines of "and before you start telling me that he needs to make more effort and he is not going to pass his exams, I don't care because I cant read and write and I make more than you do and buy a new Jag every year".  Parent did not take kindly to my advice and told me it was my responsibility to get his child an education🤦‍♀️

Homeschooling is not very common in the UK, and most home schooled children are definitely of middle class. You have to register to homeschool, and with most local authorities on skeleton staff that wont be straight forward; plus most parents would not even consider that they could.  Mind you working in inner city schools for years I met many parents who were poorly educated, struggled with basic numeracy and literacy and would not have the faintest idea about where to start.
As a secondary school teacher I actually suggested to a parent once that they should consider homeschooling as they did not value the curriculum that was being offered to their offspring. The parents evening meeting had started along the lines of "and before you start telling me that he needs to make more effort and he is not going to pass his exams, I don't care because I cant read and write and I make more than you do and buy a new Jag every year".  Parent did not take kindly to my advice and told me it was my responsibility to get his child an education🤦‍♀️

Homeschooling is not very common in the UK, and most home schooled children are definitely of middle class. You have to register to homeschool, and with most local authorities on skeleton staff that wont be straight forward; plus most parents would not even consider that they could.  Mind you working in inner city schools for years I met many parents who were poorly educated, struggled with basic numeracy and literacy and would not have the faintest idea about where to start.
As a secondary school teacher I actually suggested to a parent once that they should consider homeschooling as they did not value the curriculum that was being offered to their offspring. The parents evening meeting had started along the lines of "and before you start telling me that he needs to make more effort and he is not going to pass his exams, I don't care because I cant read and write and I make more than you do and buy a new Jag every year".  Parent did not take kindly to my advice and told me it was my responsibility to get his child an education🤦‍♀️

As a total side track, but a bit of encouragement, I can all but guarantee you that your child's teacher is far more disappointed with the education bureaucrats that created all the  documentation requirements, allegedly to assure that everyone is fulfilling their duties remotely, than s/he is with any student or parent.

Then the Baptists will think you're going to hell because you lack grace. 
 

Do you feel more complete with him or without him? Do you feel closer to the Lord with him or without him? Does he make you feel like a better person when you're with him or without him? Do you feel stronger as a person with him or without him? Now.  Reverse those questions.  Does he feel that same way about you?
Even if you're looking for "a" right person, it really is back to basics.  Is he willing to build a life together and work towards common goals?  Will you support each other in all worthy endeavors.  Will you bring each other closer to the Lord?  Then it will work out for you.

There's a few people whom need to be UNinvited to this discussion:
- Your ex.  He's just not invited to this discussion and all thoughts about him need to go away.  
- The fairy tale about "the one".  There is no such thing.  There are many different possible people any person could be with and be incredibly happy with.  Love and successful relationship are not about singing at a wishing well "I'm waiting for the one I love to find me today".   No.  That's a fairy tale.   
 
Love is hard work.  Developing & continuing exercising strong communication skills, commitment, placing the other person first, and placing God above all.  How is your communication with this person?  Do you put each other first?  Do you both place God above all else?  Do trusted friends & family see your relationship and see it as being healthy and wise?  

I guess I'm not seeing the problem here.  What are you waiting for?  The clouds in the sky to open allowing a big booming voice to tell you this is the guy?  I don't even know what the guy looks like and I already want to marry him. 
Tell me he's rich and I'll divorce my wife and beg him to marry me.  

"When you know, you know" is not about the other person.  It's about YOU.  Attraction is the easy part.  CHOOSING TO LOVE is the harder part.  And if you think that "you just know" without making a conscious decision on your part to make that covenant then more than likely, you're going to end up divorced in short order when things get rough.  "Fall in love" is a stupid phrase, in my opinion.  It's like you're walking minding your own business and you tripped and fell in love.  That's what happens when your hormones are making the decision for you.
So, when do you know?  Here's the best way, in my opinion, to find out.  When you're ready to CHOOSE the person to spend the rest of your life with so that when somebody cuter and finer and richer and more spiritual than your husband comes to you later asking you to leave your husband and spend the rest of your life with him, you can HONESTLY look him in the eye and say, "I'm sorry Brad Pitt - Nelson, you are a great person and will make some lucky woman happy someday, but I chose to build a family with my husband for the rest of my life so I can't be with you.", then you are ready to marry.

Speaking for myself:  there was no one moment where I was “absolutely sure” I wanted to marry my wife.  Heck, we’ve been married over fifteen years and there are still moments where little nagging doubts try to get into my brain.  To a big degree, love and confidence grow as one keeps one’s commitments to one’s partner; and at the beginning there’s going to be a leap of faith.
On the other hand:  if you aren’t as physically attracted to your spouse as you know you could be to another man—or if you and your spouse have fundamental disagreements over his career goals or your anticipated joint lifestyle—if those specific issues are not *completely* resolved from the beginning of your marriage, you’re going to find yourself confronting them again and again and again—every day in your marriage, and in ways you don’t now expect.  Every kiss that doesn’t have the spark, every meal that you think could have been better if your food budget was more generous, every time you put on a shirt that you had to settle for because it was cheaper than the shirt you *really* wanted to buy.  It can become very wearing on a marriage, and ultimately destructive.
It would be great to be able to resolve these issues within yourself, but if you just can’t do it—don’t let anyone guilt you into marrying your boyfriend with those fundamental problems still hanging out there.  If there’s ever a time in your life to be almost-irrationally picky, it’s when you are selecting your future spouse.

Pretty sure KScience is from the UK. (Which in this case doesn't mean University of Kentucky.)

My oft-mentioned Muslim friend in graduate school told me that he tried to read one juz' (section) of the Qur'an every day. There are thirty ajza' (plural of juz') in the Qur'an, so that works out to reading the entire Qur'an about once a month. (The Qur'an is somewhat shorter than the New Testament, so this isn't as overwhelming a task as it might sound at first, though certainly it is no mean feat.)
While the Qur'an passages he was so familiar with didn't strike any resonance with me, and while I doubt the divine authenticity of his scriptures, I do believe that his diligence and dedication to worshiping God stood him in good stead. To some degree, I think that his purity of intent and his willingness to follow through was the important refining element. I don't want to go too far down this path; I am not cynical enough to accept the universalist idea that it doesn't matter what you believe or whom you worship, and that it's the worship itself that helps you. I believe it matters a great deal. But I also believe that the laws of God bless the sincere in intent and the pure in heart, despite their false ideas. If it were not so, surely we all would be lost forever.

Gospel Principles or standard works? The answer I am hearing is YES...but in reverse order. Great answer. Obvious...but true. And, yes, for too many Christians of all stripes, there has not been even one reading through the 66 books of the Old and New Testaments. Sadly, some of our compromised mega-pastors are actively advising against much of the Bible as unnecessary. :::sigh:::  Keep them ignorant, keep them controlled.
I especially like the added counsel to use Gospel Principles, but with actually references to all scriptures listed. Who does that? Very few...but yeah, everyone should. I recall reading a study book from a religion I do not agree with. They made a statement I thought wrong, and in parenthesis it had six biblical references. Most would look at that and be amazed and overwhelmed. They must be right with all that scripture backing them. Alas, I actually read the first two references and realized they had nothing to do with the point made. It's almost as if they simply used a concordance to see if any of the words in their points were also in the Bible, and the listed each verse that contained one of the words.
BOTTOM LINE:  Want to avoid being a heretic within? Read your faith's scriptures...daily passages and yearly books. Excellent stuff. I believe our elders called this type of thing a spiritual discipline.

Since my youth members of the Church have pointed to the parable of the  10 virgins as an indication that 50% of the membership of the Church would fall away.  Around that time, it was widely reported that we actually already had an activity rate around 50%.  So, everyone was warned to remain vigilant.
After many years, I noticed something else happening.  What we now see as "orthodox" vs "heterodox" thought was something that really didn't happen much.  Sure there were outliers.  And there would always be those who are out on the fringes.  But that is exactly what they were: fringes.
Today I'm seeing that the membership of the Church is falling into heterodox ideology at an alarming rate (just my personal impression).  Part of that is that there are so few people who actually understand the doctrines of the Church anymore.  If we don't even know what we believe, then it is easy to change what we believe into something unrecognizable.
Now the 10 virgins take on a new meaning.  It does not refer to a 50% activity rate.  It refers to a pretty low activity rate and only 50% of the active Saints who still attend their meetings and even pay their tithing and go to the temple and fulfill all their Church callings will be able to endure to the end.  But their hearts are not about faithfulness to the Lord and His Church.  It is something else that motivates them.  And when the time comes, they will find that their lamps are out of oil.

It was only a very few years ago that the term "Anti" would be used here with some frequency. I read a fair amount of that material growing up. We worried about 'false teaching' and the groups that espoused them. Today I seldom see that term used. I'm sure there are still a few groups doing such work. However, the greater concern in traditional Christianity is something I call "the compromised church." It's those congregations, pastors, and members who embrace the culture and declare anything other than love "non-essentials." Perhaps our greatest enemies have always been those within.

They've been doing comparisons regarding the average death rates vs. the death rates in the US currently.  It is about 150% that of normal.  The average stays right about the same with a slight increase due to population increases, but the average has stayed pretty steady for the past decade.  In comparison, the past few months have shown an uptick with the only big difference being COVID-19.
This is why many who keep track of things are saying that the number of deaths are being under reported...at least until they find another factor that could be causing such a disparity of the statistics.  Without another reason, the guess is that it is due to COVID-19.