How much calories do you think God expends to keep the universe from falling back into Chaos?
915656
That is why he needs blood sacrifices! The real Jews and Christians know this, that is why they wage wars to send him burnt offerings.
729827
Do you know what I find helpful?  Remembering that our lives do not necessarily have to be divided up into "secular" and "sacred" things.  Everything we do can be an act of worship to the Lord.  Whether it be washing the dishes, typing a report, cleaning a bathroom ... whatever ...  doing it with the motivation being an act of worship, doing it for the love of God (not to *get* His love [you already have it] but rather *because* of it, in celebration of it) can transform the mundane to into the maaahvelous.  I even noticed that I had more energy physically at the end of the days where I focused on doing everything for the love of God.  It's almost as though He blesses the motivation for doing things when it's done expressly for Him as opposed to doing them simply because we "hafta".  :)
762396
Something is really wrong with the heaven and hell teaching.\nAccording to Psalm 115:16, has God provided earth, or heaven for mankind?\nAccording to Psalm 37:29, where are we suppose to spend our eternity?\nReasoning:\nGod said Adam would lose the gift of life if he ate of the forbidden fruit.\nHe ate, he died.\nIF he never ate of it, if he never touched it ....where would he be today?\nOur future is on a cleansed earth.\nThat is what God's original purpose is .....and nothing will change his mind.
293941
In the begining...(sorry, couldn't help myself) God decided that he wanted to see if he could create a rock so big he couldn't lift it. Since God was self-eternal, he knew he that what was directly "created" could never be truly equal to a being that was self-eternal, so he thought to himself "how about a place where they might be more likely to arise"?\nHaving pondered the logistics he finally decided that the best approach was to compact everything into a "ball", and then detonate said ball with such force that matter would be seperated from energy. He knew that certain elements would naturally bond together in the aftermath, forming chunks here and pieces there. Eventually forming more and more complex entities. Even to the point of being able to temporarily trap some of the free flowing energy that tried to pass through the material. \nThis trapped energy would, in it's attempt to move out of said material, give the appearance of animation. Some of this "animating energy", depending in part on the length of time it was trapped and the complexity of the matter it was in, would come to realize it's situation of separation. Perhaps then, if the animating energy accepted it's separation as not necessarily a bad thing, it could organize itself in such a way as to keep itself intact once it left the host material.\nOn a large scale this can be seen when some stars evolve into a black hole, with a "singularity" inside. On a small scale it can be seen in Jesus or Buddha or a few others who have organized their animating energy into a permanent consciousness.\nThus fufilling God's original experiment as to whether he could make a rock so heavy he couldn't lift it. A universe where separated energy can indeed become self-eternal. \n"In the image of God", but on a smaller scale.
553434
well I like this potion in the bible Jeremaiah 29:11 For I know the thoughts and plans that I have for you, says the Lord, thoughts and plans for welfare and peace and not for evil, to give you hope in your final outcome. and also Rom 8:31-\n31What can we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? 32Since God did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won't God, who gave us Christ, also give us everything else?\n    33Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? Will God? No! He is the one who has given us right standing with himself. 34Who then will condemn us? Will Christ Jesus? No, for he is the one who died for us and was raised to life for us and is sitting at the place of highest honor next to God, pleading for us.\n\n    35Can anything ever separate us from Christ's love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or are hungry or cold or in danger or threatened with death? 36(Even the Scriptures say, "For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep."[l]) 37No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.\n\n    38And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from his love. Death can't, and life can't. The angels can't, and the demons can't. Our fears for today, our worries about tomorrow, and even the powers of hell can't keep God's love away. 39Whether we are high above the sky or in the deepest ocean, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.\n\nI love this passages it keeps me going knowing that the Lord has something good for me and He is always there for me also no matter what I am going thru be it as a result of my mistake or something I have to go thru, I know it that nothing can separet mew from The Love of God and I mean nothing
967762
I agree with you.  You cannot use logic to figure out All Powerful Super Natural God.\nIsaiah 55:9 As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.\nBlessings:  Kaitlynn
284489
dont sweat it sweethart, try being proactive in helping   those that want to be saved, remember free will, and leave the rest to God, He is better equipped to deal with this than you know, He wants YOU happy, not stressed, and not throwing pearls to swines. He understands all these dynamics.
1167887
All right, Rev Trask. This does it! Have you been taking your medication?\n\nActually, you forgot to include deviled ham. How many sinful foods have we been eating? Are we doomed?
618632
Amen to you! \n\nYou're on the right track! We can't blame God for natural disasters (God also created something called Free Will, that allows us to choose where we live, and if one chooses to live in a flood-prone area, well, take what comes) but we can blame ourselves for creating the disastrous society we live in today...there's no limit to what we are able to do, we have no limits on our appetites (for food and many other things). There's nobody looking over our shoulder as a moral guidance/conscience or whatever you want to call it. God used to provide this, because I remember being aware that "God will see me take that piece of candy from the store, therefore I won't do that because I don't want to be in trouble with Him." Nowadays, kids carjack and murder people just to get the rims off their car. Or for a pair of fancy shoes. Or for jackets. For Heaven's Sake, People! Is there nothing we can do to stem the tide of destruction? Taking God out of our daily lives only serves to strengthen those who are in the 14% who believe in nothing, and give people who are lawless a reason to behave so. We can only be vigilant if we are given a way to enforce it (and the law isn't able to do it all--this vigilance must start in the home, where there are PARENTS for their CHILDREN, where people pray for peace in the world, where children are taught right from wrong and not which video games they have to have). This has nothing to do with what we all call our God (Jehovah, Yahweh, Allah, Great Spirit) or the creed we follow. Most people are good and decent but are deceived by the merit, or lack thereof, of material goods. For the 86% of us who believe in SOMETHING, this is a call to action! When we meet our Maker, whenever that will be, He/She will be the ultimate judge of our action or non-action.
230289
I was taught the same veiw of God when I was Growing up. Namely that an omnipotent creator was watching out for us. And you're right, given the vast amount of suffering we see, it's hard not to reach the conclusion that God is non-existent, not omnipotent, or non-interventionist. I lean towards the last.\nWhen you buy a car you don't pick one that will wind up in the shop every other month, so why do people automatically assume that God would have created a "high maintenance" universe?\nYou're right there is much suffering in the world, but in the end, the pain your body feels can't really touch or effect your soul (or animating energy). Animating energy, being energy, can't really die. When our body dies, this animating enrgy leaves the body, it's not wasted or destroyed. And if there is a creator behind this, then he/she would not automatically feel the need to alter the process.\nFurther, I really believe that man is in the "image of God". And to me this means (as God is self-eternal), that we have the ability to organize our animating energy into a permanent consciousness. and towards this, it would be a mistake for God to actually intervene in the process. So I guess I see it as all animating energy will eventually have that chance.\nLao-Tzu once said that "A leader is best when the world barely knows that he exists, and when his work is done the people way say, 'lo for we did the work ourselves' ".
1154500
This "free will" argument is a load of balls, really.If god lets us do what we want and make our own choices(free will) and we are all gods children, then surely he is guilty of parental neglect ! If you had kids and you let them go about doing whatever they wanted: killing, raping and destroying things, then social services would be round quick as a flash, youd be in jail and the little buggers would be in a care home!
21379
Ok here is a try.  A guy told me this the other day...\n\nThese 3 pastors enjoyed going around to elderly people's homes and sharing religous inspirations with them.  They felt they had to do this, as a lot of old folks couldn't make it out of the house.\n\nOne day the 3 pastors stopped by an elderly woman's house.  She was really excited to see them, as she doesn't get any visitors except for her son who drops off groceries once a week.\n\nShe invited the pastors in and welcomed them to sit in her living room.  The pastors began reading versus to her and did their usual thing.\n\nOne of the pastors spotted a bowl of peanuts on the table and began eating them.  As time went on and they spoke with the lady about religion, an hour had passed in no time.  The pastor eating the peanuts realized that he had nearly finished off the entire bowl.  The pastor was embarrased as he could tell the elderly lady didn't have much money and probably had a hard time affording food.\n\nThe pastor apologized to the lady for eating nearly her whole bowl of peanuts.  He assured her, he would replace them the next day.\n\nThe elderly lady replied "Don't worry about it, since I lost my teeth years ago...I haven't been able to eat chocolate covered peanuts.  I only suck the chocolate off of them!"
419977
Why only Christians???---Eating too much is harmful for Everyone\n\nWe in India also think that eating too much hinders spiritual progress. I wouldn't use the word 'sin' though\n\nIf you are exercising and feel energetic, that should be okay then, but at the same time do think about the long term after effects of 'over eating'
230317
Jerry, you raise an interesting question.  How can we justify consuming so much? We don't.  We don't like to "think" about it usually.  Just a few days ago, I wrote a study that for a cow to produce 1 lb. of meat, it must consume 6 lbs. of grain.  But instead of consuming 6 pounds of grain, we go for 1 lb of meat.\n\nSuch as the conditions are, should we be allowed to exist?  From a religious perspective yes.  God made us and he provided the things for us; thus, they ought to be consumed.\n\nNow the problem arises when don't have such an egoistical point of view.  Dostoevsky once said that the only question worth answering is if we should commit suicide.  Is life worth living?  Yes, but we must return some of what we consume.  We can only justify living if we are truly alive and not just existing.\n\nIn my opinion, living is what makes the difference.
351964
I think your pastor was full of it, and it wasn't food. Show me where in the Bible it says that being overweight is a sin.
220543
From the Biblical standpoint, the universe will actually cease to exist, so from the document that the majority of the West draws on for its concept of Heaven (either directly or indirectly), the universe is not actually never-ending...  However, there will be a new model, or so it appears.\n\nI think the reference would be 2 Peter 3:10-13\n\nThe main reference on the 144,000 mentioned in another note is in Revelation 7:4-8, and is followed by verses 9 & 10 describing an innumerable multitude there with this group of 144,000...
276608
Awesome question.  God and his pantheon.  Awesome!