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~~ Peace, John 3.16 ~~

one of the facets of jewish writing is the contrast and comparison. We see this alot in proverbs. It's using contrasting love and hate to make a point:
You focus on your life and everything you have here on earth, you'll lose it.
You don't focus on your life and everything on earth, but rather in God, you'll get eternal life. you are "hating" your life in a sense by rejecting your old life/flesh.

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"The generation of random numbers is too important to leave to chance."
Soterion Studios

This verse means that at anytime I should be able to step away from whatever I think is best for my life to follow God's plan. That's easier said than done. And some people might think you crazy to do so. Its kind of like losing your life, throwing it away. And if you waste something (from the world's perspective) it could be seen as hating it.

I believe this verse is about who does one really serve, themselves or the lord(master) of themselves.

Good Question!

God Bless!

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Sam Washburn

PS : To tell you the truth I am already planning on becoming a Christain Developer, but I wanted a few more opinions on the topic...

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~~ Peace, John 3.16 ~~

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Brian

"OOP programmers have a lot of class"

Check out this webhost! Fantastic prices, features and support!

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~~ Peace, John 3.16 ~~

quote:

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Originally posted by ThirddaySaved:
It's really annoying for me when I read the bible, because I get anxious trying to figure out what it means(I generally understand it, but I feel as if I need people to agree...)

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I can relate to that for sure! I used to do the same thing quite a bit, but now its slowing down a lot. One tip is to try praying before you read the word if you don't already. I myself need some practice still in not only praying before and in understanding, so dont give up!

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O Praise Christ, O Praise Christ, He Is Holy, He Is Holy - O Praise Him

We're standing on the shores of forever - where stars are shining brighter than before. And peace is the Prince of the moment. Our hearts are so weary from the war.

Who is on first. ~ Well what are you asking me for?
I'm not asking you, I'm telling you - Who is on first. ~ I'm asking you who's on first!
That's the mans name. ~ Thats who's name?
Yes. ~ Well go ahead and tell me.
Who. ~ The guy on first.
Who! ~ The first baseman!!
Who is on first!!

(Joh 12:25) He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.

I love that verse because it's unselfishess, such great love which I would like to be able to show everyday to everyone, hate my self and love others. And thanks to God that's what living a Christian life is, carrying your cross and following Jesus. It's the great way of love and God gives you the strength to do that. And remember how Jesus was strengthened by the angels and even helped to carry His cross. So God most definetely gives us the strength to walk in path of good works that is prepared for us.
It's also the greatest commandment in law to love Lord your God from all heart, mind and soul - and this is where God's grace and power is shown in us. When we look at Jesus and follow Him we may find the Holy spirit working through us showing us this love which we are not able to show our selfs. So it's work of Holy spirit.

Maybe I wrote too much but hopefully that makes sense and it's just the way I see this. - Good to love others when God pours out His power and love!

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Psa 32:5 I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah.

[VoHW] (Help needed) [Blog] (Contact) - Truedisciple (mp3)

quote:

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Originally posted by ThirddaySaved:
Ya... but I would love to combine them... I'm just trying to see if any of you guys know anyone that has... I mean profesionally. Maybe a programmer for software, specifically gaming... maybe arts, video, audio, and what not... If no one knows about any large Christian groups... I would love to make one... Someday... It's a good dream

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A wise man once said, “Don’t do what you can do. Rather, do what you can’t not do.”

Most of us have multiple abilities, and for Christians, these multiple abilities are really just tools that the LORD has given us to be able to accomplish that which He has for us to accomplish. No craftsman walks around petting and caressing and cooing at his tools. He keeps them in a bag, or a tool belt, and picks them up to use them when needed to accomplish the task at hand.

What is the task that the LORD has given you?

Note that I am not asking what you want to do for the LORD, but, “What has the LORD given you to do?”.

As a Christian, the only sense of real accomplishment you will ever get will come when you have accomplished what the LORD has given you to accomplish—not necessarily what you came into this life wanting to do for Him.

Do not look to the tools. Look to the task. Use the tools to accomplish the task that the LORD has given you. If you need more tools to accomplish that task, learn them, but accomplish that task.

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Never Forget to Pray!

"...prayer itself is an art which only the Holy Ghost can teach us. He is the giver of all prayer. Pray for prayer---pray till you can pray; pray to be helped to pray, and give not up praying because you cannot pray, for it is when you think you cannot pray that you are most praying. Sometimes when you have no sort of comfort in your supplications, it is then that your heart---all broken and cast down---is really wrestling and truly prevailing with the Most High."
Charles Haddon Spurgeon, from the pamphlet, "Effective Prayer"

Another challenging verse, similar to the John 12:25 Thirddaysaved pointed out, is in Luke 14:26, regarding "If anyone who follows me does not hate his father and mother and brothers and sisters, he is not worthy of me!" On the surface, this looks like it contradicts a certain of the Ten Commandments (#5), let alone all of Jesus' own commands about loving each other. Clearly, something bigger is going on under the surface; what do you all see?

quote:

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If anyone who follows me does not hate his father and mother and brothers and sisters, he is not worthy of me!" On the surface, this looks like it contradicts a certain of the Ten Commandments (#5), let alone all of Jesus' own commands about loving each other. Clearly, something bigger is going on under the surface; what do you all see?

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I believe it means, still love them, but don't love men more than God. Be ready to do whatever God wants you to do, regardless of what you want. Say God wants you to get rid of your PS2, but you don't want to part with it. He's not saying hate your PS2, he's saying be ready to part with it, because God is more important.

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MM out-
Thought travels much faster than sound, it is better to think something twice, and say it once, than to think something once, and have to say it twice.
"Frogs and Fauns! The tournament!" - Professor Winneynoodle/HanClinto

I reserve the full right to change my views/theories at any time.

I have no idea where the Lord will lead you, or what plans he has for your life. I thought you might like to hear about a man I know, though. He felt a strong call early on to be involved in full-time ministry. He had no idea how that could possibly be, though, because he was not a very good preacher, and even worse at singing. The main thing he was good at was math and science. He went ahead and got an engineering degree, still wondering how the Lord was going to use him. He served in the Navy, working on radio technology, and at some point then found out about HCJB World Radio (now HCJB Global). It turned out that there was a big need for missionary engineers there, and that's where he went. He designed transmitters and antennas; I believe one of the things he worked on was designing a radio system so that Rachel Saint and Elisabeth Elliot could maintain radio contact with the mission while they were in the jungle. He also designed the steerable shortwave antenna that broadcast the gospel across the Soviet Union (it successfully got past their radio jamming efforts). The Lord called him to use his talents in full-time ministry, in a way that he could have never imagined. He's now in his 80s, and still at it.
(You can pray for him, btw, he's having heart surgery in August)

So we'll see how the Lord works these things out. My pastor also happened to go to school for engineering so that he could be a missionary engineer with HCJB; after college, though, he began to realize that the Lord was redirecting his path and calling him into pastoral ministry instead. So it ends up that, many years later, he is now pastoring a church that is located just down the street from HCJB, and he's friends with some of the missionaries there, and counsels some of them. That's not exactly the way he imagined ministering with HCJB, but that's what God had planned for him, apparently.

So all this to say, I can't tell where God will lead you; as you can see from the above anecdotal stories, things can go in just about any direction, and it's hard to know what will happen, except that God has something in mind for his people, and he will accomplish it.

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"tonics"

PS: Fun Fact -- While I was writing this I almost fell out of my chair...

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~~ Peace, John 3.16 ~~

I would agree that you should go on developing skills that God has given you, unless there's good reason to do otherwise; it's no good sitting on one's hands waiting for "something else" to come along if you're not being responsible with the things God has given you now.

I think you're approaching this question in a reasonable and mature fashion; a lot of people feel that being given a direction, or a set of talents from God, guarantees success in the way that we humans like to think of success (e.g., will bring in $, or will be our ultimate career path, or will "win souls") - any of those might happen, but God is in no way obligated to do these things the way we think he ought to. We, on the other hand, are obligated to give account of what we did with what he gave us.

Thanks for the discussion! Good things to think about, and apply.

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"tonics"

[This message has been edited by tonnyx (edited July 28, 2007).]

quote:

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Originally posted by ThirddaySaved:
I started feeling terrible when I read Tallbill's post(Not to offend you, it was just that quote)... The quote about how we should do what we can't do... Well I don't see how that would get me anywhere, because as soon as I learn something new, then it goes into the "Can Do" section...

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My friend, you read that quote wrong.

It’s “Do what you can’t not do.”

Do you see the difference?

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Never Forget to Pray!

"...prayer itself is an art which only the Holy Ghost can teach us. He is the giver of all prayer. Pray for prayer---pray till you can pray; pray to be helped to pray, and give not up praying because you cannot pray, for it is when you think you cannot pray that you are most praying. Sometimes when you have no sort of comfort in your supplications, it is then that your heart---all broken and cast down---is really wrestling and truly prevailing with the Most High."
Charles Haddon Spurgeon, from the pamphlet, "Effective Prayer"

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~~ Peace, John 3.16 ~~