Streams of Consciousness & Thoughts~~~

[gypsygirl]

to my cc sisters:

i want to say how lovely each of you are. so many of your faces i know quite well, because i've gotten to know several of you since coming to cc. some of you are less familiar, but no less lovely.

in your beautiful faces i see so much more than skin-deep beauty--but also God's love shining through, in both your words and actions.

real beauty, from within, is like a flame that cannot be extinguished or diminished by this evil world or any of the people within it.

in the shadows of night, it shines like a beacon, illuminating the darkness that surrounds--it cannot not be discredited or decried.

it draws people in, acting as an accelerant to those who are nearby; it's an encouragement to the demoralized and the hurting.

real beauty is more than what we can merely look upon -- it's seen with our minds eye, and felt in our heart.

not only am i honored to be a part of this community, but want you to know just how i see each one of you--and that is as beautiful, beloved sisters, and daughters of our Father.

For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.
1 samuel 16:7

But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing.
2 corinthians 2:14, 15

 

[lil_christian]

While this morning was not calamity free, I have hopes that tomorrow morning will be better and I'll be able to sleep in.

...yeah, how 'bout nooo... *Sigh*

 

[cinder]

Well supposedly roomie was approved for a 3 month visa, but it will take another couple days to get the paperwork. Nothing like the last minute.

 

[Donkeyfish07]

The whole thing with Israel and Palestine is biblical prophecy. Israel has no problem with Palestine; they just want what they were promised. Israel hasn't ever fired first. Not one time. Palestinians come from Ismael who is called a "wild donkey" in scripture. You're right, the war will never end.



Hamas (and other groups) cannot be trusted. EVER. They fire on their own people and blame Israeli troops. They gather their own people, bury them in shallow graves, and blame Israel. However, since the world is terrified of Islam and they want to appease them, the media has focused on Palestinian deaths.


I find it to be interesting that any war Israel has fought with Palestine, Israel has always won. They've always killed the most, done the most damaged, caused their enemies to flee. The world sees that as Israel being horrible and evil. But they really should read the scriptures because God promises that Israel will always be protected, they'll always win the war.



I'm very much pro Israel and always will be.

The problem people has with Israel is that they always win, even surrounded on 3 sides.....and hopelessly outnumbered. Anyone who has studied Israel's recent wars (Post-Holocaust) will notice they just pull off some of the most outrageous stuff. Like 1 tank vs hundreds and the hundreds of tanks back down. lol. Not that horrible stuff doesn't happen of course, especially inevitable civilian casualties.....but is it too much to ask of your neighbor to say "hey, I'd appreciate it if you stop firing rockets at us and invading us through ground tunnels with weapons and the intent to kill as many of us as you can". I mean, are they reaaaally asking for too much? Cmon. Then people wanna talk smack when they stand up for themselves and win.

 

[ChandlerFan]

Israel may be (probably has by now) found guilty of war crimes. Killing children, civilians. I know its more complex than just that. Hamas keeps bombing Israel and has also committed war crimes. And the history & ownership of the land, plus the whole religion stuff.

As a Christian, should I have an opinion? A side? (Obviously not with Hamas). Given all the promises that God gave to Israel in the OT, are we witnessing another promise coming into fruition? But at the expense of what? In the OT, many times it had mentioned 'Israel's enemies', are these enemies children too? Our roots are deep in Judaism. What does the West think? Do we automatically take Israel's side because of our Christian (I use the term loosely) upbringings?

Again, I am not siding with Hamas here lol.

I think you're in a pretty good place because you don't have a bias one way or the other. I think if you were really interested in this subject, the best thing to do would be to research the history of it over the years and what is going on now and then make an informed decision.
I believe that while the Israelites were God's covenant people for a time, God's covenant people are now those who are in Christ. It's for that reason that I think it's okay for people to support Israel as long as they don't use the Bible to paint it out to be part of Christian duty.

Also, I'd just like to note that there are guys out there like John Hagee who make an awful lot of money selling books by playing to many Christians' sentimentality toward Israel.

 

[ChandlerFan]

^Here's a good article on this subject: Israel, Gaza, ‘Divine Right,’ and John Piper | TGC | The Gospel Coalition

 

[Donkeyfish07]

I don't side with Israel necessarily because of Biblical reasons (God knows who Israel is, and just because there is a nation that is called Israel now doesn't objectively prove that they are the actual people God gave the promise to. I have no reason to believe they aren't that people either.....point being is, I don't know and couldn't actually prove it one way or the other). Yet assuming it is the actual Israel, it's most certainly not my place to judge them. Assuming they aren't, it's still not my job to judge them.

The only reason I back them from a purely intellectual perspective is because I see them trying extremely hard to be reasonable here, and I do not perceive anything remotely resembling reason coming out of Hamas. What I see from Hamas is, let's have a ceasefire, Israel is like ok.....2 hours later, Hamas goes.....BOOM! Rocket launch time. How would you expect any nation to respond to that? Be like, it's all good.....our missile defense system took it down so please feel free to launch as many volleys of rockets at us as you wish...lol.

Strategically and purely from a military perspective..........Israel's best possible play would be to just take Gaza and annex it, root out the undesirables and straighten up that borderline. It would do wonders for their self defense capabilities. I tend to believe that they actually do care that there are over a million people living there and they don't want to punish all the innocent people just because a violently radical group happen to be in power right now....and that's why they haven't done that. I don't think they're scared one bit about what the international community would think, they may be cautious about how they approached it if they chose to do so but I don't think they're not doing it because they are scared. I think they aren't doing it because they care.

 

[ChandlerFan]

As I was walking into church on Friday night for a going away party for our worship leader and his wife, a guy from church that I've gotten to know pretty well asked if I had lost some weight. I had taken a look in the mirror earlier in the day and thought I looked slightly thinner, but thought maybe it was the shirt I was wearing. I told him I wasn't sure if I had because I hadn't weighed myself in awhile, but it was encouraging to hear. I stepped on the scale this morning and was down 8 pounds from last time I weighed myself (probably a couple months ago). After having a pretty bad week last week in terms of eating and lack of exercise, it re-invigorated my motivation a bit to continue on with the steps I've already taken to get healthier. I don't talk about this a lot, but this is something that I desperately need, so I'm hoping this trend continues.

 

[christian74]

Christian, I only found out about 'Momo' several years ago. I read the book myself and found it to be rather clever and thought-provoking. Then, a year later, I used it as a class novel with my Year 5/6s. the book was well received. Good times!

Good times, indeed, haha!

 

[lil_christian]

Well...I got to sleep another 3 or 4 hours. For now, all is peaceful in the house.

I found out what my cat does. He figures out when you're awake and then he meows as soon as he finds out.

 

[ww_21]

I may just say yes to the arranged marriage after all.

 

[lil_christian]

Feeling a LOT better today. Mocha's doing much better today.

 

[zeroturbulence]

I'm tired and groggy. I think we should coin a new word for it: 'troggy'

 

[lav]

The whole thing with Israel and Palestine is biblical prophecy. Israel has no problem with Palestine; they just want what they were promised. Israel hasn't ever fired first. Not one time. Palestinians come from Ismael who is called a "wild donkey" in scripture. You're right, the war will never end.



Hamas (and other groups) cannot be trusted. EVER. They fire on their own people and blame Israeli troops. They gather their own people, bury them in shallow graves, and blame Israel. However, since the world is terrified of Islam and they want to appease them, the media has focused on Palestinian deaths.


I find it to be interesting that any war Israel has fought with Palestine, Israel has always won. They've always killed the most, done the most damaged, caused their enemies to flee. The world sees that as Israel being horrible and evil. But they really should read the scriptures because God promises that Israel will always be protected, they'll always win the war.



I'm very much pro Israel and always will be.

i agree 100%

 

[tourist]

i agree 100%

I am 100% pro Israel.

 

[persNickety]

I would really love to know what God thinks of the Palestine children dying. Just casualties because of His promise to Israel? They were born to the wrong side. Is that a loving God? Is that a Just God? A lot to think about.

 

[CatHerder]

Feeling a LOT better today. Mocha's doing much better today.

so happy to hear this! praying for continued recovery and peace.

 

[violakat]

I may just say yes to the arranged marriage after all.

What do you mean by arranged marriage? Someone whom your parents choose and may not be a Christian or someone from a marriage site that creates arrange marriages?

 

[didymos]

I would really love to know what God thinks of the Palestine children dying. Just casualties because of His promise to Israel? They were born to the wrong side. Is that a loving God? Is that a Just God? A lot to think about.

John 11:35

 

[lav]

it is a lot to think about, because what is a country supposed to do when terrorist groups are firing rockets at them and continue to do so even after an agreement to 'cease fire.'

hamas and other terrorist groups initiate fire on isralis. should israel just sit there and allow it to continue ? they also have children and civilians who are being put in danger. israel never initiated the conflict in the first place.

hamas and other groups send 80 some rockets ( they even admitted to being responsible for most of the attacks ) to begin the conflict and then complain that israel is attacking palestinians who are living in close proximity.

it seems like they are using palestinian deaths as a cover for their own actions without caring about their safety in the first place. if they really cared, would they have sent rockets off to begin with ? is it such a surprise to them that the ones they attack take actions to defend themselves ?

maybe they should not have fired in the first place, if they were so worried about palestinian civilians.

they hide in tunnels and smuggle weapons through north africa under egypt and start all the commotion, then blame israel for defending itself and endangering civilians who live all around them.

i don't think any human in their right mind wants to see non-violent, ordinary people living their lives and dying who have nothing to do with the conflict.

are hamas and other groups really that shocked and caring for the citizens of palestine, or could this be something that they started and are now using the repercussions of their actions to their benefit as a ' pity ploy, ' when they were the ones to start it all in the first place ?

not trying to start an argument, i just disagree with what the terrorists are up to and don't find their motives straight forward or caring for the people who live right next to them in any way.

it's like ' oh, lets just initiate conflict, hide in tunnels interspersed in civilian territory and bombard israel with fire and see what happens. ' and then saying ' evil israel, who are they to defend themselves ? '

it's been reported that israel has even tried to warn civilians ahead of time when they are striking certain areas, the warnings don't afford much time for evacuation... but if they did i'm sure the word would spread to the ones they are actually trying to take down who would then be free to leave as well.

it is difficult to tell who is really supporting these groups.

in the OT many times God displayed his own disappointment and anger with his own people ( israel ) and allowed terrible calamity and misfortune to come to them, resulting in the deaths of children and the elderly and allowing their enemies to almost obliterate them totally. in jeremiah God is warning israel and judah, his anger is explained in the context surrounding these quotes. similar circumstance can be found throughout the OT in other books also.

in Jeremiah 5:1-2; the sins of judah. God says ' run up and down every street in jerusalem ' says the lord. ' look high and low; search throughout the city! if you can find even one just and honest person, i will not destroy the city. but even when they are under oath, saying, ' as surely as the Lord lives, ' they are still telling lies! '

Jeremiah 5:14-19; the sins of judah. ' therefore, this is what the Lord God of Heaven's Armies says: ' because my people are talking like this, my messages will flame out of your mouth and burn the people like kindling wood. o israel, i will bring a distant nation against you, ' says the Lord. ' it is a mighty nation, an ancient nation, a people whose language you do not know, whose speech you cannot understand. their weapons are deadly; their warriors are mighty. they will devour the food of your harvest; they will devour your sons and daughters. they will devour your flocks and herds; they will devour your grapes and figs. and they will destroy your fortified towns, which you think are so safe. yet even in those days i will not blot you out completely,' says the Lord. and when your people ask, ' why did the Lord our God do all this to us ? ' you must reply, ' you rejected him and gave yourselves to foreign gods in your own land. now you will serve foreigners in a land that is not your own. '

Jeremiah 6:10-12; judah's constant rebellion. ' i will pour out my fury on children playing in the streets and on gatherings of young men, on husbands and wives and on those who are old and gray. their homes will be turned over to their enemies, as will their fields and their wives. for i will raise my powerful fist against the people of this land, ' says the lord.

israel is not exempt from God's judgement. they have suffered horrific consequences throughout history and been held accountable for their own actions.