Teachinghearts	Miscellaneous Church Doctrines (Doctrine and Social Issues) "Explore the Word. Change the World"

Prayer '... the one who comes to Me I will certainly not throw out.' John 6: 37

Lord help me to understand the complex issues facing You and help me to navigate a world in transition as a faithful and wise child of God.

Most doctrines are discussed in individual lessons. Here we discuss a few other issues. Some are not based on any issue of right or wrong and others are controversal moral issues.

A World In Transition.
The reality of death creates many transitional states that are not ideal.
As we transition from a broken world where we have to settle for less than the ideal and actually perform acts that will be forbidden in the new world, let us make sure that we are not condemning or elevating temporary transitional customs which God allows or tolerates.
We should strive for the ideal, but we should not condemn those who prefer the transitional state. However, members must remember the concept of temperance and modesty. We must also practice fasting where we give up everything we can for the sake of God.

Transitional Situation		Issue	Heaven
Remarriage	Death and infidelity breaks the marriage vow creating a legitimate condition of multiple wives and husbands	Broken covenant	No death or sin
Divorce	Only infidelity creates a situation where a person can legitimately have two living spouses. Infidelity breaks the covenant giving you the right to leave. But God hates divorce. He chose to forgive an unfaithful "wife" rather than divorce her. He lived the ideal. So God did not make a compromise with divorce.	Broken covenant	No divorce or sin
Concubines	Illegitimate children	Innocent victims of sin	None
Illegitimate Children	Marriages may have been required to protect them once the sin has already been committed		None
Slavery (Servants)	Working for someone else is not the ideal, neither is having no financial opportunities	Poverty, Financial system	Inheritance
War	The right to protect ourselves from the rampaging evil	Self Preservation	Peace
Eating Meat	It was allowed because people faced death and famine after the flood		Vegetarian, no death
Euthanasia	Sin causes unjust suffering and pain for everyone	Suffering	No pain
Death	Touching the dead. Activities done on earth that will not be in heaven	Unclean	No death
Jewelry	This is not an issue of morality. God allows us to do things for beauty. Objections should be based on pride, vanity, temperance and priorities	Desire to create beauty	Crowns
Make Up	If we can see the need for prosthetics and hearing aids, we can certainly justify efforts to deal with acne, flaking and dry skin. But make up that paints color on the body may come under the objections that God has against tattoos	Hiding Imperfections	Perfect body

Changing Absolutes
The idea that the church's doctrines are absolute are not held by those who see religion as nonsense and see the church as willing to change with public threats. The church has opened itself up to a very valid argument that it can change its doctrines based on changes in culture or public pressure because it failed to separate the absolutes of God from issues of culture and tradition. Often, the church has been the last to implement changes that God has instituted. By the time public opinion forces the changes, we find that the worldly arguments have already begun to do damage to purposes of God.

• Absolutes. The absolutes can never be changed. They are based on the Ten Commandments. Therefore the church can never accept serial adultery, divorces and remarriage except for adultery. Homosexuality with never be morally acceptable.
• The Rule of Satan Abolished. God never changes His laws. The same God who operated in the Old Testament is the same loving God in the New Testament. However, the sacrifice of Christ authorized the changes in the status of the people and in the systems imposed by Satan such as slavery and the curses. We are no longer enslaved to Satan, we are free men and women. We are no longer enemies of each other. Satan is our enemy. We are all brothers. The changes in status puts us under the jurisdiction of different laws.
  Changes in status affects changes in our attitudes towards slavery and the equality of women.
  » Male Priesthood. The male priesthood was based on the Levitical priests which must be male. That line of priests were abolished at the crucifixion.
  » Equality of Women. The New Testament shows that equality is the position of God (Galatians 3: 18). However, God never intended for this exercise of our rights to damage the family. The family is in the disgusting state that it is in because one group recognized their freedom and the other does not. So women gained the freedom and the extra income but men picked up none of the extra responsibilities and children are adrift.
  » Slavery. This was Satan's system that God tried to regulate. It was abolished among the Jews and in the world after the crucifixion. Because the secular world did not subscribe to the freedoms in Christ, God had to regulate it again by telling Christian slaves to voluntarily submit.
• Cultural Issues. Other issues are based on culture and the response of God is based on damage to the church. God requires submission to unreasonable people for the sake of the Gospel. But this submission should never be confused with the will of God. God never requires submission to cruelty. Even martyrs submit because they are forced and some submit because they believe that they can win a battle for God.
  » Submission. This is the antidote that God recommends for dealing with cultural issues that clash with religious freedoms that are not absolutes.

The Actions Of God In The Old Testament
Many times people talk about the vicious God in the Old testament, forgetting that the New Testament Jesus came to reveal God and that He was the God of the Old Testament. The beauty of the Bible is that is does not cover up what happened. It simply reports what took place, and because an incident occurred does not mean that God approved. And because God made laws it does not mean that He approved.
God made laws to reveal His will and to show what was good, He also made laws to protect the innocent.

Judgment Delayed God never compromised with the first four commandments because He is always faithful. Compromise appeared with the last six commandments because the actions of both sides leaves no clear winners and may create innocent victims.

Temporary Compromise. It is also clear that in some instances God seemed to compromise, the truth is that He was waiting for a solution in time. He did not change His law, but He had to find another way to teach goodness. He was willing to ignore the less than ideal situation until he could teach His people the better way. This often happened with practices that were widespread in all areas and deeply entrenched. This is what happened in the case of multiple wives.

One of God's ways of bringing justice in this situation was to pass laws to protect the victim. The inherent injustice in the system would eventually cause it to collapse, because more laws are not the solution to an unjust situation. But with time, maybe the righteous could see life through the eyes of the victims.
This strategy of God is clearly demonstrated with divorce.

Open Disobedience. Also, remember that Israel was under a theocracy, direct rulership by God. This means that they had direct knowledge or evidence that God existed. Therefore, whereas you and I can say we are not sure and we default to common sense or common good arguments, they could not. So consequently, God's reaction to the Israelites could be more swift. Because it was clear that they were more willfully disobedient. But even then, as you will see God was extraordinarily patient.

God At War
At war God preferred no violence. He usually waited hundreds of years to drive a people out of the land (Genesis 15: 16). In war, God used fear, bees, choirs, trumpets, a sling and a pebble, light and noise. In fact, in every war that the Israelites allowed God to fight for them, His strategy was to demonstrate that the war was totally His. He used a tiny army and the most ridiculous weapons. His army did not have to lift a sword.
But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the strong. and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are, so that no man may boast before God. (1 Corinthians 1: 27-29)

• Bees. Instead of conquering by force, God used wild animals and bees to drive the people off the land over many years. (Joshua 24: 12)
• Trumpet. God conquered 150,000 of his enemies with 300 men holding a light and a trumpet. Fear caused the enemies to destroy themselves in the dark. He used the trumpet call again to demolish the walls of Jericho.
• Pebble and a Sling. God conquered his heavily armed enemies with a small boy, five stones and a sling.
• Jawbone of an Ass. God conquered his enemies with one man and the jawbone of an ass.
• Shepherd's Rod. God sent Moses to Egypt with a rod to deliver His people.
• Dirty Water. God asked Naaman to dip himself seven times in the muddy Jordan river to be healed of his leprosy.
• A Virgin. In a society that frowns on any immoral behavior, especially among women. God chose to be born to a virgin with a story that no one would believe. God was not politically correct. In fact it seemed foolish.
• Born in a Barn. The creator of the world chose to enter the world in the weakest, most helpless form, to a poor family, labeled as the bastard child of an immoral woman, in a smelly barn among the animals.
• A Choir. By praising God, a choir defeated an army. 2 Chronicles 20: 21-22
• A Feast for an Invading Army. But there are also stories of kindness to His enemies. An invading army was fed and sent home by Elisha. (2 Kings 6: 14-23)
• Confusion. In most instances God caused confusion so that the enemies killed each other.

Yes, there are stories of Israel killing men, women and children at God's command. But if you looked at every one of those nations, they had been evil for centuries and would not turn back to God. They were equally determined to destroy Israel. It was their final judgment.

God In Egypt
Egypt is another place where God showed patience. His people were being held under brutal slavery. Through a series of ten miracles, God demonstrated that He wanted the Egyptians to release His people, but they would not. Cheap labor was hard to give up.

God And Slavery
In the sixteenth and seventeenth century, many used the examples of slavery in the Old Testament to morally justify the slave trade. First of all, there were different types of slavery:

• Indentured Servants. In the old days there was no banking system and people traded goods or labor or precious metal. Today, we also trade our labor for money and are generally under the mercy of our employers who can fire us if we do not obey rules or perform as expected.
  Up until colonial times in the nineteenth century, people sold themselves into slavery for a period of time to pay off debts. They were paid for their labor and they chose to use this method to get out of debt more quickly. The system may have been set up to encourage this type of cheap labor, but the bottom line is that the workers chose to do this and they got into trouble because of their own actions. And eventually, they were free.
  » War Booty. War reparations may have been repaid through slavery.
• Debt Bondage and Inherited Family Debts. Many generations, even today, are living under this system. In this system, there is the possibility of buying your freedom by working to pay off your debts. If the debt was not paid, the liability would fall on the children. What eventually happened was that families could not escape because of the economic system imposed by their owners. The owners owned all the businesses and homes and set the prices in all trades. Often, the price of food, clothes and lodging were so outrageous that there was nothing left to pay off the debt even for the most prudent families. They never bought back their freedom. And the slavery continued for generations. Countries like Pakistan and India are currently guilty of this.
• Company Towns. The same type of system was done in company towns when the workers of industrial barons were isolated in a town where the general store and housing were owned by the company. Prices were high since there was no competition. People could move if they found jobs else where after paying their debt. They had their freedom but their paychecks essentially belonged to the company due to the high price of goods and services which kept them in slavery.
• Curse Of Slavery. Israel went into slavery because they fell under the curse and because God wanted to use them as an example of how He would treat the world, because when God found Adam and Eve in the Garden, He found a pair of humans who had sold themselves and their children into slavery.
  So Israel's slavery in Egypt was not due to a curse. God permitted them to fall into slavery just as He asked Hoseah to marry a prostitute. God was using His prophets to make a point. Neither sinned by entering the harsh life that God asked them to endure. It was their Egyptian captors and Hosea's wife who sinned.
  Israel also went into slavery to Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece and Rome because of disobedience. This does not mean that God condoned this type slavery. In fact God warned Israel that if they reject Him thay will fall into the hands of people who are lawless.
  In the same way God does not condone the slavery of the children of Ham. Noah made a prophecy about Ham. His children would be cursed.
  This is not a liscence for the children of Shem or Japheth to mistreat their relatives. However, the "slavery" that we are accustomed to is not what God allowed. So if the children listened to the will of God in His laws they would buy back their relatives and would not permit them to go into slavery.
• Agreements Of Slavery. Sometimes people agreed to be slaves/servants for other reasons. Caanan was under sentence of death after over 400 years of God waiting. However, Gideon found a way to save themselves.
  Peace Treaty (Tributary State). When thou comest nigh unto a city to fight against it, then proclaim peace unto it. And it shall be, if it make thee answer of peace, and open unto thee, then it shall be, that all the people that is found therein shall be tributaries unto thee, and they shall serve thee. And if it will make no peace with thee, but will make war against thee, then thou shalt besiege it:
  Distant Cities. Thus shalt thou do unto all the cities which are very far off from thee, which are not of the cities of these nations.
  Cities In The Promised Land. But of the cities of these people, which the Lord thy God doth give thee for an inheritance, thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth: But thou shalt utterly destroy them; namely, the Hittites, and the Amorites, the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee: (Deuteronomy 20: 10-12, 15-17)
  
  A tributary state became submissive to another state, sending a regular token of subordination. This could be money, servants, food, gifts or other show of subordination. It does not mean that the whole nation abandoned their land and became household slaves of Israel. In fact, bcause these were distant lands, not in the territory occupied by Israel, it meant that God was guaranteeing a peaceful relationship between Israel and her neighbours.
  Gibeon (Hivites) tricked Israel into making a peace treaty when they should have been destroyed.
  Wherefore our elders and all the inhabitants of our country spake to us, saying, Take victuals with you for the journey, and go to meet them, and say unto them, We are your servants: therefore now make ye a league with us. And Joshua made peace with them, and made a league with them, to let them live: and the princes of the congregation sware unto them.
  This we will do to them; we will even let them live, lest wrath be upon us, because of the oath which we sware unto them. Now therefore ye are cursed, and there shall none of you be freed from being bondmen, and hewers of wood and drawers of water for the house of my God.
  And the princes said unto them, Let them live; but let them be hewers of wood and drawers of water unto all the congregation; as the princes had promised them. And Joshua made them that day hewers of wood and drawers of water for the congregation, and for the altar of the Lord, even unto this day, in the place which he should choose. (Joshua 9: 11, 15, 20, 23, 27)
  It was the Gibeonites who said "we will be your sevants" (verse 11). This is why the princes of Israel said, we will make them servants "as they promised" (verse 21). So when Joshua found out their treachery he simply enforced the agreement.
  The result is that out of all the nations Gibeon (Hivites) was saved, when that was a nation that was to be destroyed.
  There was not a city that made peace with the children of Israel, save the Hivites the inhabitants of Gibeon: all other they took in battle. (Joshua 11: 19)
  And of all the cities who could have had no offers of peace and of those to whom peace could be offered, only one was saved. So even those cities which had no hope of salvation we find that there was a way - submit.
  This was a lesson in salvation. Gibeon obtained salvation by treachery in the same way Jacob received the birthright and Leah received a husband and became the mother of the king and priests of Israel.
  Now treachery is not what God admired. God saw beyond their behavior. All wanted what they received badly enough to go after it and all were punished for their treachery. In Jacob's case, Esau despised the birthright, but Jacob became a slave to his father-in-law and was similarly deceived by him.. In Leah's case, she was unloved and God felt pity for her. In Gibeon's case, they received life but got what they bargained for.
  And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren. And he said, Blessed be the Lord God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant. God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant. (Genesis 9: 25-27)
• Forced Slavery By Kidnapping. This is slavery by kidnapping the victim. Under this kind of system, there was no way out. The slave and all their children were owned for life and they could not buy back their freedom. They were strictly used for labor. They had no wages or rights, they only had the minimum food, clothing and shelter required to keep them alive, healthy and working. Families were often separated as slaves were sold from one owner to the other. In the period before the nineteenth century, such workers were used to supply cheap labor for the agricultural community. It is forbidden in the Bible.
  If a man is caught kidnapping any of his countrymen of the sons of Israel, and he deals with him violently or sells him, then that thief shall die, so you shall purge the evil from among you. (Deuteronomy 24: 7)
  Man Stealing. He who kidnaps a man, whether he sells him or he is found in his possession, shall surely be put to death. (Exodus 21: 16)
  This law covers those who kidnap, those who sell and those who buy a kidnapped slave. They are all guilty.
  » War Booty: Beautiful War Brides. The bible appears to allow women to be captured and used by lecherous men (Deuteronomy 21: 10-14). However, the law that allowed this practice was intended to show how God would save those who are found in slavery who are beautiful in mind and heart. He marries them and gives them a name and a home.
  
  » Modern Slavery. In the late 1990's a new wave of kidnappings of young women and children from poor countries are being used to supply the criminal prostitution and child pornography businesses.
  God allowed what we find fair and equitable today when we freely trade work for goods and services or the means to provide for the necessities of life - food, clothes and shelter.
  God made laws governing how we may legally or rightfully acquire slaves, how we should treat slaves and how they could be freed or volunteer to be servants forever.

Jubilee. In the old testament, the slavery that God condoned was the type similar to indentured servants. It was a crime punishable by death to kidnap a person. But God did more than that. The longest period of servitude was seven years. He also built a system in which no person would amass wealth for generations at the expense of others. Every family owned land. If a family got in debt, they could sell their land or themselves into slavery, but only for a maximum of seven years. In the jubilee year, the first year of the next forty nine years, the year of release every slave was set free and all land returned to their original owners. So that even within the life of the person who went into debt, there was a chance to make a good life or to start over.

What was remarkable about the Jubilee, was that it was a scheduled time. A person could only lease his property not for 49 years, but until the next jubilee. So, if he sold the land two years before the jubilee, he must be released in two years even if his debt can only be paid with thirty years of labor. God also forbid lenders from withholding help just because the jubilee was near. You must have faith that God will restore the loss.

This system of God's is far better than any system of slavery or any current economic system of debt that we have today. Even now many people are trapped into slavery in the modern world by deliberate attemps by the lender to create a life time of debt.

Principles For Evaluating Controversial Bible Issues
There are several other issues addressed by the Bible or that have become controversial issues in modern times. People use various types of arguments and evidence to make their case.

• Law. We can use the application of a law to clarify what God required.
• Example of God's Chosen. Some use God's silence as an indication of His will. However, we cannot use the behavior of people to prove a law, because God's silence on an issue does not necessarily mean approval. Neither does sin in a person mean that God approved of their behavior, even if the sin appeared to work for the good of God's people. God worked with what He had even when His people did not wait for Him to act.
  Abraham lied and then committed fornication. Moses committed manslaughter. Noah and a few others got drunk. Samson was an unruly fornicator. Solomon, the wise one, was an unruly fornicator and womanizer. Esther married outside the faith. David committed adultery and then arranged for a murder.
  The best we can say is that God is merciful, forgiving our sin because He sees the potential we have through Him. So He treats us in our temporary state as if we have attained our future perfection in Him.
• Disastrous Results. We cannot use bad outcomes to prove a law. The righteous also suffer unjustly. Abraham's efforts to have a son produced a son by Hagar and created a dynasty that is now at war with the true heir. This cannot be used as an argument for or against polygamy, because neither God's silence on the union nor the disastrous results prove His intentions.
• Culture. If possible, we should try to separate cultural concerns from moral issues. Sometimes a cultural problem will become a moral one for the church and it is legitimate to submit to the culture if it does not violate moral laws. If the way a woman dresses will be seen as prostitution, then a Christian woman is obligated to give up her freedom to wear certain clothes.

The Issues
We will use a combination of laws and examples to illustrate our argument.

• Tattoos ("Piercings, Cuttings and Markings"). Disfiguring markings on the body are forbidden.
  Graffiti On The Temple. You shall not make any cuts into your body for the dead nor make any tattoo marks on yourselves: I am the Lord. (Leviticus 19: 28)
  The Body Temple. What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's. (1 Corinthians 6: 19-20)
  
  » Defacing The Temple Of God. Our body is the temple of God. So any markings, piercings are just graffiti on the holy temple and damage to the structure.
  However, God seemed to have an exception. If a slave was eligable for freedom and wished to remain a slave because he loved his master, then a hole was pierced in the ear at the door of the temple.
  The Pierced Slave then his master shall bring him to God, then he shall bring him to the door or the doorpost. And his master shall pierce his ear with an awl; and he shall serve him permanently. (Exodus 21: 6)
  then you shall take an awl and pierce it through his ear into the door, and he shall be your servant forever. Also you shall do likewise to your maidservant. (Deuteronomy 15: 17)
  Whenever we see what appears to be exceptions or contradictions we should remember that God allowed certain actions as a Messianic prophecy to demonstrate how He would suffer when He kept the covenant. This requires you to see an action that is forbidden. Therefore, since the act itself portrays something that demonstrates the ravages of sin, it will not exist in heaven.
  • The Pierced Messiah. In heaven Jesus will keep the scars that will remind us of the cost of salvation. He submitted like a slave at the unjust court in the temple and to the nailing and death on a cross because He loved us.
    Wounded Hands. And one will say to Him, what are these wounds between Your arms? Then He will say "those with which I was wounded in the house of My friends". (Zechariah 13: 6)
    Pierced Hands. Then He said to Thomas, "Reach here with your finger and see My hands, and reach here your hand and put it into My side; do do not be unbelieving, but believing". (John 20: 27)
  • The Tattooed Messiah. The disfiguring marks caused by the discoloration on the bruises were a reminder that He was severely beaten. We should not do anything that is a reminder of the torture that Satan had set up for Him.
  • The Husband With The Adulterous Wife. God did not divorce us. He kept us even though we were unfaithful. According to the law, a husband could not go back to a divorced wife who had remarried and then separated by another divorce or death (Deuteronomy 24: 1-4). If God had divorced us instead of forgiving us, He could not save us. God made another covenant with a new wife (Gentiles).
    If polygamy is illegal how is this possible? Only death dissolves a marriage and an engagement is as binding as a marriage. So, in God's eyes Israel, the unfaithful wife-fiancee, died and she is born again under the new covenant. So that God marries one wife.
    According to the New Testament, we are technically bethrothed until the Second Coming when the Bridegroom comes for the bride and completes the wedding ceremony.
  As of 2010, 40% of United States teenagers have a tattoo (ABC News, GMA. 11 Oct 2010).
• Jewelry, Clothing And Make Up. The commandment on clothing is clear, but the instruction about jewelry and cosmetics is not as clear. The evidence against them seems to be based on condemnation of emblems of pride.
  Likewise, I want women to adorn themselves with proper clothing, modestly and discreetly, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly garments. (1 Timothy 2: 9)
  • Cosmetics, Make Up And Perfume. Esther used cosmetics provided by the Persians.
    For the young lady pleased him and found favor with him. So he quickly provided her with cosmetics ...
    ... for the days of her beautification were completed as follows: six months with oil of myrrh and six months with spices and the cosmetics for women. (Esther 2: 9, 12)
    The law has no instructions on cosmetics. It does prohibit markings on the body which could include painted make up but not necessarily creams and oils for the skin. Because Esther wore cosmetics and because God was able to use her because of her beauty, it does not mean that He approved of cosmetics. Perfumes and spices were used in the sanctuary, anointing oils and burial preparations.
  • Cosmetic Surgery. Medically necessary surgery that corrects a defect is not different than crutches for the lame. However, the vast majority of cosmetic surgery is for vanity. People actually remove their eyebrows to tattoo in permanent eyebrows or paint in fake ones. There is also permanent lip stick. Others change their gential areas to look like porn stars, enhance breasts to unnatural sizes, inject toxins in their faces to paralyze muscles, inject all sorts of untested "inert" materials in their lips, hips, breasts, and buttocks to enhance the body. Most of this ends up looking grotesque and fake. Grotesque plastic fingernails are glued on to the real nails and they look like curved claws. The fake hair business is expensive, with costs that border on obscene and immoral.
    Beauty and cosmetics seem to be defined by the industry to promote new looks that will create a market. Practically none of this is based on real imperfections and wear and tear, but on redefining natural beauty as ugly.
  • Jewelry. The study of this issue is also one of contradiction. But the majority of the evidence seems to describe the righteous as being adorned with nothing, while the wicked are adorned with gold and jewels.
    » Crowns. The righteous will be wearing crowns in heaven.
    » Breastplate. The high priest had a breastplate made of twelve precious gems set in gold. It was not for jewelry or ornamentation, but a symbol of how precious were the tribes of Israel that the high priest carries next to his heart and on his shoulders as he goes before God to be their advocate.
    » The Decorated Covering Cherub. Before he sinned, Lucifer was covered in precious stones.
    You were in Eden, the garden of God. Every precious stone was your covering: the ruby, the topaz and diamond; the beryl, the onyx and the jasper; the lapis lazuli, the turquise and the emerald; and the gold, the workmanship of your settings and sockets, was in you. On the day that you were created they were prepared. (Ezekiel 28: 13)
    » Removed Ornaments. It is significant that when Israel went to meet God on mount Sinai under a cloud of judgment, they removed their jewelry.
    And when the people heard these evil tidings, they mourned: and no man did put on him his ornaments. For the Lord had said to Moses, Say to the children of Israel, you are a stiff necked people: I will come up into the middle of you in a moment, and consume you: therefore now put off your ornaments from you, that I may know what to do to you. And the children of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments by the mount Horeb. (Exodus 33: 4-6)
    When God destroys us He will remove the jewelry.
    In that day the Lord will take away the beauty of their anklets, headbands, crescent ornaments, dangling earrings, bracelets, veils, headdresses, ankle chains, sashes, perfume boxes, amulets, finger rings, nose rings. (Isaiah 3: 18-21)
    Today, people decorate themselves with images of animals, Satan and snakes. They wear leashes and dog collars. They also pierce their breasts, nipples, penis, vagina, navels, skin, forehead, lips, tongues, nose and multiple ear piercings. One enterprising young man had a surgeon implant a plate with three sockets in the top of his skull. He screws different decorative spikes into that plate so that He walks around with sharp spikes down the mid line of his scalp.
  • Clothing. Nakedness was the first sign after sin that something had changed for the worse. Adam and Eve lost their covering of light and received the covering of the lower animals, showing how far their status had fallen. Before He banned them from Eden, God made clothes to cover them. Nakedness before God is a sin. The priests had to wear undergarments so that their naked ness was not exposed as they walked up the ramp to give the offering. Therefore, clothing that exposes us does not please God.
    So decide whether or not that tight fitting, sleeveless, hip hugging, breast revealing, belly showing, low-rider pants, hot pants or mini skirt is acceptable to God. Imagine yourself standing before the throne of God in the best outfit you can buy or the best that you have and judge whether or not what you are wearing is pleasing to God or alluring to the basest senses. Are you dressing as bait for a whore house or are you dressing as one destined to be in a royal family, representing the King of the universe.
    » Cross Dressing. Gender confusion and cross dressing is forbidden.
    A woman shall not wear man's clothing, nor shall a man put on woman's clothing, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord. (Deuteronomy 22: 5)
  • Covering the Hair or Head. The reasons for this practice are also obscure and seem to be based on culture. Shaving of the hair was a sign of mourning and of shame. But the law only forbids cutting the hair for the priest, suggesting that the priest cannot come before God with a bald head. In fact hair seems to be a suitable natural covering for the head.
    They shall not make any baldness on their heads, nor shave off the edges of their beards, nor make any cuts in their flesh. (Leviticus 21: 5)
    Also they shall not shave their heads, yet they shall not let their locks grow long; they shall only trim the hair of their heads (Ezekiel 44: 20)
    The prohibition seems to be designed to separate the priests of God from Pagan priests who make cuttings in their bodies. So we must make every effort to look different from those who practise idolatry.
    
    The New Testament seems to approach the covering of the head from both a cultural and a symbolic religious point of view that is based on this chain of command.
    But I want you to understand that Christ is the head of every man, and the man is the head of a woman and God is the head of Christ. (1 Corinthians 11: 3)
    This is a slight contradiction of Paul's own writings in which he claims that there is "no male or female" in Christ and that "Christ is the head of the church", not just men. However, the covering on one's head appears to be related to this hierarchy.

    Hierarchy God Christ Man Woman

    
    
    Men Uncovered. Every man who has something on his head while praying or prophesying disgraces his head.
    Women Covered. But every woman who has her head uncovered while praying or prophesying disgraces her head, for she is one and the same as the woman whose head is shaved.
    Hair as Glory. For a man ought not to have his head covered, since he is the image and glory of God; but the woman is the glory of man.
    Hair as Covering. Does not even nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a dishonor to him, but if a woman has long hair, it is a glory to her? For her hair is given to her as a covering. (1 Corinthians 11: 4-7, 14-15)
    While praying or prophesying, men should not use an artificial covering or excessively long hair on their heads while women should, and hair seems to be an adequate covering.
    • Culture. Paul must have been addressing a cultural phenomenon of shaving the head and then using an artificial covering. But the law sometimes required men to wear long hair.
      » A Nazarite Male With Long Hair. According to the law one who makes a Nazarite vow must not shave his head and he must dedicate the hair to God at the end of his vow (Numbers 6: 19-20).
      » A Heathen Wife. She must shave her hair and grow new hair.
      and see among the captives a beautiful woman, and have a desire for her and would take her as a wife for yourself, then you shall bring her home to your house and she shall shave her head and trim her nails. (Deuteronomy 21: 11-12)
      Both stories show the important symbol of hair that is grown under the jurisdiction of God. The heathen woman shaves the hair that she grew while worshipping other gods. One who dedicates himself to God gives the hair grown during the period of dedication.
      So hair, which is also a symbol of life, is a symbol of life under the covenant God and becomes a symbol of the glory of God. Like a growing tree planted by the rivers of God, hair is planted on the head and its roots are in the brain where the knowledge of God resides and sprouts. So one who has gray hair has ancient knowledge about God. They are full of wisdom.
    • Symbol. The best we can conclude is that it is neither moral or amoral or totally cultural, but it is a symbol of some aspect of the Plan of Salvation that shows the glory or greatness of God.
      • Glory of God. In Exodus 33: 19-23 God showed His glory by turning His back and covering Moses while He passed by in the darkness. When Christ showed the glory of God, He was covered in darkness on the cross as God forgave our sins.
      • Man: Glory of God.

        Hierarchy God Christ Man Woman Covered Woman Church

        Paul says that man is the image and glory of God. But, the only male who showed the Glory of God was Christ because He never sinned.
        Christ Is The Glory of God. For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God. (Romans 3: 23)
        Christ is the Image of God. in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. (2 Corinthians 4: 4)
        He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. (Colossians 1: 15)
        So only Christ was the true image and glory of God and He could stand before God without shame with His head uncovered. Instead, Christ is the covering of man.
      • Woman: Glory of Man. Genesis states that both male and female were made in the image of God. Paul does not say that woman is not the image of God, He does say that she only reflects the glory of Man. The woman came out of the body of Christ just as Eve came out of the body of Adam. This is why she is his glory.
        Woman is a symbol of the church. When the church submits to the Man who is the Image of God, she reflects the glory of that Man. The church is the trophy wife that Christ intends to display as the result of His submission to God.
      • Hair: Life. Hair growing out of the dome of the head is a symbol of life, like grass growing out of the dome of the earth. A woman is more a symbol of life because she carries the child in the womb. Although the Messiah would be male, it was the glory and honor of the woman to carry this special child.
      Just as Christ was covered when He submitted to God, the woman (church) must be covered to show their submission to Christ. This covering of Christ gives life and baldness is a sign of death.
    
    » Yom Kippur (The Day of the Covering). The covering of women is a symbol of the covering of the church by the Man, Jesus Christ. This covering of our sins is the glory of God (Exodus 33: 17-23).
  » Modest Appearance. It is impossible to prove that wearing jewelry or make up is a sin. Since our bodies will be perfect in heaven, it is difficult to see us wearing makeup for beauty. But in this world, makeup serves the same purpose as prosthetics - to hide the imperfections.
  In 1 Timothy 2: 9, Paul makes the case for modesty in dress and appearance. Expensive and excessive houses, clothes, cars and jewelry seem inappropriate when missionaries are struggling and the world is starving. Our treasures should be invested in the cause of the kingdom.
• Idolatry: Statues, Photographs, Carvings, Images and Pictures. Some people believe that certain works of art are a violation of the second commandment which says that we should not make any image of anything in the heavens or earth or sea. So taking pictures, drawing paintings and carving statues are idolatry.
  But the decoration of the temple seemed to be a contradiction, because not only were images of created things used as paintings, carvings and statues but they were placed in a house of worship with the approval of God.
  • The Doors of the Sanctuary. So he made two doors of olive wood, and carved on them carvings of cherubim, palm trees and open flowers and he overlaid them with gold. And he spread the gold on the cherubim and the palm trees. (1 Kings 6: 32)
  • The Laver. It stood on twelve oxen ... and on the borders which were between the frames were lions, oxen and cherubim; and on the frames there was a pedestal above, and beneath the lions and oxen were wreaths of hanging work. (1 Kings 7: 25, 29)
  • The Most Holy Place. Then he made two sculptured cherubim in the room of the holy of holies and overlaid them with gold. (2 Chronicles 3: 10)
  • The Curtains. He made the veil of violet, purple, crimson and fine linen and he worked cherubim on it. (2 Chronicles 3: 14)
  • The Ark of the Covenant. He made two cherubim of gold. He made them of hammered work at the two ends of the mercy seat. (Exodus 37: 7)
  • Menorah. It was designed like an almond tree with flowers, branches and bulbs (Exodus 37: 17-23).
  • Bronze Serpent. The people of Israel began to worship the bronze serpent that Moses made so Hezekiah destroyed it. This illustrates the danger of having a carved creature involved in worship as a symbol.
    He removed the high places and broke down the sacred pillars and cut down the Asherah He also broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the sons of Israel burned incense to it; and it was called Nehushtan. (2 Kings 18: 4)
    » Magic Charms (Crucifixion). God forbids the use of magic charms (Exekiel 13: 18-20). Just as Israel made a magic charm and an idol out of the symbol that God has commanded Moses to make, we Christians have also made a magic charm out of the same symbol. Christ on a cross is the reality represented in the symbol of the serpent on a stick. Yet we also cling to our crucifixes like a good luck charm. We kiss it, bow before it and pray to it like a god. It is our idol of wood and metal made in the likeness of our God. It is idolatry.
  Within the house of worship God used statues, carvings, engravings using the likeness of created objects such as the cherubim in heaven and bulls, lions, trees and flowers from earth.
  Therefore, the prohibition of the second commandment involves two actions. We should not make an image of anything created for the purpose of worshipping it.
  However, to avoid idolatry or the appearance of idolatry, it seems that the worst place to put carvings and statues would be in the house of God. Access to the ark on a daily basis by everyone would most likely lead to idolatry in the temple. The people began to worship the bronze snake on the pole that Moses made so it was destroyed.
  So God minimized contact with these images. Only the priest could go into the Holy Place and only the high priest went into the Most Holy Place one time each year. The most important day of worship was performed in front of the ark of the covenant by one person who should be mature enough to understand the symbol so that he would not worship the creature.
  But God needed these symbols in the sanctuary to represent certain truths about the Plan of Salvation.
  
  » The Objects of Idolatry. It appears that what was wrong with tattoos, cutting the body and jewelry were that they were all associated with the practice of idolatry or worship of false gods or worshipping the dead.
  • Cuttings. The prophets of Baal cut themselves as they appealed to their gods (1 Kings 18: 28).
  • Earrings. When Israel gave up their false gods, they buried their earrings and idols (Genesis 35: 1-4).
• Astrology And The Occult. We have a separate lesson on the occult. The bible forbids contact with the dead or consulting the heavens for our future.
  Consulting the Dead. There shall not be found among you ... a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. For all who do these things are an abomination to the Lord, and because of these abominations the Lord your God drives them out from before you. You shall be blameless before the Lord your God. (Deuteronomy 18: 10-13)
  Consulting The Heavens ("Astrology and Horoscopes"). Stand fast now in your spells and in your many sorceries with which you have labored from your youth; perhaps you will be able to profit, perhaps you may cause trembling. You are wearied with your many counsels; let now the astrologers, Those who prophesy by the stars, those who predict by the new moons, Stand up and save you from what will come upon you. Behold, they have become like stubble, fire burns them; They cannot deliver themselves from the power of the flame; There will be no coal to warm by nor a fire to sit before! (Isaiah 47: 12-14)
  Witchcraft. You shall not eat anything with the blood, nor practice divination or soothsaying. Do not turn to mediums or spiritists; Do not seek them out to be defiled by them. I am the Lord your God. (Leviticus 19: 26, 31)
  God outright forbids worshiping other deities (goddess worship, animism), using divination (fortune-telling, psychics, tarot cards, numerology), interpreting omens (astrology, horoscopes, tea leaves), consulting mediums (channeling spirits, contacting the dead), and practicing witchcraft (spell-casting, shamanism).
  These are examples of interpreting omens or reading signs.
  • Astrology. Reading signs in the pattern of the stars and your birthday.
  • Reading Tea Leaves Or Coffee Grounds. The dregs at the bottom of the cup are supposed to make a pattern that points to a particular answer.
  • Numerology. Attaching meaning to numbers seen in dreams, or as we go about our daily routines. The Bible uses some specific numbers, but they are always related to the timing of the actions of God. The numbers 7, 12, 5 and a few of their multiples (49, 144, 10, 70, 40, 42) are significant clues to God's timing, God's chosen and God's limits based on the covenant. However, their use is strictly about the actions of God.
  • Dowsing, Water Witching, Diviner's Rod. Methods of finding an object or sign that supposedly leads to answers.
  • Crystal Balls. Only in the mind of the charlatan consulting the crystal ball is there a pattern about your future.
  • Consulting The Dead. Asking the dead to speak to God or other dead or finding knowledge outside of the human reality.
  • Interpreting Dreams. Although God will speak to a prophet by visions and dreams, the vast majority of dreams are not communication from God. So if you are anxious about finding the meaning of every dream to guide your life or understand the message from God you are opening yourself up to deception. If you are being contacted by God through dreams, He will send you the answer. The answers to the symbols in God's symbolic dreams are always found in the few symbols in the sanctuary. All dream interpretation books are garbage.
  The answer to your questions is to ask God, but any answer you seek and receive must not violate the testimony.
  And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their God? for the living to the dead? To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them. (Isaiah 8: 19-20)
  Since the law and testimony are used to judge the source then I must conclude that the law and testimony themselves have the answers. Read your Bible.
• Marriage and Divorce. God says 'I hate divorce' (Malachi 2: 6). Yet he allowed it (Mark 10: 11 and Deuteronomy 24: 1). Jesus Christ explained that God's ideal was that all unions would remain permanent. But because people were unwilling to do the right thing and because the sin itself created another set of families it was more complicated to untangle. You could restore a stolen donkey or repair broken things. But another wife and child you could not undo. In addition, the suffering of poor women and children within the limitations of the culture led them to prostitution and begging. There were no other opportunities when families did not take the burden of caring for relatives. They could not own property. Husbands found any excuse to divorce their wives for the young woman down the street. So God instituted laws that would make it illegal to divorce and discard a wife for burning the eggs. But this situation was not what He wanted. Jesus said that because they were stubborn, God made laws to lessen the damage as much as possible.
  » The Legal Grounds For Divorce. Infidelity and death ended the marriage contract, these are the only two situations that allowed remarriage. Infidelity was the only biblical reason for divorcing a living spouse, because this action breaks the marriage covenant. So, although it seemed as if God compromised, He did not. He followed the law. What appears like a compromise is the fact that He wishes that the couple would forgive and make up.
  » The Biblical Grounds For Marriage. Marriage is the most important decision that you will make in your life. It reflects the relationship with God. As such, it is one of God's tools to teach you about Him.
  
  » Mixed Marriages.
  • » Interracial Marriages. The bible does not forbid interracial marriage. Moses was married to a dark skinned woman. In fact, God punished Miriam and Aaron for criticizing Moses about his dark wife. Miriam was struck with leprosy for seven days. She became totally white!
    Then Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite [Ethiopian] woman whom he had married (for he had married a cushite woman). So the anger of the Lord burned against them and He departed. But when the cloud had withdrawn from over the tent, behold, Miriam was leprous, as white as snow ... (Numbers 12: 1, 9-10)
    Ham was the father of the dark skinned people. Some of his descendants were the tribes of Cush, Caanan, Sheba, Dedan, Mizraim (Egypt).
    • Adam and Eve. They are the parents of all races, therefore one or both had half or all the traits for each nation. It is also biologically impossible for members of two different species to have children. So the black race could not be part human and part monkey. In addition, since they can successfully have non-sterile children with other races, it proves that they are the same species.
    • Abraham. His concubine was Hagar, an Egyptian.
    • Esau. He married Caananite women, but it was forbidden because of the faith.
    • Joseph. He was married to an Egyptian and two of the twelve tribes are half Egyptian.
    • Moses. He married an Ethiopian. So part of the priesthood was dark skinned.
    • Solomon. Since Solomon sinned so badly concerning women, we should not take his life as a good example, but He was involved with the Queen of Sheba.
    • Boaz. He married Ruth, a Moabite, who became the grandmother of King David and ancestor to Jesus.
    • Rahab. This Canaanite prostitute married a Hebrew and became an ancestor of Jesus.
  • » Mixed Commitment. Then there are weird marriages that God put together to prophesy by means of a living sign.
    • Hagar (Prostitute). Hosea married her.
  • » Mixed Faith. The only mixed marriage that the bible forbids is between a believer and an unbeliever.
    Furthermore you shall not intermarry with them; you shall not give your daughters to their sons, nor shall you take their daughters for your sons. For they shall turn your sons away from following Me to serve other gods; then the anger of the Lord will be kindled against you and He will quickly destroy you. (Deuteronomy 7: 3-4)
    Do not be bound [unequally yoked] together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowiship has light with darkness? (2 Corinthians 6: 14)
    The Bible says that we should not be unequally yoked with unbelievers because they will lead you away from God just like adultery or idolatry. This prohibition extends to not only Christian and non-Christian marriages, but between different faiths of Christianity and within different commitments in the same faith. God wants you to choose someone who loves Him first and most before they love you. An improper marriage is therefore idolatry because you love your spouse more than God.
  
  » Fake Conversions. When a potential spouse chooses to make last minute conversions to satisfy the law on paper, you are not honoring God. Both of you are willing to pretend in public that one is no longer an unbeliever, just to secure your union. God is not in your marriage, because He is not important to both of you.
  Mixed faith marriages almost always lead to the children choosing no religion, partners never really converting or the believer abandoning their faith for nothing. It rarely ends in conversion of the unbeliever.
• Polygamy and Polyandry. As polygamy was practiced throughout the bible and God seemed to remain silent, Christians have hunted for a more legal reason to condemn the practice. In fact, in the case of a woman who is widowed and childless, his brother is supposed to marry her and give her children in his name. From the story of Judah and Tamar, it seems that the brother is supposed to be the next available single brother.
  Monogomy. He shall not multiply wives for himself ... (Deuteronomy 17: 17)
  Polygamy. If a man has two wives ... (Deuteronomy 21: 15)
  So the law establishes monogamy as the ideal. But if polygamy occurs God made laws to protect the people, because polygamy creates a unique set of problems that cannot be solved by divorce or abandonment.
  So we appeal to the example set in the original plan or to the chaos caused by jealousy in polygamous households. However, bad outcomes are not the basis of law. Monogamous marriages also fail. The righteous suffer and the wicked prosper.
  In fact, not only does the bible not directly address polygamy, it does not condemn polyandry either. So as far as I am concerned, polygamy only became a prominent form of marriage because of culture.
  In a culture where women cannot work and beggars are despised, some of the few choices of a widow are begging and prostitution.
  » Temporary Marriages. In fact, the Shia have an ingenius custom that is nothing more than religiously based prostitution. A woman and a man my enter into contract for a temporary marriage that lasts as long as they agree, from minutes, to hours to months or years. When the relationship ends, the woman cannot enter into another temporary marriage contract until she has had a period. This ensures that if a child is born because of the union, the identity of the father will be known. Because divorce is so easy, men are dominant and superior, women are property and subservient, and the sacredness of marriage has been lost by the practice of polygamy.
  This custom of temporary marriages shows how polygamy has contaminated the sacredness of marriage so that prostitution is practiced under the veneer of righteousness.
  
  » The Original Plan. In the beginning, God set the example of marriage as one man married to one wife forever.
  For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother, and be joined to his wife and they shall become one flesh. (Genesis 2: 24)
  Although monogamy was implied by example it is also implied by logic. How can the two be one, if one or both are allowed to be one with others?
  In the New Testament, monogamy seemed to be the standard and the ideal.
  It is a trustworthy statement: if any man aspires to the office of overseer, it is a fine work he desires to do. An overseer, then, must be above reproach. The husband of one wife, temperate, prudent, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not addicted to wine or pugnacious, but gentle, peaceable, free from the love of money. (1 Timothy 3: 1-3)
  In this lesson we show that there will be marriage in the eternal kingdom.
• Culture. How can we tell what is the result of culture and what is a commandment of God based on moral principle? Paul suggests that to protect the gospel we should adhere to local customs and give up our freedom in Christ when the issue is not one of morality. But the key is not to confuse such issues with legitimate issues of morality.
  My rule of thumb is that if it is not addressed by the ten commandments, then it is open to debate. Then we search the Bible to understand God's intent.

What Color Was Jesus?
In this smorgasbord faith and feel-good era, religion is not treated as the absolute statements of God but a social construct of man's fearful response to the unknown. If it is man-made, then this self-derived faith is expected to evolve over time since is not based on absolutes. So in our era it must be inclusive and accommodating.
One of this accommodation is to make Jesus and Santa Claus into the likeness of each ethnic group, even though Jesus came from the Jews and Santa Claus was a Caucasian invention. I don't care about Santa or about society's reinvention of a story that everyone agrees is a made-up series of myths, based largely on the history of Pagan practices. However, if one believed that Jesus was a real historical figure with a message from our Creator then this concept of a black Jesus, Chinese Jesus, Indian Jesus, Latino Jesus or white Jesus would be thought of as ludicrous. One would never think of having a Chinese Gandhi, a black Abraham Lincoln, a Jewish Muhammad, a Haitian Buddha, a white Martin Luther King Jr or an Arab Martin Luther as being acceptable.
These celebrated historical figures came out of a particular culture and that setting and their family is important to their life story and why it appeals to cross-cultural generations thousands of years later.
Would you adjust the color of the Mona Lisa or give her almond-shaped eyes? It is hypocrisy to obliterate a person's identity to recreate them in your own image so that you can be more accepting and tolerant of other people. The notion that to be more inclusive and more accepting means that we have to remake historical heroes into our own ethnic and social likeness is the most divisive of concepts and is tantamount to the practices of apartheid. We can have what we want if we get our version of it because yours is unacceptable for my ego and self esteem. That shows contempt for the heroic acts of other races and a disregard of other races to the point of practicing damnatio memoriae or "damnation of memory" by removing all references to or recognizable traces of their important story.
Look at what is happening to Christmas (Xmas or the "holiday" season). There is practically no mention of Jesus or the story of His birth and haters have even obliterated the name "Christ". What is left is a cultural holiday with an acceptable Santa in the color of your choice, which respects no one except the god of credit cards, greed and profit.
Jesus was the color that He was because He was born to a particular race because God chose their forefather Abraham, not on the basis of race but on faithfulness. If Abraham and Sara had been totally black then their generations would most likely be negroid.
The world races can be traced to the three sons of Noah and their wives. Abraham was Semitic, descended from Shem. It is generally accepted that Africans and Orientals are descended from Ham and Caucasians are descended from Japheth. Abraham and his children intermingled with the descendants of Ham, so this is the source of the claim that Jesus was black. How black was He and what did He look like?

Ham	Cush	Nimrod, Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah (sons: Sheba, Dedan), Sabteca	Negroid	(Negroid and Mongoloid) Africa, Arabian Peninsula, Far East into China and America
	Mizraim	Ludim, Anamim, Lehabim, Naphtuhim, Pathrusim, Casluhim, Caphtorim	Egypt
	Put (Phut)	No children listed
	Caanan	Sidon, Heth, Jebusite, Amorite, Girgashite, Hivite, Arkite, Arvadite, Zemarite, Hamathite	Giants
		Sinite	Mongoloid

Most scholars agree that the "black" races came through Ham. However, his descendants included very light skinned people if we believe that the Chinese were descended from him. In addition, the Canaanites were giants who settled in the Levant and were mostly destroyed by Israel.

• Color Before The 12 Tribes. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their wives were from the region of Syria and Ur (Babylon). They were fair skinned. They found wives for their children from among their relatives back in the old country for the purpose of not mixing with other cultures.
  • Abraham And Sarah.
    Thou art the Lord the God, who didst choose Abram, and broughtest him forth out of Ur of the Chaldees, and gavest him the name of Abraham; (Nehemiah 9: 7)
  • Isaac And Jacob.
    And thou shalt speak and say before the Lord thy God, A Syrian ready to perish was my father, and he went down into Egypt, and sojourned there with a few, and became there a nation, great, mighty, and populous: (Deuteronomy 26: 5)
  • Leah And Rachel.
    And Isaac sent away Jacob: and he went to Padanaram unto Laban, son of Bethuel the Syrian, the brother of Rebekah, Jacob's and Esau's mother. (Genesis 28: 5)
  Esau married foreign women and Ishmael's mother was Egyptian, but they were not the heirs of the promise.
• Color Of The 12 Tribes. When they entered Egypt there were about 70-73 descendants of Jacob.
  And all the souls that came out of the loins of Jacob were seventy souls: for Joseph was in Egypt already. (Exodus 1: 5)
  This number could have included wives and children. That would be an average of 6 in each family. If not, then there were 70 men and possibly at least 400 people.
  400 years later at the exodus from Egypt there were 600,000 men over 20 years old. An average of 6 people per family would be 3 to 4 million people or more because God made them very fruitful.
  Of those tribes we have documentation of intermarriage to foreign women from the descendants of Ham among these men.

  Census Of Males 20+ At The Exodus
  Tribe		Num 1-2	Num 26
  Son		Beginning	End
  Reuben		46,500	43,730
  Simeon		59,300	22,200
  Gad		45,650	40,500
  Judah		74,600	76,500
  Issachar		54,400	64,300
  Zebulun		57,400	60,500
  Ephraim		40,500	32,500
  Manasseh		32,200	52,700
  Benjamin		35,400	45,600
  Dan		62,700	64,400
  Asher		41,500	53,400
  Naphtali		53,400	45,400
  Total		603,550	601,730
  Firstborn Males		22,273	?
  Levi (1 month+)		22,000	23,000
  »	Gershon	7,500	?
  »	Kohath	8,600	?
  »	Merari	6,200	?
  »	Moses-Aaron	?	?
  Tribes of Israel since 722 BC

  • Moses (Levi). He married Zipporah, an Ethiopian or Midianite. Current Ethiopians were very dark skinned. They had 2 sons who were the fifth generation. However, the Midianites were descendants of Abraham through his wife Keturah (Exodus 2: 15-22).
    And Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married: for he had married an Ethiopian woman. (Numbers 12: 1)
    In ancient times Ethopia was also called Cush. To the Greeks, the southern world from Africa to India was called Ethiopia. So the Greek Septuagint may have used that word to designate a lot of people who did not physically look dark.
    His family was only a small branch of this tribe, unlike Ephraim and Manasseh. So the darkening effect on the entire tribe would be minimal. However, within that branch of the family the same arguments about Joseph's children would hold.
    Since the Levites had strict rules about the women they should marry, I doubt that there was as much miscegenation with foreign women. After the Babylonian captivity Ezra made the men give up their foreign wives and children (Ezra 9-10).
    Now therefore let us make a covenant with our God to put away all the wives, and such as are born of them, according to the counsel of my lord, and of those that tremble at the commandment of our God; and let it be done according to the law. Then arose Ezra, and made the chief priests, the Levites, and all Israel, to swear that they should do according to this word. And they sware. (Ezra 10: 3, 5)
    According to verse 5 the entire nation removed the foreign seed.
  • Manasseh And Ephraim (Joseph). This was the second generation. Joseph married an Egyptian who was dark.
    And unto Joseph were born two sons before the years of famine came, which Asenath the daughter of Potipherah priest of On bare unto him. (Genesis 41: 50)
    And unto Joseph in the land of Egypt were born Manasseh and Ephraim, which Asenath the daughter of Potipherah priest of On bare unto him. (Genesis 46: 20)
    Since his children were two of the original tribes then the entire line would be half-black and would only lighten up by intermarriage between the other tribes or through genetic inheritance laws which give a 25% possibility of producing a white or dark skinned child and 50% of medium skinned child if their sons married mixed race children.
    Since color came into these tribes at the beginning. It is reasonable to assume that if they never intermarried with their cousins in other tribes then they would still be a recognizable mixture of white and black. Since the vast majority of their cousins were lighter skin then Joseph's line would lighten in color for the next two generations until the tribe started to intermarry with second cousins. So in the third generation it would be 75% white to 25% mixed, not 25% (white) -50% (mixed) 25% (black). In the fourth generation of marrying white only, the ratio would be 15 pure white to 1 mixed.

    Joseph's Possible Family Tree
    0	Jacob (WW)		Rachel (WW)		(BB)
    1	Joseph (WW)				Asenath (BB)
    2	Manasseh (BW) + BW				Ephraim (BW) + WW
    3	WW	BB	BW	BW	BW	WW	WW	WW

    
    Since black is a combination of features, a "pure white" may be the one who won the 25% lottery on other black features.
  • Benjamin. 900 years after the 12 sons were born and over 1000 years before Christ, this tribe was almost wiped out for gross conduct (Judges 21). There were only 600 men remaining and the tribe had to be reconstituted from the other tribes in Jabesh-Gilead and Shiloh. Jabesh-Gilead may have included children from Manasseh, Reuben and Gad. Shiloh was in Ephraim. What happened to the dispersal of the black genes of Asenath among all the white genes of Joseph and his brothers in those 900 years? By this time, Tamar and Rahab were the only documented possible foreign genes introduced. If Ephraim and Manasseh were mulatto, then Benjamin would have some chances that the black strain was introduced. Jesus was not from the tribe of Benjamin but His ancestors could have intermarried with them in the past 500 years.
  • Judah. At least three members of this family married foreign women who were ancestors of Jesus Christ. This was several generations later and over 1000 years before Christ. If they did not have a significant influx of black genes throughout this time, then that one occurrence would have been watered down by intermarrying with their cousins.
• Color Of The Remaining 2 Tribes (Judah, Benjamin And Levi). With the raid of the Assyrians in 721/2 BC, ten of the tribes disappeared and their location remains the story of speculation, rumors and spurious genetic testing. So the current Jewish nation actually includes the tribes of Judah, Benjamin and the Levites and those from the other tribes who happened to be in the sothern kingdom at the time of the Assyrian raid or married into these two tribes. So the vast majority are from Judah and Benjamin. So, to determine how many teaspoons of black blood is in Jesus we have to look at the male and female ancestors of the tribe of Judah and probably Levi, since Mary was from both tribes.
  • Female Ancestors. The documented female ancestors of Jesus were foreign women. We have no evidence that they were black in color, but we will assume so for the sake of this discussion. Tamar (Genesis 38), Rahab (Joshua 2:1-21 and 6: 17-25) were probably Canaanites. Ruth was a Moabite who was descended from Lot - Abraham's cousin. So the only evidence we have is that she was a Syrian or Semite like them. Bathsheba was married to Uriah the Hittite who were descended from Ham. So he may have been dark-skinned, and she may have been a Hittle also but that is pure speculation. In addition, although the negro race descended from Ham, not all of Ham's children were dark. The oriental's are fair skinned-white and are descended from Sinite son of Canaan, the brother of Cush. In my estimation there is more evidence that the Canaanites were more lighter skinned than Cush and Mizraim, the ancestors of the darker races.
    And the sons of Ham; Cush, and Mizraim, and Phut, and Canaan. (Genesis 10: 6)
  • Other Black Influence. Since Jesus was from the tribes of Judah and Levi and both tribes and Benjamin were the only three tribes at the time of His birth then these are the principal sources of skin color.
  So Jesus did have a teaspoon of black in Him from at least 28 generations before, but was it enough to color His skin dark? From the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew 1, there were at least 42 generation from Abraham to Jesus. The possible black genes mixed in around generation 4 (Tamar - Peres), 10 (Rahab - Booz), 11 (Ruth - Obed), 14 (Bathsheba - Solomon). They had 28 generations to be diluted.

  Tribe		Wife	Ham Gene	Generation
  Abraham-Sarah		Sarah	No	2147 BC	0
  Isaac		Rebecca	No	2122 BC	1
  Jacob/Israel		4 Wives	No	2000 BC	2
  Joseph		Asenah	Y	1960 BC	3
  »	Manasseh		Y	1930 BC	4
  »	Ephraim		Y	1930 BC	4
  Benjamin		Wife	No	1950 BC	3
  Tribe reconstituted with Joseph in the days of the priest Phinehas (8)				1340 BC	9?
  Judah		Tamar	?	1980 BC	3
  »	Pherez			1940 BC	4
  »	Salmon	Rahab	Boaz (11)	1140 BC	10
  »	Boaz	Ruth	Obed (12)	1100 BC	11
  »	David	Bathsheba	?	1000 BC	14
  »	Solomon			960 BC	15
  Levi-Moses		Zipporah	?	1500 BC	6
  Babylonian Captivity				605 BC	28
  »	Jesus			31 BC	42

• Other Evidence. God called them to be separate, so there was not a lot of mixing. Notice how Abraham and his children were careful to marry within their own family and were distraught that Esau kept taking foreign women.
  • Statistics. There are too few instances of miscegenation which are mostly in the later generations after Jacob and 28 generations before Jesus. These four examples could not overcome the millions of pure semitic or mostly semitic genes. It would take a significant insertion of black genes at the first generation or constant interbreeding over many centuries to permanently change the average physical appearance of the children 2000 years later.
  • Modern Jews. The best circumstantial evidence of what Jesus probably looked like is the modern Jew. The vast majority look white although you can find darker skinned Jews. Although antisemitic people will claim that they are not the "real" Jews, I challenge them to find any other race of current human beings who have among their possession and their culture the knowledge, culture, behavior, practices, laws and history found in the oracles given to Moses. Even among those who we claim are Jews based on possible gentic links to the priests, there is only a hint of Jewish culture which may reasonably be traced to the influence of early Christianity. None of them have the staggering amount of cultural practices that the Jews do (including European, white-looking Jews). They are the real Jews, identified by their adherence to the laws of Moses. They have the face and culture of Jesus Christ preserved over 2000 years as a witness.

Three to ten possible black people among tens of millions of white Jews 42 generations from Abraham does not make Jesus black. Ten thousand black people still would not make a difference. Black genes must be inserted into the gene pool of the majority of the tribes when the family was small or in the three generations of Mary's family before Jesus.
Jesus most likely looked like the Jews of His day which was most likely the same as the Jews of our day - clear skinned or white genetically, maybe tanned face by walking outdoors for long hours, but recognizably very fair skinned.
Being a person who is black from a distance I am comfortable with the fact that Jesus was white. God did not reject my ancestors because He thought lighter skinned people were genetically superior, but because my forefathers were disobedient like the ancestors of all the white races and the rest of the other semitic tribes.
Jesus had to come to earth dressed in the form of a human. He did not come with chameleon color-shifting abilities. He had to choose His ancestors. He chose Abraham not by the color of his skin but by the content of his character.

The Status Of Women And Men
As with all puzzles, the status of men and women can be understood by looking at the covenant.

• Before Sin. It takes both a male and female to model the image of God. Neither one fully represents the characteristics of God alone. Neither do they represent him as two separate beings. But together in a faithful marriage they model God in totality.
  God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him, male and female created He them. (Genesis 1: 27)
  Then the Lord God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make him a helper suitable for him". (Genesis 2: 18)
  In our marriage to Christ, the Holy Spirit is our helper and constant companion.

  The Trickle Down Theory of Submission The concept of submission has been elevated to such an extent that it has become the natural relationship between man and wife in the Christian home. The argument says that when wives and children submit, then this relieves the stress on the husband and makes him happier and he can in turn make their lives more pleasant because he will be happier and will do better at his job and goals. The reality is that it now takes two incomes for most families to have even a modest home and the stress of home making and income earning has fallen more on women than men. The purpose of God is for us to learn to have respect and love for each other, not to set up a permanent male hierarchy that remains in one partner perpetually.

• After Sin. When Adam and Eve sinned, they not only received the death penalty they were also cursed. Adam was sentenced to hard labor, with the land producing thorns. Eve was given pain in childbirth and told to submit to her husband.
  To the woman He said, "I will greatly multiply your pain in childbirth, in pain you will bring forth children; yet your desire will be for your husband, and He will rule over you". (Genesis 3: 16)
  Therefore, submission to someone other than God is a curse. It is not the glorious state we try to make it to be. It is not the ideal and it is not the original plan. Because Eve did not submit to God, she could have been sentenced to submit to the enemy she chose, Satan. Since he is the ultimate evil, that would not be wise. In fact it would be a sin for God to make her submit to Satan. Instead she must submit to her husband, one who still might do the will of God but who is still an inferior master. However, they both submitted their rights as rulers of the earth to Satan with enmity or a state of war between them.
  
  Learning From A Curse. Although submission is a curse, several conditions came as a curse, but they are states of being from which we can actually learn and grow.
  • Hard Work. While our minds are occupied with noble endeavors we have less opportunity to sin and more opportunity to improve the world.
  • Sleep. While our minds are at rest, we stop sinning. With eight hours of sleep and eight hours of work, the disciplines of work and sleep actually reduce our time to sin by two thirds.
  • Pain. Pain and fear help us to recognize danger.
  • Submission. Submission, helps the one who submits to help the dominant other to whom we submit to not sin! He learns that leadership is not barking orders. Leadership is showing by example. Leadership is washing dirty feet, turning the other cheek, going the extra mile and giving more than demanded. Leadership is knowing that you have the power, but submitting to show a good example.

  A Husband Like Christ A husband who submits totally to Christ is a great asset to his wife and children and to the community as he models the virtues of Christ who is the Lord and Master who submitted to His creation.

  Submission will no more exist in heaven than will painful childbirth, an unyielding earth, hard labor or the sleep of death. Submission is not an open ended virtue. Submission is not a husband's right, but the wife's priviledge and courtesy through which she can learn about the humility of Christ and he can learn about responsibility and giving up his own needs.
  When a man sees his wife voluntarily and happily submitting to him he is faced with the same choice that Adam had when he chose to voluntarily sin so that he could be with her. Do I indulge in my own physical and emotional needs or do I act responsibly? Do I rule and conquer or do I serve?
  When a woman submits to her husband she is left with a similar choice of Eve. Do I know to whom I am submitting? Is he a man after God's own heart? This is why marriage is so important. If you choose a tyrant and an ungodly man, you will be a slave of evil.
  
  » A Reason To Submit. Paul even goes further, telling women not to speak. Men say that women ought not to be teaching men. So they will never listen to a woman, especially about religious knowledge. Yet God says that men and women will have the gift of prophecy in the last days. Why would God send a message through a vessel that He does not want to speak up about religious matters?
  Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. For Adam was first formed, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression. (1 Timothy 2: 11-13)
  Paul suggests that woman submits to man because he was created first. Following that logic, we would submit to beasts. Animals were created before man, yet man does not submit to animals.
  Adam was not deceived. He sinned deliberately, a worse infraction. Remarkably, if you examine the laws that appear to be unfair to women, you will see why God established these rules. Because Eve sinned first and because she was deceived, God crafted a brilliant set of laws that allowed Him to make a better case against Satan. These laws require us to submit to the authority of our husband and father. Christ is the Husband. God is the Father. When they acted righteously, the woman (church) under their control was not held accountable for any vows they made. The Husband and Father spoke for her in all matters. Because she was deceived, God was able to do this since Satan erred first when he deceived her for the purpose of corrupting her, virtually kidnapping her into slavery. God could not model the salvation of the world on Adam, because this was a weaker case. He had to become the Adam who was righteous who could not be corrupted by Satan. Then He coud save the world under the model of a woman under submission to a righteous Lord.
  We submit because God established this as the order and He symbolized this preference by creating man first and creating woman out of man. The perfect relationship is supposed to demonstrate the one between us and God. Yet, just as the Jews never seemed to observe a jubilee, we never see the marriage demonstrated as God intended.
  
  » God Submits to Humans. Although Christ was God and equal to God, like a woman, Christ humbled Himself and submitted to God and humbled Himself before humans. As a result He was able to give birth to the church and save the church. In the superior position, God loved His Son and did not take advantage of Him but held Him in high esteem because He volunteered Himself and submitted.
  Christ Humbled Himself. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. (Philippians 2: 8)
  If the dynamics of your marriage is about a power structure then you have missed the purpose of dominance and submission and your marriage does not model God. It is sadism. But if the dynamics of your marriage is about a plan to learn about God and serve Him so that you can do the best for your family and community and save your children, then your marriage fulfills the purpose of God. Your marriage should not be about how best we can make each other happy, but about how best we can make God happy when the family submits to God.
• After the Crucifixion. In Christ there is no hierarchy among humans. We submit to God.
  Leaders. It will come about after this that I will pour out My Spirit on all mankind; and your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams and your young men will see visions. Even on the male and female servants I will pour out My Spirit in those days. (Joel 2: 28-29)
  One in Christ. For you are all sons of God through faith in Jesus Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither male or female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus (Galatians 3: 26, 28)
  And be subject to one another in the fear of Christ. Wives, be subject to your own husband as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, He Himself being the savior of the body. But as the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives ought to be to their husbands in everything. Husbands love your wives just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself for her (Ephesians 5: 21-25)
  This is not an unconditional surrender. You cannot submit to wrong doing. He must also pass the test of behaving like Christ did towards the church. You must only obey in the Lord and in the law. You cannot submit to a pedophile, a drug addict, a gambler or a man who uses this priviledge and his family to fulfill his own lusts and destroy the family. Women are also subject to Christ and their responsibilities to their children.
  The mercy of Christ gives you the added responsibility of appealing to such a husband and helping him. However, when your life and safety and family are at risk you must choose Christ as the tender, loving husband to whom you will submit.
  Submission is not about your husband and his ego or a belief in a natural leadership endowed by God. Submission is about learning about what it takes to be like Christ in the role of Lord and Master and in His role as a slave. As a marriage learns to work out the dynamics of these opposing forces, they begin to model God who can only be totally seen in the image of male and female.

  A Wife Like Christ A wife who submits totally to Christ and then voluntarily to her husband is a great model of the humility and sacrifice of Christ, the peace maker.

  
  
  Submitting to a husband who submits to Christ is the ideal. But what about the less than perfect situation? You can and should submit to an unkind, hard and domineering husband. You chose him. But you should not submit to evil. Within reason, we must submit here too because the model of Christ is the model of one who gave up his rights and priviledges to bear unjust suffering.
  
  Unjust Suffering. Servants, be submissive to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and gentle, but also to those who are unreasonable. (1 Peter 2: 18)
  In the same way, you wives, be submissive to your own husbands, so that even if any of them are disobedient to the word, they may be won without a word by the behavior of their wives, as they observe your chaste and respectful behavior. (1 Peter 3: 1)
  In the context of unjust suffering, God asks the righteous person to submit for the purpose of possibly leading the one over you to Christ. We must understand that because Christ submitted to unjust suffering and waited patiently for deliverance, He was able to win back our lives.
  But remember that the one who submits is being asked to give up their rights to one who does not have the right to take it away! This is not God's ideal or permanent plan, but it is a temporary strategy in the Plan of Salvation.
  As women we have the great priviledge of understanding what it means to surrender.
  One who submits by force is a slave. One who submits from an inferior position is a child. Therefore, true submission occurs when one submits voluntarily from an equal or superior position or a position of strength. If the one who is in the role of master recognizes this then we can understand both positions of God. Then the husband can understand the great love and gratitude that he should have towards his wife who is willing to put aside her talents, dreams and hopes for the good of the family. The wife submits to make something possible that would never have been.
  » Freedom or Unity. Paul says that there are conditions under which our freedoms in Christ should be given up for the sake of the unity of the church. Culture matters. The ancient culture was one of slavery and the inferiority of women.
  Submit as if to God. Act as free men, and do not use your freedom as a covering for evil, but use it as bondslaves of God. (1 Peter 2: 16)
  At some point the church is expected to grow up. What if submitting to "unity" is merely a pretence for obstruction? Suppose we change because of social pressures and we are inadvertently teaching that religion should change with the culture and modern times? We will be teaching that culture is the source of our flexible absolutes. Will there ever be a time when freedom trumps unity? Does God expect us to overcome these problems after 2000 years?
  Why is it that it is the world and the laws of governments that have to make us do the right thing? It was the government that had to drag the churches kicking and screaming away from slavery, racial prejudice and unfair wages for equal work. If we do not know the difference between the absolute values of God and the cultural martrydom we are required to suffer until it is safe, then how can we stand up to the government when it mandates changes that do impact the absolutes of God?
• After The Second Coming. In heaven there will be no marriages and we will learn the good ways and unlearn old misconceptions.
• After The Third Coming. In the new earth everything will go back to the original plan. We will even get married and have children again. Here is the proof. Even while we are still living under the ravages of sin, the husband and wife who can begin to live under God's original plan are the ones who are the best examples of the covenant. When we go back to the conditions of paradise, we will be submissive to each other because our driving emotion will never be to get our own way, but to constantly find every way possible to do something to make others happy, even submitting our own dreams.

Female Preachers
Women Must be Silent. The women are to keep silent in the churches; for they are not permitted to speak, but they are to subject themselves, just as the Law also says. If they desire to learn anything, let them ask their own husbands at home, for it is improper for a woman to speak in church. (1 Corinthians 15: 34-35)
You have heard the arguments before, "Women sinned first", "women must submit", "women must be seen and not heard" ... and women were not allowed to be priests in the Old Testament. Correct! Under the Levitical priesthood, women were forbidden from performing many duties. This is because the Levitical Priesthood were acting out the prophecies and duties of one male, Jesus Christ. Now, Christ is under a different priesthood, according to the order of Melchizadek. Here the rules are different. We do not know all of them but here are some.

• All Are Priests. The priesthood is not limited to one tribe or one nation or one gender.
  All tribes are priests. The Levitical priesthood was limited to males from the tribe of Levi.
  A Nation of Priests. And He has made us to be a kingdom of priests to His God and Father - to Him be the glory and dominion forever. (Revelation 1 : 6)
  Before the breaking of the seals, heaven said this.
  A Nation of Priests. You have made them to be a kingdom of priests to our God and they will reign upon the earth. (Revelation 5 : 10)
  After the crucifixion, while Christ is ministering as High Priest, we are the priests on the earth who can enter the Holy Place at all times. We pray, light the menorah and eat at the Table of Shewbread.
  Revelation 20: 6 makes it clear that everyone in the first general resurrection are priests.
  Female Prophets. It will come about after this that I will pour out My Spirit on all mankind. And your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. Even on the male and female servants I will pour out My Spirit in those days. (Joel 3: 28-29)
  So, if God will pour out His Spirit on women to prophecy, how can the prophetess prophecy if she is not allowed to speak?
  How can a true gift of miraculous healing, exhortation or teaching be administered if women must keep silent? God Himself, will make it obvious by giving gifts to women.
• No Gender, Age, Race or Class. The priesthood is not limited to one gender. In Christ there is no Jew nor Greek, neither male nor female. The Holy Spirit also pours out all His gifts on women and children.
  The Levitical priesthood was limited to males between 30 and 50.
  All Are Equal. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. (Galations 3: 28)
  If we are equal in God's eyes, why is Paul enforcing a policy of submission that silences all women?
  » Submit. Culture trumps our freedom in Christ if we can submit and bear the burdens.
  We know slavery was wrong, yet the disciples told people to submit. Even in the Jewish law it was illegal to subject a brother to slavery and we were duty bound to free our brothers from slavery. The same dynamics are at work in the role of women.
  The generation who will enter heaven are expected to understand this and model the will of God, not the injustices of culture or the pressures of modern society. Women should not be treated as equals because society has embarassed us into adopting this position. We should not change our theology because society has forced us to change. We should change when we recognize the sound biblical reasons to do so, not lag behind and appear to make the laws of God subject to the whims of society. If we truly modeled God we would be practicing these freedoms before the rest of society catches up.
• Most Holy Place Opened. All priests can enter into the Holy Place at any time. All believers became priests after the crucifixion. If this were not the case, then only men would enter the kingdom of heaven.
  In the Levitical priesthood, access was limited to one day per year by the high priest only. In the Melchizedek priesthood, access to the Most Holy Place is by invitation of the Great High Priest. We have spiritual access now whenever we speak to the High Priest in prayer. We will have physical access to the Most Holy Place at the Second Coming, because Christ has torn the curtain and allowed us to enter.
  » God's Teaching Moment. God taught Peter through a vision that the Gentiles were not to be treated as unequal or unclean because He had reconciled the two groups into one family. This was not a change in law.
  Since the Gentiles were brothers, not enemies, they were to be treated according to the existing laws that governed the relationship between brothers, not the laws about hating enemies.
  Fast forward 1860 years. God was trying to teach the Adventist church about His attitude towards race, gender and slavery. When He began giving visions in the 1840's, He first gave it to two mulatto (black and white mixed) men who refused because of fear. Then He gave the visions to a woman, who also looked mixed. In a society where slavery, racism and sexism existed God made the politically suicidal move.
  What will you do when God anoints the theological untouchables with the power of the Holy Spirit?
• Women's Ordination. We recognize that women play a vital role in the church. They teach our children, they are Bible workers. We train them in seminaries to minister to other women, to children and in "women's work".
  The structure of society is so broken that women need to be trained to go where men cannot. In some societies where there is strict separation of male and female, only a woman could reach other women with the knowledge of the Christian faith. When men do not lead the family in spiritual matters it is the duty of women to do the will of God. In fact, when Bible workers go out in teams it would probably be a wise idea to make the teams male and female.
  So based on the calling of God, the intentions of the new covenant and the wisdom of the new cultural dynamics women should serve where the Holy Spirit has clearly gifted them.
  However, we have this barrier called "ordination". Historical proofs and precedent of "men only" based on the practices of the Old Testament and after Christ can be seen as the old Levitical priesthood passing away in a orderly manner, not a perpetual rule against women in ministry. After Jesus became the indestructible Lamb of God, ending the sacrificial system it took 40 years for God to allow the destruction of the sanctuary to terminate animal sacrifices.
  So these arguments used to deny women's ordination are weak. Only one confusing argument makes sense. It is because God has established this order by His own example and by the testimony of the apostles. It is because God said so.

  Genetic Hierarchy God ("XY?") Christ ("XY?") Man ("XY") Woman ("XX") Creates Only XY XX XX

  
  » Genetics (XY, XX). God is the creator who can produce male and female. He created the male in His image and He created both male and female.
  So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. (Genesis 1: 27)
  In fact, the image of God may be said to be both male and female. Yet God is always referred to in the male Gender. Not female.
  The rules of genetics provides a physical answer. Although the woman has the privilege of carrying the child, only the XY male can produce both genders (XY, XX) while a female can only produce the female gender (XX). So genetically the male is more in the image of God. To make this point God created Eve out of Adam because Adam has the "X" chromosome. He could never have created Eve out of Adam. However, man needs woman to take advantage of this power that imitates God. So together they model more of the image of God in their ability to procreate and in the union of more than one being.
  
  We cannot change the structure of the church as set up by God anymore than we can change our genetic structure. According to the natural laws of genetics the woman comes out of the man.
  The church is pictured in the female gender. She is Israel. She is the bride of Christ.
  Although we acknowledge that this perfect Man was Jesus Christ, yet God wants to remember this natural law. So He determined that righteous men, filled with the Spirit of God, should be the head of the church.
  I totally agree that they are almost always poor representatives of Christ, blind, condescending and irritating. We should only obey them "in the Lord". Yet we should submit to this structure just as Jesus submitted to the Father. In submitting God just might make women the greatest evangelists, the greatest producers and nurturers of new members. When a woman is gifted and called by her righteous head, no hierarchical structure can crush it.
  » Submission. We are going to take over the abandoned jobs of the fallen angels. The victor will take the spoils. It means that we could possibly rotate in and out of jobs as covering cherubs. One person will never have the job perpetually like Lucifer appeared to have. Only when men acknowledge that women are equal and capable and that their submission is from a position of strength can God truly demonstrate to the universe the reason why we, vile sinners, deserve the position of honor that He will give this planet. We can demonstrate the qualities that Lucifer could not grasp as an inferior being when we choose to be subordinate to men as Christ gave us an example of being subordinate to the Father according to the hierarchical structure that He had ordained.
  However, men, I must say that you must also truly recognize this or God will never be able to show a true working model of these dynamics to the universe. You might show the glory of God by giving women the authority to shine where they are gifted just as God gave you the ability to shine in His glory by making humans a part in the work of the Plan of Salvation.
  » Abraham's Agony. So women model the hard submission of Christ and the more cruel the husband, the more she models Christ's submission at the cross. However, what do men model? They model the plight of the Father watching helpless as His Son is humiliated by a tyrant. God asked Abraham to do the same thing when He asked him to sacrifice Isaac. However, God did not let Abraham go that far. Only God would suffer this humiliation. So God wants you to model His decision without modeling like the tyrant. God does not want husbands to model Satan but to model Him. He did not allow Abraham to kill his son but stopped the modeling at the last moment. So husbands should recognize and acknowledge the intelligent, sentient being who is their wife who gives up her hopes and dreams to ensure that the family is raised as citizens of heaven.
  If you bully and belittle and marginalize and scorn her duties then you don't model God. God would have gladly traded places with His Son. I don't know any man who would gladly trade places with His wife.
  » Final Statement. Children should submit to parents and wives should submit to the husbands if it does not violate the moral law. Men and women should submit to those in authority because in joining the organization they are agreeing to its structure and rules.
  However this does not mean that all women should submit to any men in every circumstance outside the home. Husband and wives enter into a special contract where she agrees to put aside her ambitions for the welfare of the family after carefully choosing the man to whom she will give up her freedoms. No woman is required to do this for a man who is not her husband.

Authority: Obedience To Those In Charge
While the Bible advocates submission to those in charge, it does not advocate blind obedience. Obedience must first be tested against the requirements of the Lord. So we are free to disobey any orders that would lead to sin.
Submission does not mean that you have to lay aside your common sense and duty to God. However, in areas of disagreement not related to morals, the Bible position would be that the one who has the duty of submission must give the benefit of the doubt to the one in authority.
Unfortunately, this whip of unilateral submission has caused many criminal, immoral, incompetent people to wield authority. This is not a bondage that God intends. All disobedience to those in authority should be based on the following.
Obedience to the Law. To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word it is because they have no light. (Isaiah 8: 20)

• Parents. Even children can disobey parents if the requests are not moral, or "in the Lord".
  Obedient Children. Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honor your father and mother (which is the first commandment with a promise). (Ephesians 6: 1-2)
  » Bad Parents. God never intends for children to submit to pedophile parents, drug users and excessively cruel care givers. The Bible also warns parents not to "provoke their children to wrath" Ephesians 6: 4.
• Husbands. A mean or harsh husband is not grounds for lack of respect.
  Good Examples. In the same way, you wives, be submissive to your own husbands so that even if any of them are disobedient to the word, they may be won without a word by the behavior of their wives. (1 Peter 3: 1) We should not fear their intimidation, but we should endure for the sake of God Unfairness is not the will of God, but redemption is.
  Righteous Suffering. But even if you should suffer for the sake of righteousness, you are blessed. And do not fear their intimidation and do not be troubled. (1 Peter 3: 14)
  » Bad Husbands. A cheap, domineering and even adulterous husband do not cause you to sin. However, sin can flourish in a marriage where the submissive woman has no family support, legal or cultural recourse. Some men subject their wives to dishonorable and perverse behavior. Muslim men will have multiple wives to run a personal brothel. Husbands use their position to drink, gamble, beat their wives, monopolize every decision, place the family in financial jeopardy because they are fools, conduct affairs with the family income, rape their children and are a hindrance to the prosperity and well being of their family. These are not God's intentions, especially when the husband appeals to the privilege given by God to hold his wife into blind submission.
• Pastors and Priests.
  Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with grief, for this would be unprofitable for you. (Hebrews 13: 17)
  » Bad Clergy. A special kind of evil can flourish in congregations where complete authority and respect is given to someone who has access to so much cash and so many subservient people. The right congregation is a bonanza for criminals and pedophiles. God never intended for church members to defer to their leaders to the extent that they submit to mass suicide, breaking marriage vows and submitting their baby girls to pedophiles.
  » Controlling Clergy. Pastors who make members sign covenants that they will always listen to him and never question his decisions are lunatics. This is the first step in cult control. It is the kind of absolute control that every sick mind tries to extract. Not even God allows us to give up our right and duty to question nonsense. Job questioned God and God agreed with his actions. Moses questioned God and God agreed. It is not disrespect to try to understand. It is disrespect to pretend to agree and secretly undermine others or to agree but not keep promises. If we are authorized to question angels, then a pastor cannot try to formalize this kind of control.
• Government. God allows every government to come into power. He even allows evil governments to succeed because He uses the evil to punish itself. The rise of an evil government is therefore a sign of impending judgment.
  Good Citizens. Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those who exist are established by God. (Romans 13: 1)
  Yes, the Babylonians, Greeks and Romans were sent or allowed by God. So was Adolph Hitler!
  Terror for Evil Conduct. For rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior, but for evil ... (Romans 13: 3)
  » Bad Government. The moment a government becomes a terrorizing force and a force for evil, it no longer performs the function of God. Then this law takes effect.
  We ought to obey God rather than men. (Acts 5: 29)
  We must only obey governments as long as they do not make us disobey God.
  We may disagree with a government's policies, but the Bible is specific about the kind of government conduct that is evil. Jesus paid taxes because taxes are not in themselves evil, even though they can be used to fund evil. A government may even pass laws that break the ten commandments and that would still not be grounds to disobey them in other areas. The Hebrew spies lied and used a prostitute to gather intelligence. Abraham lied to save his life. Simeon and Levi lied and committed murder. God still worked with them.
  
  » Immoral Government. However, a government cannot pass laws that break the commandments and force you to comply against your conscience. A government should not be able to do what Hitler did and the citizens knowingly submit. A government should not force its people to commit grand theft, murder and torture.
  
  » Evil Government. God did not cause the bad behavior of Hitler, the world allowed him to continue because they cared about themselves more than the suffering Jews. So God gave Hitler to the world because this is the terror they deserved. They were crooked, ruthless and prejudiced. Many were holding other races in virtual slavery.
  God did not give Hitler to the Jews. They did not deserve him, the world did. However, 12 million innocent and courageous people were the innocent victims of this compromise with evil and 80 million people were killed in the world war.
  However, look at the aftermath. The colonial empires were broken by their own devices and other powers emerged. More opportunities opened up for African Americans. Israel was returned to their home land because the world was too prejudiced to absorb them into their own societies. Instead, they were dumped into the desolate land of Israel as God wanted.
• Angels and Supernatural Beings. The ultimate person of authority would be the appearance of supernatural beings, even these are subject to our respect based on their respect for the laws of God.
  Disobedient Angels with Bad Gospel. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed! (Galatians 1: 8)
  » Bad Angels. Our ultimate enemies are bad angels. Therefore, we have a right to test their worthiness of our gift of submission. At the end of time bad angels will be disguised as aliens or even good angels in order to trick the world into disobedience.
  The authority of the written word is always superior to any other witness. So whether or not you make excuses about the bible being "written by man", "contradicting itself", "nobody knows" common sense should say that if a friendly force exists in the universe and the norm is no undue pressure from the supernatural, then when such incidences arise a just God should accept that you will trust a written record and He would leave this evidence to guide you.

Culture And The Laws Of God
Too often cultural changes have dictated changes in the church. When the world has been the source of the installation of the perfect will of God, that record has been used as a hammer to tear apart and bludgeon the beliefs of the church. It is our own fault. If we loved God we would have been leaders in installing righteousness and justice. Instead the church has been too often the enablers, seekers of power, influence, status and money and defenders of the unrighteous status quo.
A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach;
Self-Controlled. Not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but patient, not a brawler, not covetous;
Demonstrated Leadership. One that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity; (For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?)
Experienced Christians. Not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil.
Good Reputation In The World. Moreover he must have a good report of them which are without; lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil. (1 Timothy 3: 2-7)

• Slavery. It was brave Christians who worked tirelessly to bring justice. Yet it was the church who worked to maintain the system. All forms of slavery must be rooted out because our subjection to sin is seen as slavery.
• Racial Equality. Once the indignity of slavery was rooted in our society, it was no surprise that there was an underclass who became the work horses of our society. Women and children and races we deemed to be lower class were perpetually assigned to this status. When Satan instituted evolution we even tried to find a scientific reason to justify this order of affairs.
  Sadly, all men learned and demonstrated was that absolute power and control and "business" and money and the trappings of success were his rights and privilege. They could not see that their systems were being created in the image of Satan, not God.
• Equality Of Women (Women's Rights). The clamor arose because women were badly treated and the church was not a model of the love that God wanted to demonstrate. It too often became a model of control. Control is the lazy way to "rule" a house. Loving and nurturing a family as God intends takes work too often left to women. So children never see in men the qualities of God other than money, austerity and control. Unfortunately, we have equated this example as love and the successful pursuit of these attributes as signs of divine order.
  Even more unfortunate is that women have abandoned a noble role designed to nurture children in the faith. The culture has now ensured that it is impossible for families to return to the divine ideal. Extended families no longer live in the same communities and women have to work. It literally means poverty of such proportions that the family can only afford to live in the midst of criminal activity and evil social pressures on their impressionable children if the mothers do not work to provide an income for the family. Now the ungodly day care center has taken the role of mothers and grandmothers. So children no longer have the example of a priest in the house and a godly nurturer.
  Satan has exploited the failure of men to model God. In the Muslim culture and strict male dominated cults, the privilege of manhood seems to be less about reflecting the image of God than it is to collect a harem for sexual exploitation of women and children. Women end up working the fields and caring for the home and children while men "delegate" and procreate. It is obscene.
• Ordination Of Women. As I concluded above this is not the will of God, not for any superiority in men or lack of ability in women. It demonstrates a profound ability that Satan could not do and it caused pride which caused sin. Women must submit in this matter to learn and demonstrate the incredible work of Jesus Christ. Men can also learn from this submission by understanding the incredible love and gratitude and awe in which the Father esteems the incredible sacrifice of His Son. You both know your roles in this incredible drama. Now appreciate the sentient being behind these roles.
• Baptizing Gay Members. A requirement of baptism and membership is that the potential member is taught about the laws of God and they publically declare their agreement by baptism. Adultery is a sin. Theft, murder, lying and covetousness are all sins. We should not baptize people who believe that they can still engage in these acivities. We should not baptize practicing drug dealers, pedophiles, adulterers, fornicators or thieves. If the person who has an inclination toward homosexuality does not renounce or stop practicing this behavior then they should not be baptized.
• Gay Clergy. It is impossible to advocate the use of gay clergy (ordained or not), musicians, teachers or any office in the church especially when they are still practicing homosexuals. It is obscene to have a gay organist performing in the services while his or her gay partner is the designated turner of the music pages. I have seen it. It is obscene for the senior pastor to say that "he is not in their bedroom so he does not know if they are practicing homosexuals." The very appearance of evil must be avoided according to the scriptures.
  Abstain from all appearance of evil. (1 Thessalonians 5: 22)

Birth Control And Abortion
Any method used to prevent a pregnancy or stop the birth of a child.

• Prevent Contact. Any separation method that prevents the close contact of male and female.
• Prevent Ovulation/Production. Any method that prevents the formation and release of healthy sperm or egg.
  Ovulation. Cyclical production and release of an egg every 28 days.
• Prevent Fertilization. Any separation method that prevents healthy sperm from reaching the egg.
  Fertilization (Conception). When the egg and sperm fuse to create a cell that grows into a human.
• Prevent Implantation. Any method that prevents the merged cells from implanting into the uterus.
  Implantation. When the fertilized egg attaches itself to the uterus and feeds from the mother. It takes three to seven days after fertilization to travel down the fallopian tube and implant the cells by the tenth day.
• Prevent Gestation. Any method that prevents the implanted cells from growing.
• Prevent Birth (Abortion). Methods used to remove a growing child from the womb. The legality of the procedure depends on whether or not the child can survive outside the womb.
  • Before Implantation. Before the growing ball of cells attaches itself to the uterus. Some birth control methods work at this stage.
  • Early Term. In the first three months of pregnancy. The D&C procedure (Dilation and Cutterage) is sometimes used to hide an abortion at the early stages. Suction-aspiration is the official abortion method. Chemical abortion is also used between seven and nine weeks.
  • Middle Term. In the middle three months of pregnancy. Dilation and evacuation is one abortion method.
  • Late Term. In the last three months of pregnancy. Most criminal abortion laws are aimed at preventing abortions in this late stage.

Day 0		Day 1-5	Day 6-13	Day 14	Day 15-28			40 Weeks
Process		Menstruation	Follicle matures	Ovulation	Endometrium grows			Pregnancy
Hormone	FSH, LH		Estrogen, LH	LH	LH, progesterone			HCG
	Low estrogen, progesterone		Estrogen	High levels of estrogen and progesterone
Fertility	Least Fertile			Most Fertile		Implant		Baby
Purity	Unclean			Clean

General Methods.
The methods target the function of these structures. Kill the egg. Block the delivery tubes. Make the uterus inhospitable. Trap the sperm. Separate the egg from the sperm. Remove the baby.

Ovary	Fallopian Tube	Uterus	Cervix	Vagina	-	Penis	Vas Deferens	Testes
Egg	Delivery Tube	Baby chamber		Sex Organs			Delivery Tube	Sperm

• Natural. Use of behavior and natural cycles to take advantage of the periods when fertility is low.
• Barrier. Place a physical block between the egg and the sperm so that they do not meet.
• Implants. Short term inserts in the uterus or vagina that release hormones or spermicides.
• Plugs. Long term implants into the fallopian tube or vas deferens to block the path of the egg or sperm.
• Biochemical. Use of the body's chemistry to create a hostile environment, change behavior or to trick the egg and sperm.
• Spermicide. Kill the sperm or egg so that if they do meet they cannot fuse.
• Hormones. Adjusting the natural hormonal cycles to prevent egg production or implantation.
  • Progesterone (Progestin). Stops ovulation. Prepares uterus for implantation.
  • Estrogen and Progesterone. Stops ovulation by preventing release of FSH and LH.
  • Inhibit Progesterone. Suppress maturation of the lining of the uterus (endometrium) so that the embryo will not implant.
• Surgical. Removing or blocking a physical structure that is necessary for pregnancy.

 

Birth Control			Abortion
Natural	Artificial		Abortion		Legal Surgical Abortion							Illegal
Female	Ovulation		Emergency Contraception		Gestation								Birth
	Egg				Blood	Heart beat	Limb	Move	Brain	Face	Smile, hear, see	Grow
Contact	Fertilization		x	Implantation	Blastocyst		Embryo			Fetus
Male	Day 1			Day 10	Day 18	Week 3	5	7	8	10	Week 14-27	28-40
	Sperm		First Trimester							Second Trimester		Third

Method	Class	How it Works	Prevents
Abstinence (100%) Celibacy	Natural and Ancient Methods	Avoiding any sexual contact. This is the only method that is 100% effective in preventing STD and pregnancy	Contact
Social Barriers		Separate facilities for boys and girls (school, recreation)	Contact
Chaperone		Social interaction between the sexes occurs with supervision	Contact
Chastity Belt		A locked, metal underwear worn by the woman or man	Contact
Internet Sex, pictures, phone sex, sexting, massage	Outercourse (Unnatural)	Sexual pleasure by sight, sounds, words, teasing, promises. This is the sin of lust	Contact
Masturbation, oral sex, anal, dry sex (frottage)		Sexual pleasure without inserting the penis into the vagina. Pregnancy is still possible with dry sex. This is still sin. Sexually transmitted infections occur with all these methods	Fertilization
Douche, Sitting		Removing the sperm by washing or by gravity. Ineffective	Fertilization
Rhythm (75%)		Having contact when the egg has not been released	Fertilization
Withdrawal (73%) "Coitus Interruptus"		Removing the penis before the majority of the sperm enters the vagina	Fertilization
"Coitus Reservatus"		Squeezing the base of the penis to stop ejaculation	Fertilization
Female	Supernatural Superstition	» Turn a spinning wheel backward at midnight. » Walk over the graves of dead female ancestors. » Throw corn kernels, apples, or nails into a well or spring at a magical hour every month.	Huh?
Tubal Implant (Micro insert) Essure	Non-Surgical Plug(99.7%)	Scar tissue forms around a (Nickel-Titanium) metal coil inserted into the fallopian tube and blocks the tube causing sterilization	Fertilization
Injected Plugs	Plugs (Implants)	Liquid injected then hardens and blocks the flow of sperm in the vas deferens	Fertilization
Intra Vas Device (IVD)	Surgical Plug	Silicone implants that blocks the flow of sperm in the vas deferens	Fertilization
RISUG (Reversible Inhibition of Sperm Under Guidance)		The compound blocks the vas deferens and breaks the cell wall of sperm that pass by, making the man infertile	Fertilization
Condom (89%)	Barrier and Spermicide (85%)	Stops the exchange of sperm and body fluids. Only latex condoms can reduce the spread of STD	Fertilization
Female condom (79%)		Stops the exchange of sperm and body fluids	Fertilization
Diaphragm (83%)		Stops the sperm from entering the uterus	Fertilization
Cervical cap (77-83%)		Stops the sperm from entering the uterus	Fertilization
Male Sheath		Oiled linen, goat bladders, animal intestines, blowfish intestines, horn, tortoise shell, leather, and vulcanized rubber	Fertilization
Female Suppository		Crocodile dung, oiled paper, olive oil, honey, beeswax, sea sponges or cloth soaked in vinegar or lemon juice, quinine, rock salt and alum. Ouch!	Fertilization
Gel, foam, cream, sponge, suppository, or film	Spermicide (50-80%)	Chemical spermicide, kills the sperm. They are often used in combination with other methods to increase the chance of success.	Fertilization
Tight Underwear (Suspensories)		Thermal spermicide. Body heat causes low sperm count	Fertilization
External Heat		Heat kills the sperm. It is applied by sauna, ultrasound, hot water, incandescent light bulb	Fertilization
Glycoprotein	Enzyme	Prevents sperm from recognizing and binding to the egg by mimicking a glycoprotein in the cell wall of the egg	Fertilization
Male contraceptive	Testosterone	Prevents sperm production	Production
Male contraceptive	Vitamin A Retinoic Acid	Disrupting Vitamin A receptor prevents sperm production	Production
Diet and Foods	Natural Hormones	Some foods are a natural source of hormones	Production
		e.g. Wild yam, neem oil, pomegranate, queen Anne's lace seeds, smartweed leaves, apricot kernel, Vitamin C, rue, cotton root bark, rutin, tofu	Implantation
Lactation		May be infertile for up to six months of daily breast feeding	Production
Increased Cancer Risk		Young girls who go on the pill may be increasing their risk of breast and ovarian cancer at an early age due to increased hormones
("The Pill") Oral Contraceptives	Artificial Hormones (Estrogen and Progestin) (99%)	A combination of hormones that prevent ovulation (the formation and release of an egg)	Production
The Patch		Medicine given every week by a patch on the skin	Production
The Ring		A ring inserted into the vagina every month has drugs	Production
Potions		Mercury, urine, animal parts, and copper sulphate. Don't laugh! Horse urine is used to make "The Pill".	Production
Norplant	Hormone (Progestin Only) (99%) Levonorgestrel (Synthetic Progestin)	Time release capsules implanted under the skin gives long term suppression of ovulation	Production
Plan-B ("Morning After Pill") Levonorgestrel Emergency Contraceptive 80% effective		Used within 72 hours after sex. Releases high doses of progesterone which tells the body not to ovulate	Production
		If ovulation has occurred it prevents fertilization and makes the egg wall difficult to penetrate by the sperm.	Fertilization
		If sperm and egg have joined it prevents the cells from attaching to the wall of the uterus	Implantation
MicroCHIPS		Remote-control chip implant of levonorgestrel lasts 16 years	*Implantation
Depo-Provera		An injection of Progestin every three months	Implantation
Ella One "Abortion Pill"	Ulipristal Acetate	Works for 120 hours. Disrupts progesterone to delay ovulation	Production
		Suppress maturation of the endometrium	Implantation
		Combined with levonorgestrel for emergency contraception	Gestation
RU-486 ("Abortion Pill")	Steroids (96-99%)	2 mg prevents ovulation	Production
		10 mg delays ovulation 3 or 4 days. Sperm has time to die	Production
		200 mg prevents implantation. Aborts with prostaglandin	Implantation
		600 mg prevents gestation by breaking down the endometrium	Gestation
		Reduces progesterone and causes menstruation and the loss of pregnancy	Implantation Gestation
Abortion (Herbal)	Hormones, pH	Inducing abortion with herbs. Evening Primrose, black cohosh, blue cohosh, angelica, parsley, pennyroyal, tansy, pineapple, vitamin C	Implantation Gestation
IUD (Intra Uterine Device) "The Coil"	Intrauterine Implant (99%)	Prevents implantation by irritating the lining of the uterus. Copper is a spermicide	Implantation Fertilization
IUS (Intra Uterine System)		Contains Progestin hormone	Production Implantation
Ancient IUD		Pebbles, glass, metal, gut and silver wire (1920's)	Implantation
Tubal Ligation	Surgical (99%)	Cut the fallopian tube to stop the egg from moving down the tube	Fertilization
Hysterectomy		Removal of the uterus	Fertilization
Vasectomy		Cut the vas defrens to stop the sperm from moving down the tube	Fertilization
Castration		The testicles and sometimes the penis removed	Contact
Sub-incision		Cut a small hole in the male urethra at the base of the penis. During ejaculation semen leaks out of the hole	Fertilization
Coat Hanger	Surgical Abortion (99%)	An amateur scrapes the uterus with any foreign object	Gestation
D&C		A doctor opens the cervix and scrapes the lining of the uterus	Gestation
Menstrual Extraction		Contents of uterus sucked out when period is due	Gestation
Abortion (Surgical)		Killing an unborn baby and removing if from the womb	Birth
Threat, violence	Mental	Psychological pressure to have an abortion	Birth
Embryonic Stem Cells	Test Tube Pregnancies	Union of egg and sperm outside the womb within species or between species for the purpose of research causing destruction of life or creating a hybrid creature of two different kinds of species or a creature without two parents	Implantation Gestation
Cloning
These birth control methods are abortion if life begins at conception

Comstock Law, "Circulation of, Obscene Literature and Articles for Immoral Use".
This law which was enacted on March 3, 1873 banned "dirty books", birth control devices and information on such devices, abortion, and information on sexuality and on sexually transmitted diseases. In a 1938 case involving Margaret Sanger, Judge August Hand lifted the federal ban on birth control. It ended the use of the Comstock Law to target birth control information and devices.

Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STD) or Venereal Diseases (VD).

Sexually Transmitted Infections (STI) List
Source	Disease		Cure		Complications
Bacteria		Chlamydia	-	Yes	Infertility, Pelvic Inflammatory Disease (PID), Blindness
		Gonorrhea	-	Yes
			-	No?
		Syphilis	-	Yes	Insanity
		Chancroid		Yes	-
		Donovanosis		Yes	Open sores
		Lymphogranuloma Venereum (LGV)		Yes	-
		MRSA		Yes	Drug Resistant
Bacteria Virus Parasite		Non-gonococcal urethritis (NGU)		Yes	-
Parasite		Trichomoniasis		Yes	NGU
		Pubic lice (Crabs)		Yes	-
		Scabies		Yes	-
Fungus		Candidiasis (Yeast, Thrush)		Yes	-
		Tinea Cruris (Jock Itch)		Yes	-
Virus		Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) Genital Warts		None	Oral, cervical and anal cancer. Infects children. Infertility
			Vaccine
	Herpes Simplex Virus (HSV)				Infects without blisters or signs
		Genital Herpes		None	HSV 1,2
		Oral Herpes		None	HSV 3,4,5,8
		Epstein-Barr		None	HSV 4
		Mononucleosis		None	HSV 5
		Kaposi's Sarcoma herpes virus		None	Herpes 8 (KSHV)
		Molluscum Contagiosum Virus (MCV)		None	MCV2
					MCV1-MCV4
		Adenovirus		None	Obesity
		HIV/AIDS	-	None	Death
		HTLV 1,2	-	None	-
		Hepatitis B		None	Saliva
		Hepatitis A, E		None	Fecal-Oral
		ZIKA Mosquito Virus	-	None	Microcephaly. STD, brain birth defect
Sexual Contact. Genitals, oral, anal, skin-skin, mucous   Body Fluids. Blood, semen, saliva, piercing, tattoo, needle   By Mouth. Saliva   Other Contact. Clothes, towels, sheets, razors, utensils   Some diseases can be transmitted by non-sexual contact
Condoms alone will not stop the infection
Cures. A vaccine does not cure infections. If taken before an infection it prepares the body to fight it. Cures are only effective until the microorganism mutates to defeat it
Some strains of gonorrhea used to be resistant to antibiotics, either that is no longer the case or they are minimizing the risk by reporting that it is curable

» An Incurable Disease and A Baby? Pregnancy is not the only consequence of sex that can last a life time. Contraceptives provide protection against pregnancy but not sexually transmitted diseases. In 1996 over one million people per day were infected.
Today there are over 30 STDs, many are incurable or resistant to medication. Some are transmitted simply by contact and others by the exchange of body fluids.

» Planning on Getting a Fatal Disease With Pills For Life? In researching all the medical information on STDs I was amazed at how safe they tried to present all diseases, even AIDS. I got the impression that it is no big deal if I was infected because there is a cure or way to "manage the disease". Information on the consequences were not forthcoming, neither was information on the ineffectiveness of condoms in many diseases.
Betting Your Life on Condoms? Abstinence is the only method that is 100% effective against pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. Latex Condoms are the only birth control method that has any effect on some STDs and it is not 100% effective, especially on diseases that are transmitted by contact.

Prevalence. In the 1960's only one in 50 had an STD, now it is one in four. Every four seconds someone is infected with an STD. 19 million people are infected each year, half of these are children. One out of six Americans have incurable herpes and there may be no visible signs that your partner is infected.
84% of sexually active teens use condoms, but 25% of them have an STD.

Consequences. Researching STDs has exposed a startling fact, the consequences of STDs are not mentioned or are down played. Instead, articles focus on "safe sex" and medical "treatment". Lost in the rhetoric is the fact that "treatment" does not mean "cure". It is unclear that many of these diseases are incurable or will affect your children or your future spouse. It was difficult to find information on oral transmission of the disease. Gonorrhea was listed as curable and none of the top sites that I researched hinted that some strains of gonorrhea are drug resistant. It was also unclear that even condoms will not stop transmission of diseases spread by contact on other places of the body. Condoms will only stop the exchange of body fluids and the pathogens in those fluids. But oral sex, and exposed skin, defeats all these barriers and spreads some infections.

It's Just Sex! What's The Big Deal?.
This seems to be a common message prompted by Hollywood. You are not merely choosing the color of nail polish or lipstick or pizza versus hamburger. The big deal is that the intimacy of sex and marriage are used to define the sacred closeness between God and His people. But if God is not important to you, the big deal is that it leads to STDs, pregnancy, abortion, out of wedlock children, broken families, cheap relationships and long term psychological harm. This attitude is like taking a rare and precious gem and using its sharp edges to scrape mold from the grout between the bathroom tiles. It is like vomiting on your wedding cake or using your rare beaded and lace trimmed, white wedding gown as toilet paper.

Everybody Else Is Doing It! So Why Not?.
The fact is that everyone else is not doing it and "why not" is because God says so and there are terrible consequences for you and your children. You will never forget the child you have given up by abortion or adoption. You will probably never recover from the financial set backs and responsibilities imposed by caring for children when you are an unprepared child. You will ruin your future and the future of your children, condemning your family to a life of poverty and condemning you to be passed from one partner to another, because it is all about free sex, not love and commitment.

"Age Appropriate" Sexual Material.
With the prevalence of sexual messages in the media, parents are forced to address this information earlier than God intended. In this context, one believes that such information should be limited to teaching young children the names of their body parts and the concept of privacy and inappropriate touching by any other person. In August 2009, 700 Club reported on what the United Nations guidelines say that such age appropriate materials should be. This includes teaching five year olds about masturbation and teaching eleven year old girls about their right to have an abortion. This is the same type of early indoctrination suggested by pedophiles.
So, we must agree that some "age appropriate" curriculum is now necessary, but the term "age appropriate" conceals a different agenda by various groups.
» The Inevitable. In June 2013 Plan B One-Step abortion pill became available for all girls without a prescription.

Definition Of Fornication.
Flee fornication (sexual immorality) ... (1 Corinthians 6: 18)
Fornication is any sexual contact before marriage or sexual contact after marriage with any person other than your spouse. This includes any of the alternate sexual methods.

• Technical Virgins. So there are Christian girls involved in highly risky sexual behavior who think they are still virgins because they have an intact hymen. In fact, although they cannot get pregnant they can get a sexually transmitted disease. They are guilty of fornication and confusion.
• Sexual Abomination. Having an unnatural sexual contact within your species.
• Confusion. Having an unnatural sexual contact whether or not you are married, within or outside your species. Using a body part, object or creature for a purpose for which they were not designed. (Leviticus 18: 22-23).
• Lust. Jesus includes even thinking about doing the wrong thing as fornication (Matthew 5: 28).

Definition Of Ritual Purity.
In other lessons we have defined "unclean" as realities or conditions, behaviors and habits that will not exist in heaven. So a creature was not created unclean, but is made unclean by a behavior that occurs because sin entered the world. So let us describe it medically. In the case of uncleanliness because of the menstrual cycle notice the following.

• Unclean. A woman is unclean during menstruation and seven days after. Notice that these are the days that she is least fertile. She is unclean because she cannot be fruitful and multiply at will.
• Clean. A woman is clean during the time that she is most fertile. She could be the mother of the Messiah, the desire of all women.

Abortion Procedures And Methods.
The legality of abortion has changed with scientific knowledge. The current reasoning is based on survivability outside the womb (24 weeks). Others are trying to set the standard at fetal pain.
Some abortion methods seem humane but others are just barbaric. The difference is based on the ability of the baby to pass through the cervix. Since the worst procedures are done on older children it actually looks like a gruesome murder and it is inhumane if the child can feel pain.

First Trimester (Feeling Pain). When does a baby feel pain? Abortionists tell women that pain is felt at 28 weeks so that we do not feel guilty about what will occur. They also do not tell women about the gruesome way in which the babies are removed, because even if we do believe that there is no pain, our humanity would naturally recoil at the barbaric procedures on the most innocent of human souls.

Pain is transmitted through the sensory system. At five weeks the brain, heart and spinal column begin development. At seven weeks the baby is one third of an inch (0.84 cm) long and the heart races at 150 beats per minute. At nine weeks, the embryo responds to touch from the outside by moving. At twelve weeks the body systems begin functions such as urination, peristalsis and breathing movement of the chest. At fourteen weeks the baby is 3 inches long (7.6 cm) and looks more human in appearance. He or she will respond to touch, has feelings and can feel pain. Some claim that the ability to feel pain begins at twenty weeks because all the structures are formed. However, the circumstantial evidence shows that they can feel by at least nine weeks. So it is tragic that the abortion methods involve dismemberment without anesthesia.
Because the child is so small, the more barbaric procedures are not used and the medical staff can distance themselves more easily from the tiny living being before them especially if he or she is lost among all the other tissue that is removed and discarded.

• Birth Control Pills. (3 Layers of Cells). All birth control methods that prevent implantation or gestation.
• Medical Abortion (Up to 49-63 Days). (<3 oz/ <85 gm) (1 inch/ 2.5 cm). Steroids: RU-486 (Mifepristone, Mifegyne, Mifeprex). Blocks progesterone receptors. In various doses it can be used as a normal or emergency contraceptive and for abortions.
  » Prostaglandins (Misoprostol, Cytotec). Those drugs cause uterine contraction which expels the fetus.
  » Oxytocin, Dinoprostone.
  » RU-486. Blocks the homone that produces nutrients and starves the baby.
• Menstrual Extraction (ME) (1-12 Weeks). (<3 oz/ <85 gm) (3 inch/ 7.6 cm). Self-help abortions. Extract the contents of the uterus at the time period is due. Any pregnancy is also extracted and an embryo seeking a place to implant has nowhere to go.
• Vacuum Aspiration or Suction (3-12 Weeks). A vacuum creates suction that pulls out the contents of the uterus. The suction tears up the baby into pieces that are sucked out. The most common first trimester method.
• Dilation and Curettage (D&C) (4-12 Weeks). This is a valid procedure for removing build up of menstrual tissue but it can also be used to disguise an abortion. The cervix is opened and a loop-shaped knife is used to slice up the placenta and fetus, then the contents of the uterus are removed.

Unfertilized Seed			Unborn Child																		Living Child
3 Layers of Cells			< 1 Inch				1-3 Inches				6-10 Inches		10-16 inches (Barbie)						16+ inches		21 inches
Egg		Sperm	First Trimester							Second Trimester						Third Trimester					Human
Separate Cells			1	...	5		9	Embryo	13	14	16	Fetus	21	24	27	28	29	30	Fetus	40	Baby
RU-486 (2 - 10 mg)			RU486+, ME					Suction, D&C		Hysterotomy, D&E, Saline						Partial birth, Prostaglandin					Garbage
No Baby			?				Feels Pressure			Feels Pain			Feels Pain
Birth Control				Legal Abortion										Illegal Abortion							Murder
Moral			Immoral Methods											Immoral and Illegal Methods

At what point is this child a person? What makes "it" a person? When does "it" acquire value? When should you begin to care for this child, protect "it" and give him or her recognition, rights and status? Why does passing through the birth canal under certain conditions give superior rights any more than having a penis give superior rights?

Second Trimester. At fourteen weeks the child is the size of a Barbie doll. The baby smiles, frowns, wrinkles the forehead and responds to touch. At sixteen weeks the baby's eyes are sensitive to light even though it is sealed shut. He or she will shield their eyes from bright lights. At seventeen weeks the baby runs away from the 'noisy' doppler used to measure heart beat, covers the ears if there is a loud noise and can distinguish bitter and sweet taste. This is more evidence that the baby can feel pain at this time. At twenty one weeks the baby moves vigorously, responds to you and can be soothed by you. At twenty three weeks the baby weighs 16 ounces (448 g) and is the size of a twelve inch doll. At twenty six weeks there is brain wave activity as the baby responds to light and sound and will play with you through the wall of the belly. At twenty seven weeks the eyes are open. This is the point where legal abortion usually ends.

Third Trimester. At 30 weeks the fetus learns and forms memories.

» Here's Your Choice. At this point doctors are faced with killing a tiny human being if the violence of the delivery does not cause death. Death is usually by poisoning, deliberate neglect or dismemberment (cutting up the baby in pieces).
How can we choose dismemberment as a method of execution for an innocent victim who responds, sees, feels, moves and plays? How can it not be a gruesome murder when the baby is alive and feels while it is being cut up? A baby responds to touch at 9 weeks and definately feels pain by 14 weeks.
Given the activities of the child how can any disposal method not be the painful murder of a defenceless human being?

• Instillation Abortion (16-30 Weeks). (3-24 oz/ 85-681 gm) (6-14 inch /15-36 cm). Inject a solution (saline, urea, or prostaglandin) through the abdomen and into the amniotic sac to cause uterine contractions which expels the fetus. How would you like being burned in a bath of acid or being squeezed to death by a python?
  » Saline Abortion (16-30 weeks). Invented by the Nazis, the corrosive salt poisons the baby, strips the skin, burns lungs and kills the child in about an hour.
  » Prostaglandin Abortion (Any time). Prostaglandins induce premature delivery in late stages with violent contractions which can crush the baby.
  » Digoxin Abortion (20-30 weeks). The baby is killed by injecting digoxin in the heart, and expelled with prostaglandin.
• Dilation and Evacuation (D&E) (13-24 Weeks). (<24 oz /<681 gm) (3-14 inch /8-36 cm). The fetus may be killed prior to the procedure. Dilate the cervix. Insert forceps or pliers into the uterus through the vagina and use it to separate the fetus into pieces. The pieces are removed one at a time. Then, vacuum aspiration removes any remaining fetal tissue (body parts). It is one of the most common second trimester methods.
  » Running for My Life. These babies suck their thumb, cover their eyes and run away from the loud noise of the ultrasound and the sharp scissors of the abortionist. Does this non-person blob deserve your sympathy?
• Intact Dilation and Extraction (ID&E) (Partial Birth Abortion) (>16 Weeks (20-40)). (3 oz /85 gm) (6 inch /15 cm). The baby is turned around so that it begins to be delivered feet first. The feet and body are delivered but the head is stuck in the cervix so that the baby is suffocated. Then a hole is made in the base of the spine with a scissors and the brain is sucked out. This causes the head to collapse so that the baby can pass through the cervix. This is the most common late term abortion procedure.
• Hysterotomy (20-40 Weeks). (<24 oz /<681 gm) (10-16 inch/ 25-40 cm). The baby is delivered by a procedure similar to a Caesarean Section. If the baby is still alive they can be drowned, beaten to death, neck broken, smothered by the placenta or strangled by the umbilical cord or the umbilical cord is cut before the baby is delivered so that it dies from lack of oxygen. This procedure is rarely used since the risk of live birth is too great.
• Garbage Dump (Live Birth). (112 oz /3178 gm) (>21 inch /53 cm). Throw away the baby so that it starves or dies of exposure. Why is this action any worse than a legal late term abortion by dismemberment or suffocation or a live abortion that is killed or allowed to die?

Abortion And The Definition Of Human Life.
The debate about birth control, abortion and murder first centers around your definition of when life and value begins. So I maintain that when the emotional rhetoric about "person" or "baby" and "just a fetus" are stripped away, the debate is not really about whether a ball of eight cells or a 4 inch (10 cm) baby is life. It is life, but does it have value?

• Before Fertilization. There is no life that can exist even if it is placed in any friendly environment.
  » Value. Value exists for the scientist as a form of specialized cell for experimentation.
  Value exists for the owner in the form of a unique, potential life or a financial asset that can be sold to science.
  » Spiritual Value. The natural system design makes it hard to assign absolute value to an unfertilized egg or sperm. The egg is regularly discarded during menstruation. Millions of sperm are discarded during sex and nocturnal emissions.
• After Fertilization (1 day). Conservative groups define life as beginning at conception (fertilization), when the sperm and egg unite, ten days before implantation. Others claim that it is just a bunch of cells, not life, not a baby.
  » Value. After this point value changes substantially, because a life can exist if protected.
  The ability of the life to protect itself should not be part of the decision about value, because newborn babies cannot protect themselves and yet the law requires the environment to protect this child until the age of sixteen.
  » Spiritual Value. Spontaneous abortions occur because nature conducts some sort or error checking by the fourth week to determine if the the embryo should survive. It is possible that our sea of engineered chemicals can disrupt this natural corrective process and cause children to be carried to full term when they might have been naturally terminated.
• At Implantation (10 days). Life begins when the embryo is implanted in the uterus.
• After Implantation (12 days). Some secular sources define abortion as any removal of the growing cells on day twelve or two days after implantation.
• After Blood Flow (18 days). From the definition of life in the bible, life is not present unless there is blood. This is eight days after implantation. The heart and major blood vessels develop on day 16 to 17. Heart beats on day 20. Blood cells on day 21.
  For the life of the flesh is in the blood ... (Leviticus 17: 11)
• After Heart Beat (20 days). Since death was normally confirmed when the heart stopped beating, emotionally it seems that life is indicated when the heart starts beating. The heart beat begins by the third week.
• After "The Soul" Is Received (40-80 days). The Catholic church says life begins when the baby receives a soul from God. The timing of this event has changed throughout the centuries.
  • The Ensoulment Doctrine. The church used to teach that the male fetus received a soul after 40 days and the female after 80 days.
  • The Tomist Doctrine (1311-1588). Since the sex was unknown Thomas Aquinas modified the ensoulment doctrine to say that the soul was given 42 days after conception.
  • After Vatican I (1869). The pope declared, ex cathedra, that the fetus received a soul at conception and could not be aborted.
  • Rabbis. Some feel that the soul is given at 40 days.
  Read about the true nature of the soul.
• After First Movement or "Quickening" (49 days). Life begins when the baby moves.
• After The First Trimester (91 days). Others would define abortion as removal of life after the fetus can live on its own. Right now, a fetus cannot survive on its own in the first trimester. This distinction is dependent on the current level of technology and is the basis of the definition of a legal abortion.
  Before advanced technology changed the nature of the debate life was traditionally defined as the moment the baby moved and also at the time it takes its first breath outside the womb. After then it was defined by the sound of the beating heart and the viability of the child outside the womb.
  It seems immoral to kill a life that can live on its own with proper care.
• After The Second Trimester (27 Weeks). The baby can live on its own. Does it now have value?
  Is this value based on scientific advancement or did the child always have intrinsic value at every stage of life?
  It is absolutely shocking to me that a child who can feel, see, smell, taste, has a brain wave, form memories, learn, appreciate music and can play with his or her mother through the wall of the uterus could be murdered so cruelly by suffocating it in the womb or even worse, chopping it up into pieces. What will make him or her gain status so that it has value?
  » Value. Many agree that value exists if the child is perfect. Imperfection devalues and so gives more options.
• After Breathing is Possible (39 weeks). If man became a "living soul" after God breathed the breath of life in him (Genesis 2: 7), then man becomes a "soul" when he can breathe air. At week 39, the lungs are the last organs to reach maturity. Lungs develop blood vessels at week 24 and the surfactant for lung function is developing in week 25. They are technically capable of breathing air at week 28 but there still is not enough surfactant until week 35 or cortisone until week 37.
  For people of faith who condone abortion this is an unbalanced argument. There is a big difference between Adam and a fetus. The fetus is alive with a beating heart and working parts, but he or she is on life support. Adam was dead. He would not live in one million years unless God took the next step. However, the fetus will live in less than ten months if allowed to grow. The next steps are automatically built into the process. He or she is alive.
• After Birth (40 weeks). Life begins with the first breath outside the womb.
  » Value. All groups agree that at this point life and value exist and must be protected by law, even if imperfect.
  » Jewish Tradition. One tradition says that a child is not a person until it is half way out of the birth canal. The emphasis on life seems to depend on whether or not the human can breathe on its own. This act of drawing breath directly from God seems to be an important transition point, just as Bar Mitzvah is the point at which a person is responsible for the laws.

» Murder By Abortion. So, under the strict definition that a life begins at fertilization, any method that prevents implantation, gestation or birth is murder.
» Birth Control. Some methods of birth control could be classified as abortion, not all. So there is no moral biblical basis, other than health concerns, for condemning the use of any birth control method that prevents production, contact or fertilization by partners in a moral relationship that is allowed in the Bible.
If birth control is immoral, then under the same arguments so is celibacy that is by the will of man, not the supernatural gift of God. After all, God did command us to "be fruitful and multiply" (Genesis 1: 28). Celibacy is even worse because it could cause genocide in one generation and the end of humanity. So if you can pick and choose who should be celibate, then you should be able to pick and choose when to get pregnant if the method does not kill the growing cells of a child.
» Embryonic Stem Cells. If the cells cannot be grown into a human, then experimenting with them is the same as using cadavers. If the cells can be grown then their destruction is equivalent to an external abortion.

Abortion kills about 1.3 million children annually in the United States since it was legalized in 1973. 3,500 each day.

Waiting For God Or Playing God.
In all life or death situations, humans go to great lengths to throw the ball back into the heavenly courts when they are presented with real suffering. They will hide themselves from the victims and their decisions by covering up the sights and sounds of suffering. They will bait God into intervening.

• It is God's Fault. Doctors go to great lengths to hide what they are doing from themselves. They will poison or cut up the baby in the darkness of the womb and then suck out the pieces so that they do not have to look at it.
  But when the baby is presented alive in the glare of sunlight, the lengths to which they go to insert the possibility of death by natural causes or God's lack of intervention is interesting.
  If God existed and He cared He could stop the baby from slowly suffocating by the breached birth, cut cord or the carefully placed placenta over the nose and mouth of the child.
• Euthanasia. Christians practice the same "head in the sand" routine when it comes to relieving suffering in human beings. They will make the argument that we are "playing God" in deciding who lives or dies or ending the life of someone who might be important in the Plan of Salvation. One argument is that if we intervene and take a life, we might be killing the next great preacher, or musician or pioneering scientist. So although we will fight against any direct or overt attempts to kill (relieve the suffering of) the sick we will play along with the covert methods of murder. It is not murder if it is a valid "medical treatment".
  » Palliative Care (Legalized Doctor Assisted Suicide). People are routinely starved to death or drugged with morphine to hasten their deaths. I watched my mother suffer as they waited for God to act, with a little assistance or neglect from the hospital staff. When I realized what was deliberately being done while every one pretended that it was not being done I thought it would have been more humane to end her suffering more quickly. We were compounding murder with torture while we "waited for God" and prodded Him with a little "self-help".
  She was doped up on morphine, but all it did was to remove her ability to verbally express herself. The fact that she did not say, "I am in pain or I am hungry" seemed to tell their conscience that she was neither in pain nor hungry. The morphine did not relieve her pain. She cried out, winced, recoiled, grimmaced and showed all the signs of excruciating pain. Then I noticed that they were starving her to death. A tray would arrive for breakfast, lunch and dinner giving the illusion to any visitors that she is being fed. However, the food was removed untouched and nobody made an effort to see how much she was being fed or to feed her through an IV or stomach tube. After days of complaining and being stalled with assurances that they would do something someone finally said that there is a theory that we might be feeding the cancer if we fed her. So why not feed her and lessen that suffering and let the terminal cancer grow faster, so that she can die more quickly?
  The incident affected me so much that I lost the ability to speak because nobody was listening to me. Everybody lied to me, stalling for time, as I frantically tried to get them to relieve her pain and feed her.
  » Intellectual Dishonesty. So I watched a loved one suffer while all the good people waited for God to act. The pretence and duplicity angered me. These same good people would think nothing of dropping a bomb that would kill hundreds of innocent people to get two terrorists.
  
  » Do Not Resuscitate. When a person leaves a request that no extraordinary efforts will be used to continue their lives by using medical equipment, we have a few options about what will occur.
  • Hollywood Style. The nurse turns off the machine, the displays go dark, the printouts stop and the patient expires in a few minutes. This makes us feel good and righteous.
  • No Breathing. Our original concept is the idea of the cessasion of breathing, in which case death is within minutes if we do not restart the heart that God is mercifully trying to stop and help the patient to breathe when God is trying to withdraw His breath. Let us submit to the obvious will of God.
  • Starvation. What we do not contemplate is the untidy death. There is nothing as horrifying as the patient who continues to breathe when the machines are turned off. Now the patient can breathe and death will be a long and torturous process and we flail around for someone to blame and as we kill the patient without murdering them.
    In this case starvation is the only natural means of non-intervention in the affairs of the invisible God of nature. People can live for days without water and weeks without food, especially if they are overweight. So we allow the doctors to medically intervene with drugs we believe will eliminate pain and stop any painful awareness by the patient of their extended death by installments. In addition God blessed those wonderful scientists with the knowledge of how to create drugs that eliminate pain, and reduce conscious awareness and quickly kill the patient as a side effect. So we are being humane while God is either dawdling or passing the euthanasia buck to scientists.
  
  » Playing God. We "play God" all the time. No human should be able to do anything that should foil the Plan of Salvation and cause someone to be lost who could have been saved in the right set of circumstances. If God's plans were that fragile He needs to abdicate the throne or He should not have created the innocent human race during the middle of a heavenly civil war. There should be nothing that we can do to negatively impact His plans or prevent someone from receiving salvation. What we do might extend or shorten the time and the suffering before they submit to God, but it should not affect the outcome. His sheep know His voice and they will find Him in their youth or when they crawl out of a vodka bottle at 65.
  What is ignored is that when we use medicines and technology to prolong life we are playing God. People whose lives are extended because of our knowledge would have died in earlier times. Why do we assume that doing nothing (e.g. starvation) or abandoning technology is not playing God any more than letting nature take its course? Sometimes using or overusing technology is the evil.
  » God Hates Suffering. God allows many strange things that He knows are not the ideal. God hated divorce but allowed it. God gave us meat to eat so that we would not starve to death after the flood. The same rationale would allow us to eat unclean meat if it means life or death. God rejects any offering in which the animal suffered. There can be no hesitation cuts or slipping of the knife. The death must be as quick and painless as possible or it was unacceptable.
  If an animal falls in a ditch on Sabbath we must help to lessen its suffering as quickly as possible. Jesus also says we can cut off any part of the body that offends us. Does this apply to moral and physical offenses? If a part of the body is causing anguish, can we get rid of it? If my pain is so severe that I begin to curse God for not ending the suffering is it right for me to reason that if God gives the knowledge to perform medical procedures that He would not give me the right to perform compassionate care? Is saving life the only good, or can voluntarily ending life ever be good? Christ gave His life to save the human race. He said that nobody took His life, He gave it up Himself (John 10: 11, 17-18). Did He commit suicide? Since God can reverse death, have we done any damage in assisted suicide?
  In the end, God mercifully puts the wicked out of their misery instead of sterilizing them and leaving them to prey on each other until the last man or demon is left standing. He does not torture them forever in hell fire.

Birth Control And The Bible.
The bible does not solve the problem of murder and the age of the unborn child. What is the relative value of a living human being, an unborn child and an unfertilized egg? Common sense and decency tells us that there is something wrong with killing a child in late term pregnancy or who can survive outside the womb.

• Murder. Exodus 20: 13. The sixth commandment prevents the deliberate taking of a life.
• Loss Of A Pregnancy By Violence.
  If men struggle with each other and strike a woman with child so that she gives birth prematurely, yet there is no injury, he shall surely be fined as the woman's husband may demand of him, and he shall pay as the judges decide. But if there is any further injury, then you shall appoint as a penalty life for life. (Exodus 21: 22-23)
  This is ambiguous. Does it concentrate on the status of the woman or the child?
  • Focus On The Child. The law could mean that if a child is prematurely delivered, then the father determines the value of the injury sustained and a fine must be paid. However, if the child dies then the penalty is life for life. Therefore an unborn child is life with full legal rights.
    If only the text had said "the child's father" instead of "the woman's husband" then you could be sure that the subject of the "further injury" is the child, not the mother.
  • Focus On The Woman. But it could be read to conclude that if the woman dies after giving premature labor then the death penalty applies. Even though child birth is dangerous, the law seems to be saying that but for the injury received the woman might not have died in a normal labor.
    » Money For Life. The law on hurting a pregnant woman seems to place a lesser value on the life of the unborn child. It is unclear whether the phrase "gives birth prematurely" implies that the child is alive. If the woman dies, then the penalty for murder applies, but if the child dies then only a fine is paid. That fine is determined by the father. This child has the rights of a slave where the penalty is not always "life for life".
    It is this understanding of the law that seems to suggest that the death of an unborn child by violence that cannot survive on its own is not murder.
    This text does not prove that the fetus is not life, because in the preceding verses (20-21) the same penalty applies to a slave who is clearly a living, breathing human being. Only murder or intentional death is penalized as "life for life". A pregnant woman who interferes in a fight between two men and is injured or miscarries is an unintentional death. If she dies, the killer can flee to a city of refuge to avoid the death penalty. Accidental deaths are punished with fines or by protection in a city of refuge. An aborted child is an intentional death.
  Only in context of the prohibitions before and after could you accurately conclude that the law is addressing compensation for everything lost by violence. So my best guess is that the focus of this law is the unborn child.
• The Rights Of A Property Owner. These laws in Exodus 21 also give a unique perspective on the rights and responsibilities of property owners towards injury to the property.
  • Compensation for Injuries and Income Lost ("Verses 17-19").
  • Death of a Slave ("Verse 20"). Owner punished, but not killed. It is not "life for life".
  • Fatal Injury to a Slave after a Day ("Verse 21"). This is the detail that seems unjust.
    If, however, he survives a day or two, no vengeance shall be taken for he is his property. (Exodus 21: 21)
    Amazingly, under this rule, no vengeance is applied to the Jews because Christ was alive the day after He died. So technically He survived "a day or two"!
  • Pregnant Woman ("Verses 22-23"). Death penalty or a fine. See discussion above.
  • Eye or Tooth of a Slave ("Verse 26-27"). The price is freedom.
  • Unknown Violent Animal ("Verse 28"). The animal is killed.
  • Known Violent Animal ("Verses 29-31"). The sentence is death for the owner and animal, but the victims can demand a ransom in exchange for his life.
  • Known Violent Animal Kills Slave ("Verse 32"). But if this animal kills a slave the price is thirty shekels!
  The rights of human property are not equal and are not subject to the following law.
  ... life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, bruise for bruise. (Exodus 21: 23-24)
  The slave clearly has lesser rights and value because he is property under the care of his owner. If the womb is a woman's property then her rights may be unique in respect to the fetus. So it is not always "life for life". Because Jesus said that we do not have the right to exact these penalties, how does this change our rights of revenge today? As the righteous judge and real property owner, He will have His day of reckoning when He takes possession of His property and asks for an accounting of its use.
• Withdrawal ("Spilling The Seed"). Genesis 38: 9. Onan sinned by not giving a child to the wife of his dead brother. He was killed. He was from the tribe of Judah which had the privilege of being the ancestors of the Messiah. When he did this, he was potentially preventing the birth of the Messiah. He showed that He despised the birthright of the Messiah just as Esau did when he exchanged this inheritance for a pot of beans.
  This story might show the importance of the covenant or that even the unfertilized sperm was important. But the sexual reproduction design already wastes millions of sperm and menstruation wastes an egg so the importance of the unfertilized egg or sperm could not be the complete answer. So it must be the connection to the Messiah for the descendants of Judah and not the act of withdrawal. Every seed of Judah was important because the Messiah was important.
  If killing an unfertilized egg or sperm was murder, then God could have designed them to be released at will during contact to guarantee a pregnancy. Some animals have the ability to hold a fertilized egg and implant it later! But the statistical design depends on the waste of millions of sperms and hundreds of eggs.
  » Sperm and Egg Donation. This is immoral on many levels. When the parent gives up this precious seed of life and has no idea what will be done to their offspring then they are worse than infidels. Children are a heritage from the LORD. In giving your children and severing connection, knowing that these cells are used for experiments, for single parents and other households, for unions disapproved by God and for any other business opportunity that technology presents in the future you are guilty of neglect and trampling on God's precious gift to you.
  You are also denying a potential child their rights and their need to know their family.
• Valued Before Birth. There are many bible texts that suggest that you are valued before you are born. Jeremiah 1: 5 (The valued prophet). Psalm 139: 13-18 (The valued king). The Messiah was a valued child and unlike other valued children He was not simply announced to His parents, He was announced to the entire tribe. This suggests that any worthy person from that tribe could have become His parent and all should value their seed because of this potential birth. So it is murder to prevent the birth or conception of this valued child.
  • Valued By My Heavenly Father. The value of a pregnancy is based on the value set by the father. God is our Father. Since God died for all, then all people are valued. Looking at the case of withdrawal and the case of the unborn seems to suggest that when you know that life is valued by God then taking or preventing that life is murder.
  • Valued By My Earthly Father. At first, this seems sexist to the modern thinking. After all, it is the woman's body, it is her property and her right to choose how it should be treated. The property rights of the bible clearly give her certain privileges. But in the genius of God, He is fair. While the woman has property rights over her womb, the father has the right to set the value of the child to him. Clever. So, God provides a way for men to be involved in the decision. The laws on rape give these types of fathers no rights.
    » My Body, My Rights. Sexual immorality has consequences. It can never be the woman's rights exclusively. Anytime you enter into a consensual sexual union, that father has rights. Knowing the character of God, the child must also have rights or Someone who is in charge of those rights.
    » The Rights Of The Unborn Children Of Adam And Eve. Adam and Eve sinned by choice. However, the laws of God did not protect their children from the consequences of their sin. God did not protect the future unborn. He did not put His hands over Eve's mouth. Neither did God make them sterile so that they suffered for their sins alone. It seems unjust. It seems unfair. If nothing else it teaches us that sin has profound consequences.
    Sin passed to the children and the planet because it appears that property rights supercede individual rights. Whoever is in charge of the property has the greater rights. So, the woman is right. She has the final decision over her body. Her child has no rights apart from her decision, but she must honor the rights of a legitimate father in some way. However, in making a decision about her rights she must realize that everything is God's property and some day she will have to repay God for the value He has set and she is responsible for taking away His property rights. So ultimately, God is the guarantor of the rights of children.
  The biblical position is not a contradiction. The evidence seems to support the fact that when a seed or the potential of a seed has high value then God communicates that information to the parents, otherwise the value is set by the human father. Therefore, it is murder for them to take the life or prevent the life that God values.
  Jesus was the only high value potential unfertilized seed from the tribe of Judah. His seed was so valuable that it was protected by law and announced for hundreds of years. John the Baptist was a high value unfertilized seed from the tribe of Levi. His father was notified within a month of the conception of the potential high value child. Jeremiah and David were a few of the valued fertilized seed. Perhaps the future prophet is a seed that is also valued. Your unborn child could not be the Messiah but perhaps your child could be a prophet or king or person who does a great work for God.

Property Rights.
Let us look closely at this issue of property rights. God owns all property but He give the rights of use to families forever. During this time the family can do anything with this asset. They can rent, lease and use it as collateral. You can even sell yourself into slavery to pay a debt. However, to prevent poverty, all such agreements can only last until the next Jubilee.

• Land Sabbath (7 Years). The land has a right to rest by agreement with God. Slaves are freed.
• Jubilee (50 Years). Every fifty years, the land must go back to the original family and all slaves must be freed. So no debt can ever be valued more than 49 years of labor or land use.

It appears to give enormous powers to a despot or a loving, benevolent ruler but guarantees no poverty, but an opportunity to every generation. When Adam sinned He sold himself and his family into slavery and he gave away his rights to the land to Satan. But under this law of inheritance, He had to be freed and the land returned to him in 50 periods of time. Satan could never have rights to it forever. However, in his weakened state it was inevitable that Adam and his children would have sold themselves into slavery over and over again. Therefore, God chose other tactics other than the jubilee to rescue Adam before 50 periods of time.

• Debt Paid. He redeemed us from slavery to sin and to Satan.
• Land Returned. He redeemed the land by purchasing back His own property.

Freedom Of Conscience Issues.

Contraception				Abortion
Information	Sterilization	Before Fertilization	Contraception After Fertilization		Abortion	Information
Educators	Physicians	Pharmacists	Physicians and Pharmacists		Physicians	All
Which Moral Laws Are Broken?			You Shall Not Kill (Murder)			?

The issue of the moral and ethical basis for a range of reproductive issues affects patients, care givers, law makers and business because it ultimately affects freedom of conscience for both the patient and the provider.

Sometimes, when advocates for a position publicize their cause, they deliberately simplify a complicated issue. If a law is being proposed or a service is being changed, one should look at what is being impacted.

• Denying Information (Educators). Should a teacher or school nurse be forced to provide information on using contraception to children? Should a health provider give information only to married and engaged couples? Should a school go beyond the public duty of basic information to the business of distributing condoms and birth control pills and lists of abortion places?
  The government has a compelling interest in educating children because of the high incidence of teenage pregnancy and STDs. Given the prevelance of the problem in industrialized nations, it appears that the problem is not rooted in the availability of information but in the change of values that our children embrace. It is not just a problem in public schools, it is a problem in church schools as well. Train up your children in the way they should go.
  » Abortion Information. You should not seek a job in a birth control clinic if you do not intend to give out information about birth control. While I could give information on birth control, I could never send a person with a healthy pregnancy to a place of abortion or give out information. Employees in certain services have a duty to inform their employees that they cannot perform their duties because of religious objections.
• Denying Contraception (Pharmacists). Should a pharmacy or pharmacist refuse to fill any contraceptive prescription because of their faith? You would not choose to be a prostitute or to be an accountant for organized crime, so should you choose to enter these professions if you know that you will have to make these choices that force your faith on others?
  » A Moral Revolution. You can force a confrontation with the issue by choosing these professions. Suppose the church tries to force a country to submit to its moral codes by quietly buying up all hospitals and pharmacies and recruiting members to be pharmacists so that it can stop the distribution of all contraceptive pills and stop abortions? The church intends to stop the sale and distribution of condoms. So when do church beliefs overstep their boundaries and deny rights that even you believe that God allows?
• Denying Sterilization (Physician). Sterilizations are elective surgeries with no time constraints or lack of alternative solutions so the issues are clearer. But, should a physician be forced by patient or government to perform these operations against their conscience?
• Denying Abortion (Physician). While the issue of freedom of conscience is fuzzier for other professions, it is clear for every physician. They are being asked to take a life.
  » Freedom of Conscience. Sometimes innocent proposals are made to hide a step-wise attempt to a goal that you would not have approved. If part of the argument is a "falling domino" scenario you should be clear about the fact that you may be fighting against a potential that may or may not exist.
  Sometimes hysteria about "forcing me to violate my conscience" coupled with interviewing a physician talking about performing abortions is disguising the fact that there is no pending law about abortions, but a law that is addressing the issue of pharmacists refusing to fill prescriptions for all contraceptives, including non-abortion contraceptives.
  Sometimes the clear moral problem of abortion is being used to hide another agenda of stopping the distribution of all forms of birth control.

The wise Christian home should be proactive in giving information about their sexual values to their children. Because even before the school educates them about the ethics of the popular culture, their friends will. Eventually, they will learn about the information that you are trying to hide from them. So, as the culture of the end times forces you to confront issues earlier than the ideal you have to be proactive in educating and protecting your children and teaching them to be followers of Christ, not disciples of the culture. Avoiding the topic will not help.

Purgatory
This is not a biblical doctrine. It cannot be found in the Protestant Canon. It is a teaching from tradition taught by the council of Lyons II (1274), confirmed in 1439 at the Council of Florence and the Council of Trent (1545-1563) and has its origin in pagan doctrine.

The Council of Trent and the cathecism says the following:

We believe ... that the souls, by the purifying compensation are purged after death.
Council of Lyons

"I hold without wavering that there is a Purgatory, and that souls there detained are aided by the suffrages of the faithful."
Council of Trent

"There is a Purgatorial fire, in which the souls of the pious are tormented for a certain time, and cleansed, in order that an entrance may lie open to them into their eternal home, into which nothing defiled enters."
Cathecism

These texts are supposed to teach this doctrine but I cannot see the connection so that I could make a response. In fact Hebrews 10 seems to disagree with the teaching of the Eucharist.
When Jesus received the vinegar he said "it is finished" and bowed His head and gave up the Spirit. (John 19: 30)
Every priest daily offers the same sacrifices time after time that can never take away sins. But He, having offered one sacrifice for sin for all time, sat down at the right hand of God. (Hebrews 10: 11, 12)
... People will be forgiven any sin , but blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. (Matthew 12: 31)

At least these texts seem to talk about fire. To analyze them, you must read the entire context. I am looking for information that says the following:

1. There is a place where the saved dead are conscious and suffering.
2. They are suffering fiery trials as punishment for their sins.
3. We can reduce their time there by our works here.

If any man's work is burned up he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire. (1 Corinthians 3:15)
The previous verses talks about the quality and results of our work on this earth. We build on the foundation of Jesus Christ with what we have, precious stones or straw. Some people's work will be destroyed on the day of judgment, but the person will be saved whether or not the quality of his work will survive.

so that the proof of your faith being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 1:7)
This is a praise of the power of faith. The verse says that even gold is perishable, but our inheritance from God will not perish (verse 4) . Although we go through hard trials, our faith helps us to rejoice and so our faith is more precious than gold which melts in the fire, but our faith will not waver in hard times.
in which also He went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison. (1 Peter 3:19)
This is about the work of the Holy Spirit among the living who are prisoners on this planet of death. This text is explored in detail here.

According to Catholic theology, purgatory is the place where all go when they die. It is a place of torture by fire, between heaven and hell. Purgatory is necessary for all to suffer the punishment for sin. It is an indefinite period of time where those who are saved are cleansed of sin as they suffer their punishment. Those who are lost go directly to hell and cannot escape. The actions of those who are alive can shorten this time. But no one knows how much your total time is or if you have been released, therefore you must continue to purchase indulgences and masses forever.
On All Saints Day, we have an opportunity to pray and pay for all the dead to escape purgatory.

According to Catholicism, the death of Jesus cannot save you from the punishment for sin. The sacrifice of Christ paid only for the guilt of sin, not the penalty. Therefore we must all go to purgatory, but our loved ones can help to shorten our vacation in purgatory. And only the Catholic church has the power to do this because the pope holds the triple keys to heaven, hell and purgatory. There are a few exceptions who go immediately to heaven:

• Jesus
• Mary
• Those who have been granted a special indulgence by the Pope. This has been used to recruit armies to fight heretics.
• Those who have an excess of good works.

The Cord Societies
Members of these societies wear a cord or cincture in honor of a saint, to keep in mind some special grace or favor which they hope to obtain through his intercession. Some of these societies are:

Cord Fraternity	Special Graces
St. Francis	A rough cord with three knots. The ordinary requirements necessary for the gaining of all plenary and partial Indulgences, the wearing of the cord and enrollment in the records of the archconfraternity are the only conditions imposed on the members.
St. Joseph	Worn to to obtain the grace of purity through his intercession plus special favors and indulgences. The members are obliged to wear a cord having seven knots, and are exhorted to recite daily seven Glorias in honour of St. Joseph.
St. Thomas	The members are required to have their names enrolled, to wear a cord with fifteen knots, and to recite daily fifteen Ave Marias in honour of St. Thomas.
St. Monica, St. Augustine, St. Nicholas, Our Lady of Consolation	Has several indulgences and privileges. The members are obliged to wear a black leather belt, to recite daily thirteen Pater Nosters and Ave Marias and the Salve Regina, and to fast on the vigil of the feast of St. Augustine.

The Brown Scapular
The scapular is about two inches square, made of wool, with the promise embroidered on one side and it may have the image of a saint on the other side. The cord may have a crucifix and the medal of St. Benedict on it. This is the promise to those who wear the scapular.

Whoever dies wearing this scapular shall not suffer eternal fire. It shall be a sign of peace and a safeguard in times of danger.

The Sacred Heart
Promises for those who promote devotion to the sacred heart or who pray on the first Friday of nine consecutive months.

I promise you in the excessive Mercy of My Divine Heart, that It's all powerful will grant the grace of final repentance to all who communicate on the First Friday of nine consecutive months, that they shall not die under Its displeasure nor without receiving the sacraments, for My Divine Heart will become their secure refuge at that last moment.

Those who propagate this devotion shall have their names written in My Heart never to be blotted out.

Purgatorian Societies
Masses are said in proportion to the amount of money paid, so the poor form Purgatorian Societies in which they pay a certain amount weekly to secure the offering up of Masses for the dead.
Purgatory is a lie that dishonors the loving nature of God and rapes the sacrifice of Christ. Indulgences are useless and they do not exist and the church does not have the power to give them for any reason.

God and Sodom and Gomorrah
God showed patience in Sodom and Gomorrah. In His conversation with Abraham, God showed that he would be willing to save the city if there were only 10 righteous people. He is not about killing. The city had sunk low. Criminal behavior was practically the law of the land. If you did not behave in certain criminal ways you were the abnormal. Rape was legal. Heterosexual and homosexual rape, and no one stopped it. It was expected. The closest modern cities that even compare to this are Thailand and some countries in the old Soviet Union, where the police are actually helping criminals to kidnap and hold victims for prostitution. There is no help from the law or the government, because they are all profiting. This is why I believe that if the second coming or goodness does not stop this, then surely a tidal wave or an earthquake will.

Homosexuality
This is some of what the Bible says on the subject of same sex relationships.

Law: Same Sex Relationships. If a man also lie with a man as he lies with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination [detestable act]. They shall surely be put to death. Their bloodguiltiness is upon them.
Bestiality. If there is a man who lies with an animal, he shall surely be put to death; you shall also kill the animal. If there is a woman who approaches any animal to mate with it, you shall kill the woman and the animal. They shall surely be put to death. Their bloodguiltiness is upon them. (Leviticus 20: 13, 15-16)
Law: Homosexuality. You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female. It is an abomination.
Bestiality. An you shall not have intercourse with any animal to be defiled by it, nor shall any woman stand before an animal to mate with it. It is a perversion. (Leviticus 18: 22-23)

Homosexuality is Unrighteousness. Do you not know that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolators, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. (1 Corinthians 6: 9-10)

Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for man slayers, for whores, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for men stealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine. (1 Timothy 1: 9-10)

Sodom Was Destroyed For Sexual Sins. Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication (extreme immorality), and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. (Jude 7)

Sodom Destroyed by Fire. But on the day that Lot went out of Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. It will be just the same on the day that the son of man is revealed. (Luke 17. 29-30)

Deliberately Disobedient and Resistant to God
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures. Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.

Homosexuality
For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error. And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper,

Other Sins
being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful; and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them. (Romans 1: 18-32)

Homosexuals claim that none of these texts condemn homosexuality. Their claim is that the text is talking about idolatry in the temple. However, if a case can be made for homosexual behavior then it is condemning those who engage in homosexual acts when they are not naturally homosexual. They are not being true to their real nature made and approved by God.
So when God says you shall not "lie with a male as you lie with a female", he is speaking to heterosexuals, not homosexuals!
Sooner or later bestiality will be biblically condoned by the same arguments. Scientists and the American Psychiatric Association will declare that bestiality is not a mental illness but a behavior linked to our evolutionary past because we are all animals and one animal is simply copulating with another.

The Sin Of Sodom: Homosexuality Or Hospitality?

Abraham	2123 BC		... Israel	1932 BC	Egypt	1502 BC	Exodus	Assyria	Isaiah	721 BC	Ezekiel	539 BC
Sodom and Gomorrah			190 Years	430 Years as Slaves			780 Years		Like Sodom and Gomorrah
Homosexuality			1400 Years						Ruthless, Inhospitable

Ignoring the plain words of what is written in the Bible, people now claim that the sin in Sodom was lack of hospitality because of Ezekiel 16: 49. But Ezekiel and Isaiah were prophesying hundreds of years after Sodom was destroyed and they were warning Israel and Judah that they were about to be destroyed like Sodom.

• The Punishment of Ancient Sodom and Gomorrah (˜2123 BC). The original destruction for homosexuality happened during the time of Abraham. It occurred after he was 99, when Sarah became pregnant. Sodom and Gomorrah were completely destroyed by fire and brimstone when they suffered the wrath of God.
  Then the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven. (Genesis 19: 24)
• The Punishment of Israel (721 BC). Fourteen hundred years later, this warning was given during the time of Isaiah because Israel was about to suffer the wrath of God when God handed them over to Assyrian captivity.
  Not Totally Destroyed. Unless the Lord of hosts had left us a few survivors, we would be like Sodom, we would be like Gomorrah. (Isaiah 1: 9)
  Bold Sinners! The expression of their faces bear witness against them, and they display their sins like Sodom. They do not even conceal it. Woe to them! For they have brought evil on themselves. What do you mean by crushing My people and grinding the face of the poor? Declares the Lord of hosts. (Isaiah 3: 9, 15)
  Like Sodom they were bold with their sins, they had no shame. Unlike Sodom, they were not completely destroyed because the Lord left survivors in His mercy. Their sins were the treatment of the poor.
• The Punishment of Judah (539 BC). Sixteen hundred years later and two hundred years after the Assyrian captivity, Judah was warned by Ezekiel that they would suffer the wrath of God as they went into exile in Babylon, just like their sister Samaria and just like Sodom. They suffered a similar pattern of suffering. In Sodom it was God who threw rocks and fire. Now it is the enemies of Israel who will stone and burn her.
  Stoning. They will incite a crowd against you and they will stone you and cut you to pieces with their swords.
  Burning. They will burn your houses with fire and execute judgments in the sight of many women. Then I will stop you from playing the harlot, and you will also no longer pay your lovers. (Ezekiel 16: 40-41)
  Speaking to the city of Jerusalem, God says this was their sin:
  The Sin of Judah. Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had arrogance, abundant food and careless ease, but she did not help the poor and the needy. (Ezekiel 16: 49)

» Who or What Was Compared to Sodom? All suffered the wrath, one was completely destroyed and the others were spared total annhilation.
This definitely was not ancient Sodom. Was the prophet speaking to a rebuilt Sodom or about ancient Sodom?
No. God was comparing the current apostasy and destruction to the times of ancient Sodom.
Does it mean that homosexuality was their sin?
No. God was only comparing them because their sins had also brought them to the brink of destruction in the same way as Sodom and Gomorrah. Once the prophet established that Judah was Sodom, all other comparisons were based on comparing Samaria, Israel, Judah to each other, not to ancient Sodom. Their sins were mainly idolatry (spiritual fornication and adultery), pride, arrogance and neglect of the poor. They became ruthless to the helpless, just as ancient Sodom had no respect for even strangers that the community would dare to openly rape them. Hospitality was almost required in these ancient cultures.

North
Israel (Samaria) (Older Sister)
Jerusalem
(Younger Sister) (Sodom) Judah
South

Judah is Like Sodom. Now your older sister is Samaria, who lives north of you with her daughters; and your younger sister, who lives south of you is Sodom with her daughters. Yet you have not merely walked in their ways or done according to their abominations; but, as if that were too little, you acted more corruptly in all your conduct than they. As I live, declares the Lord God, Sodom, your sister and her daughters have not done as you and your daughters have done. (Ezekiel 16: 46-48)
There is no question, the sin of ancient Sodom was homosexuality. So at best you could say ancient Sodom was destroyed for homosexuality and again for lack of hospitality. However, this story was about the behavior of Israel and Judah 1600 years later. God says they were worse than Sodom and Gomorrah!
» Worse than Sodom. Lack of compassion for the helpless, ignoring the poor and lack of hospitality are worse than fornication and homosexuality! Why?
At least homosexuality is a mostly victimless sin in that this is a relationship that is voluntarily entered into by both parties for the express purpose of giving pleasure and sometimes forming a relationship like heterosexual couples. The men of Sodom were so bold with their sinful excesses that they openly raped and terrorized others. Their behavior was no longer victimless and private. And it was bold, without any legal or community restraint.
However, it takes a cruel person, a worse sinner, to watch the suffering of the poor and helpless, especially the suffering of children, and purposely do nothing even when they have an abundance. To ignore the plight of orphaned children takes a heartless and wicked person. Also, to oppress, victimize and rob the poor and trapping them into poverty to maintain that abundance is much worse than two fornicating homosexuals. Think about that.

Both are sins punishable by death. But one is worse.
Ancient Sodom was ruthless and inhospitable. Their sins led them to attack and rape strangers as a group without consequences. Modern Sodom's ruthlessness and inhospitability led them to apathy against the most innocent and vulnerable, widows and children.
A Remedy. ... your hands are covered with blood. Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean. Remove the evil of your deeds from My sight. Cease to do evil. Learn to do good. Seek justice, reprove the ruthless, defend the orphan, plead for the widow. (Isaiah 1: 15-17)

Gay Marriage
As predicted, the final days will be characterized by homosexual political and social power. Some school districts are now requiring that very young school children be introduced to these issues of diverse home life styles without parental consent. In the United States adults are faced with the issue of allowing gay marriage, even though domestic partnerships can give the same rights. Before I begin, let me first state my beliefs about this issue.

• Is Homosexuality A Sin? Yes. The Bible condemns these actions.
• Is Homosexuality A Choice? In some cases I can say yes, because in this morally loose society many people enter into such relationships saying "What is the big deal? I am exploring". So some people do explore this as another form of pleasure. It is also clear that others appear to develop an attachment to the same sex because of a lack of some emotional need which is exploited by an adult. Recently, a number of older Hollywood female celebraties are admitting to turning to a homosexual life style not becase they "felt this way since childhood" as all homosexuals used to say. Now they are choosing this after failed marriages.
  But since I cannot read someone's thoughts and intentions let us assume that 100% of these people believe it is not a choice. In that case their moral obligation towards God is to live as if they are celibate or single because God could never advocate that we live in sin. God does not excuse this anymore than He excuses other weaknesses like alcoholism by a person with "alcoholic genes" or adultery by a sexual addict. The message of the gospel is that God can help us to overcome all learned or inherited failings.
• The Kingdom of God. Homosexuality, gender confusion and same sex marriages will not exist in heaven. Reformed homosexuals will be in the kingdom with reformed liars, adulters and gossips. But many refuse to give God a chance, instead choosing to live by what is right in their own eyes and hope that if a loving God exists their behavior will not matter. They are wrong. God can free you from any bondage if you are willing to accept whatever He has for you.

Arguments For Gay Marriage
Those who are for and against such laws often use erroneous arguments.

• How Does It Hurt? How does the marriage of two homosexuals affect a heterosexual marriage? This is an insiduous argument because you cannot prove how it hurts until the damage is done. I have seen how mature topics are being introduced to children by schools, television and other medium despite the rules that have been set up. Hollywood does not respect the restrictions placed on prime time when children are viewing. Instead they say we can turn off the television. However, we cannot keep our children out of the schools. School districts are forcing these ideas on very young children. Why should kindergarten children be taught about homosexuals and transgenders or sex? Everywhere the society is being bombarded with this culture of immorality and those who sell this message respect no mutually agreed upon boundaries. The immoral wing does not respect our boundaries and have an agenda and the power and resources to chip away at our homes. In the fog of war no one explains that where our children are concerned, they are trampling on our rights. How will it hurt? They intend to take away our rights.
  • Civil Punishment. In Canada it is forbidden under civil penalties of fine and imprisonment to teach that homosexuality is wrong, even in a church.
  • Freedom of Religion. In granting them the rights to marry, states have to make laws that guarantee that churches do not have to go against their beliefs. Churches are losing their rights and are being forced to go against their beliefs through lawsuits when homosexuals can go to many other places that offer them services.
  • Economic Punishment. Christian businesses and institutions and churches are being sued on the basis of violation of civil rights.
  • Creeping Immorality. Unfortunately, rather than teaching love and respect, this atmosphere of acceptance and freedom is attached to free love and disrespect for one's own body. To promote their argument, the gay movement has had to attack God in the process.
  • Bad Consequences. Unwanted pregnancy, STD, disrespect, self mutilation, child neglect and a host of problems have descended on the world because of a lack of morals. The design of the universe shows us that creation occurs with the harmonious union of two opposites. While homosexuals do good things and alleviate evil situations, homosexuality is the opposite of this design and will ultimately be destructive. The Greek and Roman civilizations were rampant with this behavior and its seems to be accompanied with all sorts of evil, the worst of it was the eventual exploitation of children and the inferior. Sexual power seems to attract the same evil control as military power. Unbridled passion seems to lead to symptoms that mimic destructive addictions.
  • Experience. Sometimes you know a thing is wrong when you see it or feel it but you cannot articulate why. God has taught me that some things cannot be really understood without experiencing it, because the consequences reach into several physical, mental, emotional, time perception and spiritual areas.
    You can never know what homelessness is by watching a movie, reading the biography of a homeless person, hearing a speech from them, camping for a week, losing your job temporarily, living in your mother's basement, volunteering in soup kitchens or running a homeless shelter. You can only understand the hopelessness of being homeless when you see no way of escape and you have suffered for a prolonged period and lived under the real fear and indignity. You cannot even understand homelessness by living among them as one of them for a year, because during that time you will always know that you have options and hope and you will never be an emotional or psychological reject of society.
    I can only tell you what I believe will happen and how it will hurt society by pointing to history and what God says about sin and what I see happening to Christian rights around the world as the atheists and the gay community gain the respectable position that the label "scientific" and "main stream" and "loving" gives them as the conservative Christian is labeled as "fools, unscientific, hateful and dangerous".
  So it hurts us because you are trying to achieve more than your right to a private life. You are trying to take away our rights to our beliefs. You may want to label them as hate or destructive or disgusting or dangerous or offensive or divisive in order to shame us or legislate them out of the public forum as legitimate, but they are our beliefs. I have yet to see racists being prosecuted for believing that blacks are inferior.
  
  So the question is not just how does it hurt but how will it hurt? The first thing we will do is disobey God and declare His government, laws and rule as illegitimate and hateful. Society will continue to spiral downward into a decadent cesspool where people will prey on each other and we will destroy ourselves. It is not a loving Utopia that we will be constructing. We are sowing the seeds of our own destruction.
  Unfortunately, this argument cannot be made in a pluralistic society, but only under a theocracy. Then the best that those who love God can do is to protect our own rights, which is one of the real casualities of this movement. Exercising our rights within our private domain is under attack just like the homosexuals in the privacy of their own homes are claiming that we have no right to violate. Unfortunately the exercise of our rights is being argued in court as destructive to society, while we cannot make the same arguments about homosexuality!
  It hurts because it is an issue of morality and the attitude it nurtures and all sexual immorality will destroy society.
• A Loving God. I have never heard a pastor answer the question about the clear biblical condemnation of homosexuality in Leviticus. Instead, they ignore the law and argue for the characteristics of a "loving God". According to this argument, a loving God could not condemn a loving relationship between two people. They need to be honest and renounce the Bible and set up their own religion based on what is right in their own eyes but they cannot ignore the fact that this loving God condemns homosexuality and one day this loving God will destroy all the disobedient and wicked.
  When a government incarcerates or executes its worst criminials it is not just an issue of love or hatred for the criminal. It is an issue of justice and security because you love and desire the safety of the community. A loving God or government will try rehabilitation, but if all means fail and the person insists on criminal behavior according to their own rules then everyone is in danger.
  If the driving rules establish that we drive on the right hand side of the road, we cannot ignore those who insist on driving on the left side as long as they can armor their car and fill it with safety feaures. This is not an issue of love. All sin will eventually endanger the entire universe.
• Judgmental. Those who quote the story of the woman caught in prostitution, "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone", forget to quote the next statement, "Go and sin no more".
  Paul even says that when he said not to judge he did not intend for the church to allow sinners to run amok in the church. Instead he says that the church has a right and duty to judge its members and to remind them about the consequence of sins. But we should not judge those outside the church because they have a different standard of behavior. God will judge them. This sounds like good advice for dealing with the gay rights issues.

The Responsibility Of The Church
I usually decide an argument by taking two extremes and subjecting them to the same arguments. In this case I will use pedophelia and adultery. However one involves the powerless and it is not a fair comparison.

• Fixing Gayness And Curing The Homosexual? Life as a human being teaches us that the heart is desperately wicked. Overcoming sin takes a lifetime, even the simplest habits. God can cure every physical, mental, psychological, emotional habit or craving or desire. He can even do it instantly. Most often He does it over time with our permission and continual acceptance as He guides us.
  Unfortunately some Christians have taken the fact that God cures instantly and have built programs and doctrines around harnessing this power of God. We have seminars on how to be a prophet, how to speak in tongues and even how to cure diseases miraculously. What we have created is chaos, guidance hundreds of times worse than weather prediction, prophecies worse than psychics or horoscopes, babbling nonsense and people bound to wheelchairs and bound to diseases after leaving our miracle crusades.
  Show up at any of these healing crusades with individuals who are certified blind, deaf, quadriplegic, amputee, stinking rotting dead, end stage cancer, COPD, diabetic or dying from aids I guarantee you that as of June 2012 none will be cured. Nobody on earth has the gift. Individuals may occasionally be cured of minor things, invisible to an observer, but no one has the gift of healing. The gift of healing is not saying that I have prayed for or touched 100 million people and I can demonstrate that two have been cured of internal injuries. Even the atheist physician can guarantee better odds, so why believe in God?
  Now we even have programs on how to cure gayness. We are out of our league. We cannot cure many physical birth defects or even correct them with surgery. Why would we think that we can craft a 10-step program to cure gayness when we cannot even stop people from committing adultery or lusting? We mistakenly believe that every gay desire is a choice. No question, in reading some stories there are some people who choose this experience as "just sex". There are others who claim that this is a deep rooted desire over which they have no control. Claiming that does not mean that God absolves them from seeking a change in behavior that He will reward with a change in mind.
  Some things take a direct miracle from God. So we cannot teach each other to be prophets, to speak in tongues, to command the sea to obey us, to heal instantaneously or to tell the sun to stop moving. So a 10-step "stop program" will not cure homosexuality.
  How far can I take this analogy? God forbid, if this planet lasts another 100 years pedophiles will be making the same claims. Pedophilia was expected and accepted in the Greek and Roman cultures, why not a future earth with the worst degraded passions? This year (2013) the APA manual (p 698) defined preference for children as a "sexual orientation". In the Muslim nations girls can be married at 13 years old, even younger with the permission of a judge. In Iran 42000 children 10-14 were married in 2010 another 75 under 10 years old were also forced into marriage (Tabnak). Step-fathers can now marry step daughters in Iran as of a 2013 bill aimed at protecting the rights of children! Pedophelia is the norm in Yemen with many child brides dying while giving birth because they are too small.
  At some point we need to realize that there are absolutes and we cannot cross these boundaries no matter how much we desire them. Interestingly, just as women voluntarily submitting from a position of equality have the unique chance of understanding the actions of Jesus Christ so do obedient homosexuals and people who have to suppress strong desires can truly understand Christ suffering hunger and thirst in the desert for 40 days before He was tempted by the devil. They will also have a unique perspective on Jesus in Gethsemane, carrying the guilt and shame of the sins of the world - resisting the crushing load of sin to the point where He bled (Hebrews 12: 3-4). So for those of us who see no harm in lusting and think it is natural and impossible to avoid, consider that the homosexual feels the same way.
  To the homosexual I will say, give God a chance. Do not set limitations on His time or create a list of expectations that God must fulfill. The right to have sex is not the same as the right to eat. Celibacy is not death, nor is it excruciating unfulfilled desires and temptations. Your job is to decide to be obedient no matter what. Then your next task is to know God. Forget the books of the experts. Slog through the Bible and make the Holy Spirit your friend. When it gets boring tell God that He is boring but keep reading. One day your mind will switch from your problems to God's problems. It is in that instant of complete empathy with God that you will fall in love and everything changes.
  Do not be ruled by your guilt. Do not work on your homosexuality, work on knowing God. Do not work on knowing God because you want to cure your homosexuality. Desire to know God for the sake of knowing and understanding. There is not a preacher on earth or a book by an expert that can show you these things. God has left us His Holy Spirit and the written testimony in the Torah. This is enough. Remember that God wants desperately to kindle a relationship with you. You with all your faults. My faults are no more acceptable than yours.
  In the end, He may cure you instantly or over time. He may give you a chance at a family or He may want you to remain single. However He does it one thing is clear - when He is finished you will not be a "recovering homosexual" always in danger of falling into the pit. You will be cured. It is possible in this life time.
• Wheat and Tares. God said we should let the wicked and the righteous live together and He will sort it out. But that does not mean that we can be paralyzed into inaction. We should absolutely prosecute pedophiles and murders and protect the innocent. We should also fight vigorously for the right to protect our children from teachings that undermine our beliefs. School districts should not go beyond teaching children to respect other people and settle differences without violence. They can teach these values without teaching about sex or sexual orientation.
• Whose Domain? The issue of who should decide an issue depends on whose domain it belongs not on the inconvenience of Christians. The Bible guarantees that we will have to turn the other cheek and give up our possessions because we will have to bear the reproach. God recognizes two controlling domains.
  • God's Things. God controls all moral laws and we have the right to obey His laws freely. God claims that marriage and divorce are His domain.
    I could walk outside with my future husband and some friends and swear before God that we will be faithful to each other and God would accept that without the blessing of the state. The bible has no prescribed ritual or services or documents for performing or legitimizing marriages.
    » Marriage Defined by the Bible. The only argument that I hear from the church is that God defines marriage as being between a man and a woman. But, unless we are ready to claim that all our laws are based on religion and we are in a theocratic society, then we cannot justifably make laws that force others to live by our beliefs. This is a poor argument to use to take away the right of adult sinners to engage in consensual private behaviors.
    » Not Joined Together by God. God does not recognize the homosexual marriage any more than He recognizes the dissolution of a legitimate marriage by the state.
    ... What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate. (Matthew 19: 6)
    So they can join together and separate with the blessing of the state but God does not recognize it as a legitimate union.
  • Caesar's Things. God gives the state the right to maintain law and order, but the state cannot encroach on anything or any allegiance that belongs to God. So the state controls taxes. They need them to maintain law and order. The fact that they may be oppressive does not give us the right to confront the state with violence. The state does not have a right to the money given to God, but the church has no right to use the facilities of the state without some form of compensation. The state provides roads, utilities, police and fire services. There are other services provided by the state that the church must not be forced to support so the state cannot make up services to burden the church.
  • Christian Organizations. So when religious organizations hire personnel and accept students under a strict moral code then sinners have no right to complain when they break those rules and we ask them to leave. Liberal students and groups accept the lie that intolerance of sin means hatred because it is now socially and scientifically acceptable to change religious views.
    Intolerance of homosexuality does not mean hatred of a person anymore than intolerance of drug use and drug sales on our campuses mean hatred of the users or dealers. Change is not open for debate unless you think that there is no God and religion is just an evolving expression of sociology.
    Christian organizations were not set up as a popularity contest or as a test zone for new definitions of "love". These organizations were set up to teach and model the laws of God. If you do not like these laws then there are more and better public institutions for you to attend and work in who will accept your beliefs. When you insist on infiltrating our organizations just to break them you are no better than those who are trying to take away your rights in your personal space. It is hypocrisy.
    Intolerance of sin is not synomous with hatred no matter how you choose to redefine it emotionally.
  So is marriage God's things or Caesar's things? If we use the example of the tax coin, although God made the gold, Caesar put his image on a particular piece of gold and made it his. So Jesus said the tax belongs to Caesar.
  » Civil Unions. Similarly, God made marriage but the state issues marriage licenses under its own authority. The fact that the church thinks that "civil unions" is enough for homosexuals but not "traditional marriage" is really splitting hairs. If one is wrong so is the other. God is God of both the righteous and the unrighteous. His laws apply to both groups.
  The issue is not under what conditions we will allow a legal union. There are no conditions under which God blesses these unions. The issue is one of freedom and letting "the wheat and tares grow together". We have no right to deny others their rights because of our beliefs. The fact that the state makes the rules and calls it marriage does not mean that God is forced to recognize it. However, the state has no right to force or punish the church for not performing homosexual marriages. This is a right worth fighting for.
  So we seem to be fighting over a domain that the state really had no right to control.
  If we are fair, then the world will get to the conditions described by prophecy all on its own. They will win by attrition. If we are adamant in our position, personal conduct and belief that this is wrong and do not tolerate it in our own homes and institutions, then they will persecute us just like the prophecies predict. However, we will win by being fair because there is a God who judges.
  So by all means, if it is put up for the vote do not vote for or support either gay marriage or civil unions because it is sin and will always be sin. But if, in support of these beliefs, you coerce or bribe or in any way subject other people or politicians to ridicule and shame then you are wrong. You cannot bully others into submission. The other side will frame your activities in the worst light and will call any behavior bullying. Know the difference.

AIDS, Plagues, Diseases, Disasters And The Wrath of God.
When AIDS appeared among the homosexual population in 1981, preachers declared that this was a "punishment from God" for homosexuality. When children and innocent people became infected and as the population of AIDS victims shifts to the heterosexual community, friends of the gay community arguably responded, "explain that, Mr. Preacher!" Most ministers do not make this claim anymore.
Both communities neither know the scriptures, nor the terms of the wrath of God.

• Plagues. The truth is that the precipitous rise in sexually transmitted diseases is because of sin. The tide started with the sexual revolution in the 1960s. If we had obeyed the commandments of God, the vast majority of us would never be infected and STD would have remained mostly a problem among certain people.
• Reasons. The reason can generally be explained scientifically and mathematically. If more people behave in more risky behavior, more consequences will follow.
  The name of God or Satan does not need to be invoked in every calamity. However, even in the case of a legitimate "wrath of God" plague a clear division of innocent and guilty is not always made.
  » The Innocent Will Suffer. But innocent and faithful wives, rape victims and unborn children suffer. Innocent patients who have blood transfusions are also infected. If the infection is airborne, anyone could be a victim.
  The Bible shows that even in the special case of a plague being sent by God, not by natural means, that the innocent can suffer. This is your answer Mr. Preacher.
  When an evil nation is wiped out after hundreds of years of warnings, even the children are sometimes killed. Sometimes only virgins and children are spared.
  Israel was also a victim of the first three of the ten plagues sent on Egypt.
  God told Jeremiah that the innocent and the guilty will be taken away when Babylon conquers them.
  The lesson is that when sinners run around unchecked everyone suffers. The righteous who are caught up in the punishment learn a lesson. They should not remain silent when evil tries to subdue the people. They can delay the wrath by appealing to people to repent so that the evil tide is subdued.
• The Finger of God. At some point, during a punishment only the wicked will suffer the plagues, although the righteous may be inconvenienced. We will see this at the end of time.

So Mr. Preacher, it is entirely possible that, not just AIDS but the explosion of sexually transmitted diseases were allowed by God as punishment for adultery and fornication. However, it is more likely that even if God had a hand in allowing Patient Zero to be exposed to the deadly pathogen, that the justice of God prevails. Evil destroys itself. Their own promiscuous behavior caused the spread of the misery to their own community and to the general population and to the innocent children. Evil shows that it does not discriminate between the innocent and the guilty. So it will be condemned in the final judgment on this evidence.

The Extreme Is Not The Normal. People use the extreme argument in order to make a case for their position. In the case of torture, it is stopping the terrorist with his finger on the nuclear bomb. In the case of euthanasia, it is the slippery slope towards genocide and mass extermination camps.
It is within the power of God to undo or prevent any hasty, yet well-intentioned actions. Our decisions should be made on what God allows, why He allowed it and the intentions of the parties involved. We do not stop marriages and sex because prostitution and promiscuity exist.
We make laws to manage the extremes.

• Torture. Since torture is always one-sided someone's rights are always injured, so torture can never be allowed. Seriously, if someone has his finger on the nuclear bomb and the world faces annhilation in two minutes, he will not care if you torture him or his family because he was willing to die with them and two minutes is nothing.
• Euthanasia. Since euthanasia is a mutual argeement that is made in the open, only God is potentially injured.
• Gay Promotion. Since children are forced to go to school, a state-imposed moral objective can injure one's religious obligation to God. Schools should limit their domain to reading, writing and arithmetic and the interpersonal conduct allowed while on campus. They should get out of the business of promoting a social agenda in non-elective classes. The modern social agenda has increased bullying, violence and teen pregnancy. Schools are bad at enforcing even the morality that promotes good social order.
• Voting On Gay Marriage. For this issue I will say let the majority rule. I know that this attitude will get us to the horrible state of affairs that existed in Sodom, but I would rather get there by being fair than avoid it by being oppressive. The church does not have a good record when it comes to protecting the rights of others. Personally, since the civil laws can give them all their human rights and protections I cannot vote for gay marriage or attend the services any more than I can vote for pedophiles entering into a "loving relationship" with a child or help someone who is cheating on a spouse. I personally cannot vote for something that God condemns especially when homosexuals are not being harmed in the same way that blacks suffered before the civil rights movement.
  In fact, I believe that the Christian family is losing more rights than the gay community but our battles are not publicized. Under the new Hate Crimes Laws in many democratic countries we can be jailed and fined for saying anything negative about homosexuality while no one was ever jailed for claiming to be a racist. Even in their own churches, ministers cannot teach what the Bible says about homosexuality in certain countries.
  So these are the battles we should be fighting. Our right to educate and control what our children learn and when they learn it is not under our control. Also the right to preach and teach what the Bible says about all sin, including homosexuality, is being supressed.

In Perspective, Our Priorities

Safe and Secure You have everything covered

Is your future secure?

In a society filled with excess, I am always fascinated with the power of the media and the marketing gods. They can sell anything, and make you feel grateful in the process. There is a new definition for "need". What you need is what I can convince you to buy. What we think we need severely distorts any true risk or danger and is often based on the need for self esteem.

We need cellular phones, just in case our cars tumble off the road and we are left dangling upside down in a ditch with no one to hear us. And, this is such a common occurrence that we just need to spend another $100 per month to save ourselves from this impending disaster.
We need the latest model because the new revolutionary, feather weight model that we purchased six months ago is just too cumbersome. Makes me look cheap ... not cool ... boo hoo.
We need a gun just in case a robber breaks in the house, captures the women and children and kicks the dog. Yes, we saw the television news story, where that very scenario happened. We all know someone who is a victim of a violent crime in the past twenty years. Right!
We need that sprinkler system in the house, what if lightning strikes and knocks out the electrical system, turning off the electrically operated smoke alarms that we just installed last week to supplement the battery-operated ones just in case the batteries don't work.
We need the burglar alarm that comes with a twenty four hour on duty police man and a wireless call back to the main office and the police department, just in case the burglar gets through the gated front entrance, poisons the dog, kicks the dog, disables the motion detection flood lights and disables the landline phone system.
Soon we'll be selling sprinkler systems for cars, just in case of that ever-so-prevalent car fire.
We need that special car that needs an elevator to get in to just in case we have an accident with a 70 foot truck.

We need to be free of our fears! Sell me something ... please! If I am supposed to be afraid tell me and sell me something to fix it.

"Honey, I just heard that the scientists have invented this new laser guided, computer-controlled imaging system. The space agency intends to use it on the International Space station, it can detect distant galaxies 100 light years away and abnormalities less than the size of a pin tip.
Do you think it can find out what the spot on my neck is?
What if we were abducted by aliens, injected with that blue stuff I see on those television shows and I am carrying an alien baby!!!! I need that test, now!!!"

It could happen.
We spend countless hours worrying over possibilities that happen less that 0.1% of the time. We spend thousands of dollars for remedies to problems that we have hardly seen or experienced in our circles. We think we will experience such devastating guilt if the impossible happens and we were too cheap to prepare for it. We deliberately find reasons to buy. We do not find reasons not to act.

Yet when we contemplate eternal life we find reasons not to investigate. We refuse to spend one hour on our eternal life, one hour to listen to God, ten minutes to talk to God. Five minutes in secret to contemplate "What if this God exists ... just in case the Bible is right".
O foolish generation! Unless religion tells you what you want to hear, you will not listen to what God might be saying.

The Love Of God And His Grief Over The Lost
The smoke of their torment goes up for ever and ever...
This sounds like we are back to the old argument, will the wicked be tormented for ever? No, this is about the sorrow of God. It is God who lives in the fire and smoke. The wicked cannot live in it. They are annihilated by it. While God mercifully wipes away all our tears and sorrows, and time fades our memories, God never forgets.

He remembers the children He lost, the ones He pleaded with, the ones who rejected Him. He remembers their brief agony the moment they accept the truth. When they realize that all is lost. He knows that sorrow is just regret at what they might have missed. That there was no true love lost for Him. But His love was always faithful.

Once in a while, He will take out a faded photograph of you and remember what might have been. Yes, the torment that was their life, your life, will forever be played over and over in His mind and God will not forget.

Eternal love cannot forget.
"Can a woman forget her nursing child and have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, but I will not forget you." (Isaiah 49: 15)

Summary: A Comparison Of Christian Beliefs

Religious Belief	Conservative			Mainline	Liberal
	Conservative	Pentecostal	Other	Mainline	Liberal
God	Trinity	Father only	Trinity variations	Trinity variations	Myth
Jesus Christ	Divine	Human	Human	Not God, Good man	Did not exist, good man
Virgin birth	Truth	Truth	Mixed	Myth	Myth
Holy Spirit	Divine	Force	Force	Force	Not real
Satan	Source of Evil	Source of Evil	Source of Evil	Not real	Nonexistent
Bible	Inerrant	Inerrant	Inerrant	Nice stories	False stories
Immortality	Innate	Innate	God only	Innate	Innate
Death	Go to heaven or hell		Sleep in the grave	Heaven	Reincarnation
Hell	Eternal Punishing		Burns until it stops	Not real	Not real
Gifts	Helpful	Tongues necessary	Helpful	Man's effort	False stories
Salvation	Faith	Faith and evidence	Faith and works	Works	Works
Second Chance	Yes and No	No	One chance	Yes	Universalism
Commandments	Required (except Sabbath)		Required	Change with the times	Man determines morals
Creation	7 Days	7 Days	Creation - Evolution	Evolution	Evolution
Age of the Earth	6000 Years	Both	Both	Evolution	Evolution
Baptism	Immersion	Immersion	other	Sprinkling	Not necessary
Resurrection	Real	Real	Myth	Myth	Myth
Second Coming	Soon	Soon	Soon	Insignificant	Myth
Rapture	Real	Real	Mixed	Myth	Myth
Prophecy	Futurist	Futurist	Mixed, Historicist	Praetorist	Irrelevant

There are many Christian doctrines and a few ceremonies. None are as essential as believing that Jesus Christ died for our sins, once, and that this death is acceptable to God as a sacrifice for our sins.
It is also essential to believe that Jesus Christ has been resurrected from the dead and that he has the power to raise us again to a new life. If we have no hope of resurrection, then our faith only serves as a moral compass while we are alive. If this is the case, then we might as well make up our own rules.
When we believe in God and accept His gift by faith, then His Holy Spirit begins to do a work of transformation in us so that we keep the law of God, not to get to heaven, but because it is our nature to do so. Doing evil is contrary to our new nature.