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Schizophrenia isn't diagnosed on a hunch. To assert such an opinion as fact, is not only intellectually irresponsible and dishonest, it is as "spiritually" stupid as asserting the imaginative claim that cocks crowed at different times of the day in "Bible times." Oh, man. This is tough. I can relate. I know what it's like to lose a lifelong best friend at that age, but I don't know what it's like to discover his body. Damn. I also know what it's like to lose a lifelong, mentally ill best friend to suicide. He was bipolar and had stopped taking the medication that was working. Came to after months of mania, looked up from the bottom of the deep crevasse he had dug for himself, and in bewildering despair, he ended it. Nothing is quite as jarring as losing a friend to suicide. I know of nothing that will ring one's bell in quite the same way as hearing this news. I've known a few schizophrenics, but I wouldn't call any of them friends. None were scary. None were dangerous. All were rather innocent, childlike. Delusional. Even silly, if you don't know what's going on. The ones I've known were very sweet.

18 Characteristics Of A Pharisee There were four schools of thought in Jesus’ day. From the Bible we see the Pharisees, the Sadducees and the Zealots. From religious history we also see the Essenes. The Pharisees were the strictest sect of Jews as Paul states in Acts 26:5. Their very name meant “set apart.” However, all too often they clung to their own laws and traditions instead of God’s Law. Jesus rebuked them many a time as they were hypocrites and did not love truth nor followed it. Why is it important to know about the Pharisees? Well, in Matt. 5:20 Jesus said: “For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.” The following were the main characteristics of the Pharisees: (1) They threw aside God’s commandments and made the commandments of men and traditions into doctrines. (Mark 7:7-9). (2) They were more concerned with outer purity rather than the purity of the heart. Jesus said that they cleaned the inside of the cup but inside their hearts were full of wickedness! (See Luke 11:39; Matt. 23:25, 27, 28). (3) They tithed on herbs which is good but more important matters like justice and the love for God were overlooked. (See Luke 11:32; Matt. 23:23,24). They strained out a gnat but they swallowed a camel. ((Matt 23:24) (4) They loved the highest seats and public greetings in the market because they were selfish and wanted to be seen by people, to the point of enlarging the borders of their clothes. (Luke 11:43; Matt. 23:5-10; Mark 12:38) (5) They made people fall. Jesus said that they were like hidden graves that made unsuspecting people fall in. (Luke 11:44). (6) They did not want people to be healed on the Sabbath that God made for man but yet they would take out their ox if it fell in a pit on Sabbath. (Matt. 13:11-17). (7) They burdened people with unnecessary traditions and did not raise a finger to help. (Luke 11:46; Matt. 23:4) (8) They built the sepulchers of the prophets that their own ancestors killed. (Luke 11:47, 48; Matt. 23:29-31). In fact they killed Jesus. (See Matt. 12:14; 21:33-46; Matt. 27:20-22). (9) They took away the key of knowledge. They blocked people from getting into heaven and they themselves did not get in. (Matt. 23:13, Luke 11:52; John 12:42,43) (10) They devoured widows’ houses! (Matt. 23:14) (11) They said long prayers pretending that they were righteous. (Matt. 23:14) (12) They went on land and sea to convert people and they made those converts twice a child of hell as themselves! (Matt. 23:15) (13) They forbade people from swearing by the gold of the temple but they swore by the temple itself! (Matt. 23:16,17) (14) They talked and do not did not do anything. (Matt 23:3). They even praised God with their lips and their heart was far from Him. (Matt. 7:6). (15) They were fools, blind guides and hypocrites. (Matt 23:16-25; Luke 11:44,46; 12:1-3). John the Baptist called them vipers (Matt. 3:7). (16) They loved to tempt, accuse and oppose Jesus. (Matt. 16:1; 19:3; Mark 8:11; 10:2; 12:13; Luke 6:7). They continuously tried to entangle Him in His talk (Matt. 22:15). Paul, who was a Pharisee, told of his own nature before his conversion: "I (Paul) verily thought with myself, that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth." So when he came on the scene after Jesus' ascension he persecuted the Christian Church. (17) They asked for a sign to believe when many were already given. If given yet another sign they would not believe. (Luke 22:66, 67). Note that the incident mentioned in the given text was after three and a half years of Jesus working miracles, healing all types of diseases and even raising the dead! (18) There is hope even for “Pharisees”. Acts 6:7 tells us what happed after Jesus went back to Heaven and His disciples preached after being filled with the Holy Spirit. It says: “And the word of God increased; and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly; and a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith.” Are you a Pharisee in heart? Come to Jesus and tell Him you want to be like Him. Humble yourself like a child. If you are willing He will change your life and make you a new person. He will cast all your past sins behind His back as He has promised and He will save you so you will neither be one of the two extremes – a hardened sinned or a self-righteous Pharisee who is also a sinner. Let Jesus do this for you now. Help Him to help you by asking Him now sincerely.

Yeah, me neither. But, ya know, you can inflict a lot of physical pain by hitting someone over the head with an actual bible. (Those big, heavy family bibles work best.)