Rocky

I would still appreciate our friend Waxit/Gabe answering for himself, thanks.

Okay Gabe, we've gotten your argument from the scriptures. Now, if you would be so kind, please share with us how and why you came to believe in the importance of the 7th day Sabbath. What is YOUR story that brought you to this place and this belief. Thanks. Btw, I hold no animosity toward or for you, simply because I disagree with you. Steve

Well, I didn't exactly do much of an examination, just a glance. But you figured out one of the key problems with that revenue/expense statement. There are several items that are not well explained. Just because some items were aggregated and then summarized with certain account labels, doesn't tell the reader of the statement much of anything at all. In my mind, there would need to be an explanation for the group's chart of accounts AND a CPA audit statement qualifying whether generally accepted accounting procedures (GAAP)/standards were consistently employed/applied. IOW, that financial statement tells a little (very little) but may hide more than it reveals.

How do you know what's going on in their hearts? It seems that for what you do to be what you think it is, you'd have to start with an error-free version/translation of the Bible. How can you be sure you have that?

Cool song.

YIKES! Really? Okay, I can see that this might be an interesting place to engage a bunch of amateurs in what might become a lively discussion, but really? Hidden in the word amateur, a close (mis)spelling would be, amature or a-mature, which on its face would seem to indicate the opposite of scholarly maturity. I don't mean to imply that the discussion would immediately turn into a flame war. Rather, I wonder how serious you might be in describing this "august group of learned scholars." Just some thoughts. I will not pretend to be qualified to present anything approaching a scholarly inquiry into the subject. Rather, I wonder how meaningful such an inquiry could be given the likelihood that Jesus the Christ did not even exist in the form described in the Gospel books, synoptic or not. I'm all for humanity having powerful stories (myths). The Christian myth (story) has been dominant in Western Civilization for hundreds of years. But I still wonder if it is the bottom-line of all Godly truth. I recognize that my viewpoint as expressed is quite heretical.

My educational background is in accounting. There's a LOT that the 2019 Oikeos financial statement does NOT disclose. If you'd like me to expound, you are welcome to ask.

Right. No need to apologize (to me anyway). No I don't presume to know what God thinks. That includes what he thinks about all the people who don't keep the Sabbath on Saturday but do instead on Sunday. I understand that there's a lot of paradox in Christian scriptures and that it is presumptuous of us to judge based on our limited understanding of the complexities of those paradoxes.

Why are you apparently so intent on judging them? Do you know what's in their hearts?

To you both: Na na na... I know you are but what am I?

For what it's worth, I had no doubt about your attitude toward me at the start. Please allow me to clarify that I genuinely want(ed) to understand YOU. I'm confident enough with God, but as humans, we are flawed. I stopped to consider the situation and realized that the issue is NOT whether I am right or you are wrong. Rather, it's whether I give you room to be a person who has developed his own path spiritually and that my care and responsibility (to God and to you) is to give you that room (in my mind) and consider you a real live person who deserves respect whether I come to agree with you or not. Cheers.

Tell me, please, if I understand your point, you're saying I can't have a relationship with God through Jesus Christ unless I faithfully honor the 7th Day Sabbath?

I see what you did there. Very clever.

If you ask me, Flatten the Curve was never in the race, even though promoted in the corridors of power from the beginning. Love the video, thanks Skyrider!

Evidence? You see none because it is subjective. "Beauty" is in the eye of the beholder. I'm glad for you're thankfulness for your experiences.

Yes, I saw that after you edited your post. Thanks.

I haven't been trying to convince anyone here about Sabbath. Perhaps you meant to be asking someone else?

You're tired of repeating the same thing over and over again? How do you think God feels about the situation?

Well, obviously you did ask. But I will simply say in response that the answer is private enough that I intend to keep it between me and God for the time being. I'm still appreciating that you're making a tremendous effort to have a fruitful discussion. Yet, the tone of your comment was troubling, at least as far as the excerpt I quote below. You may or may not believe you have a legitimate purpose for posing such to me, but it reeks of judgmental overtones. In that regard, I'm not willing to share such intimate aspects of my life with you, or anyone else publicly here on gsc.

Btw, T-Bone, I had never heard of Professor Bloom or his book before reading your recent post. Thanks very much for mentioning it.

Hazzah! Great quote. Thanks for highlighting it. Here's another Allan Bloom quote: “The failure to read good books both enfeebles the vision and strengthens our most fatal tendency -- the belief that the here and now is all there is.” ― Allan Bloom, The Closing of the American Mind “The liberally educated person is one who is able to resist the easy and preferred answers, not because he is obstinate but because he knows others worthy of consideration.” ― Allan Bloom, The Closing of the American Mind “The real community of man, in the midst of all the self-contradictory simulacra of community, is the community of those who seek the truth, of the potential knowers...of all men to the extent they desire to know. But in fact, this includes only a few, the true friends, as Plato was to Aristotle at the very moment they were disagreeing about the nature of the good...They were absolutely one soul as they looked at the problem. This, according to Plato, is the only real friendship, the only real common good. It is here that the contact people so desperately seek is to be found...This is the meaning of the riddle of the improbable philosopher-kings. They have a true community that is exemplary for all other communities.” ― Allan Bloom, The Closing of the American Mind At this point, I think it's worth mentioning that it's NOT just TWI that is guilty, but all churches in America, I suspect, are prone to this malady. By the way, a current discussion taking place in the Matters of Faith/Doctrinal forum on this website conjures in my mind the last quote I listed above. It's SO easy to be dismissive of those with whom we disagree. Perhaps a lingering artifact of waybrain, but active love, wonderment at those with whom one disagrees (which I hope to make a habit) can foster that community and enlarge the lives of people on all sides of such a discussion. That is, even if no one comes to a consensus of mind. Alas, I don't find this book in the catalog at my local public library... however, it IS on Amazon.

Thank you for clarifying what you meant. Thus far, I'm not persuaded regarding God requiring believers to keep a 7th day sabbath. I also believe that there is immense value in the Bible not limited to those who believe in eternal life through accepting salvation by way of Jesus Christ. There are many who accept the Bible as an important document of immense significance documenting cultural heritage. Let me pose this to you also, what do you believe the consequences may be to individuals who do not "keep the sabbath" the way you understand the sabbath to be prescribed in scripture?

Please just let him answer the questions. Waysider, to refresh your recollection: Thank you.

I guess, one of the things I need to understand is, did you really mean to say "who do want" when you first posted this phrase. And it would be very helpful if you would use punctuation in your own writing, not just when you copy/paste.

I appreciate that you anticipated the question of how to have a relationship with God. And I appreciate that you are trying to be concise. Are you saying that God doesn't love us unless we keep His Commandments, most notably keeping the 7th Day Sabbath?