nebtet

throughout history people who were especially pious, performed great works of charity, those who gracefully prayerfully suffered persecution and were martyred and/or had miracles attributed to them were acclaimed as saints.

nowadays folks blithely refer to themselves and their church peers as "saints", bestow sainthood on themselves. i'm curious to know by what criteria and by whose authority do these modern "saints" affix the label of sainthood on themselves.

combined with incendiary rhetoric from the McCain/Palin campaign is emboldening racists to come out from under their slimy rocks and show their twisted psychology to the world? is the belief that candidates for the highest offices in the land share their hateful views giving them the impression that their bigotry is normal, patriotic even?

the recent changes such as ... only positive feedback for Buyers, even non-paying bidders and PITA buyers, DSR dashboard and the 4.3 star suspension/eviction threat, DSRs used to lower visibility in "Best Match and extract higher fees, no more money orders and checks/ electronic (PayPal) payment ONLY and so on

if not, not are you planning on relocating your on-line business to a different venue?

PS. if you're looking for info concerning non-eBay selling venues go to

powersellersunite.com. you don't need to be a power seller to be welcomed at PSU.

If the stories in the Bible should be considered a report of actual and true events should not the stories in the holy texts of other religions also be considered reports of actual and true events? if not ... why not? why would the Bible be more valid as a historical document then say ... the Vedas? remember please, that some of the people mentioned in the Gita have historical relevance outside the holy text and many of the places mentioned in the Gita still exist.

Mat 5:48 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.

obviously perfection is possible through Jesus Christ or he wouldn't have exhorted followers to be perfect. yes? no?

if no ... please explain why Jesus didn't mean what the Bible says he said.

(i realize you believe you're forgiven your imperfections but that does not discount that Jesus apparently expects you to be perfect.)

generally parents will punish a child so the child learns a lesson in consequences. discipline is employed so the child can learn the differnce between right and wrong and conform to social norms. since there is no escaping the punishments of Christian Hell, no lessons to be learned or oppertunity to use any lessons even if a lesson was learned what then is the point of the Bible god's Hell? torture for the sake of torture?

i'm just wondering because so many Christians i encounter are thus gifted by their faith.

John McCain sings "bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran" and keeps having "senior moment gaffes" concerning Iran arming and training Al Qaeda. (you'd think someone with such impressive military and foreign policy creds would know that Shiite and Sunnis don't mix.)

meanwhile McCain spiritual adviser Rod Parsley says this ...

"Israel must be defeated by a Russian-Arab military alliance, perhaps preceded by a U.S. invasion of Iran, in order to usher in Armageddon and the second coming of Jesus."

alarming or just some interesting coincidences?

With little-noticed procedural and policy moves over several years, Bush administration officials have made it substantially more difficult to designate domestic animals and plants for protection under the Endangered Species Act.

The documents show that personnel were barred from using information in agency files that might support new listings, and that senior officials repeatedly dismissed the views of scientific advisers as President Bush's appointees either rejected putting imperiled plants and animals on the list or sought to remove this federal protection.

One consequence is that the current administration has the most emergency listings, which are issued when a species is on the very brink of extinction.

And some species have vanished. The Lake Sammamish kokanee, a landlocked sockeye salmon, went extinct in 2001 after being denied an emergency listing, and genetically pure Columbia Basin pygmy rabbits disappeared last year

i'm a wildlife rehabber and i've raised many a baby squirrel but i've never raised a baby flying squirrel before. now that it appears she's going to live i'd like a good name for her. all my other squirrel pups were given nut related names like Philbert Limbleaper and Almondo Barkbitcher, Mack and Damian Fluffbutt, Pete Kan and Hazel Nutmuncher etc but i can't think up a name for this baby flyer. i'd like it to be nut themed but also an airborn theme as well. that's the problem ... mixing the nut theme with the flying theme.

when she's grown she'll be released back into the wild so i need a cool name to call her by. my squirrel pups tend to stick around for a long time after release and they always come to their names so it's important she has a good one. any ideas?

Thanks in advance.

i read in a couple of different references that bastards are not allowed in the Temple. is this true? if it is true what constitutes a bastard? a bastard is to be conceived and born out of wedlock but is a child still considered a bastard if the child's mother is married before she gives birth to a man who is not the father of the child?

what kind of rides and attractions would you build? what kind of souvenirs would you sell? please name and describe your ideas for making your Christian theme park exciting and fun for your Christian visitors.

as an Agnostic i'm having a hard time fitting into some of the Atheist vs Religious debates and i'm seeking some kind of common ground for establishing what exactly we all are actually talking about.

for instance ... i don't believe in deities which would make me an Atheist. however i have "God" concepts that kinda shoves me out of the Atheist camp but i certainly don't belong in the Theist camp either as none of their deities can be real for me.

okay, maybe the question should be ...

"does one have to believe in deities to believe in "God"?"

(**sigh** that oversimplifies the question but maybe it's the best we do.)

The Talking Jesus Doll has been sold out at most Walmart stores. I'm wondering if this holy action figure could be the harbinger of doom for American Christianity. i mean ... what child is going to grow up with "the fear of the Lord" when his Lord is on the bottum of his toy box, headless and naked?

Do you believe in the actuality/reality of your deity of choice?

or does your deity only represent or symbolize your concept of a higher power?

or do you even make a distinction between a reality and a symbolized concept?

thank you for your well thought out answers.

this is something that has always puzzled me about Christians. they wave their American flags and advocate wars for spreading Democracy and freedom yet they desire a theocracy ruled by a king. how do Christians reconcile these mutually exclusive concepts?

GW's approval rating have slid to 24% according to newest Reuters/Zogby Poll.

if you're still loyal to The Cowboy of God you have to be either ...

a mega wealthy millionaire (have) or billionaire (have more) who benefits nicely from GW's tax cuts and the reduction in government oversight of corporate safty codes and pollution standards.

OR

you're a patheticly neoCONNED moron who stubbornly can't admit to having made a horrible mistake in voting for GW Bush (twice!).

my question is ... which of these 2 kinds of loyal GW supporters are you?

Greetings, i'm wondering what, if anything, you feel about the GOP presidential nominee frontrunners skipping the Latino American debate and Black American debate?

thank you for your replies.

... judging the divorced person as an adulterer if they remarry.

Mat 19:9 And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except [it be] for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery.

and why do Christians so frequently allow divorced and remarried adulterers into their congregations while actively excluding gay people? is one sin worse than the other?

if so ... how so, when there's no record of Jesus condemning gay people but Bible verses of him specificly condemning divorce?

PS. and please don't give me that "Christians are sinners but forgiven sinners" routine. Christians can't use loophole while they're pointing condemning fingers at gay people. Jesus apparently had a specific loathing for hypocrites so saved sinners passing judgement on other sinners sure wouldn't wash with Jesus.