Like standing on a street corner in just a trench coat... and... well, you know.


So you think it's logical that you and every other believer has a tiny piece of the creator of the entire universe inside of you? We'll have to agree to differ on our definition of what constitutes logic then.


What version are you reading that calls them youths to imply that they're in their upper teens? From what I can see, the vast majority of versions say boys, little boys, little youths, little children, small boys, little kids or young lads... while only the 1984 NIV and New King James say youths (the current NIV says boys).

But anyway, unless Elisha had mastery over bears, then yes, God sent the bears. We can call curses down on people all day long but that won't do a single thing since random bears don't listen to humans. And then "some" children made fun of Elisha's baldness and FORTY-TWO got mauled by a bear? Either that's a terrible word choice on the part of the writer/translator, or God really went all out in teaching all those other kids a lesson. And let's be honest, when a bear mauls a kid, he's probably not coming back from that. Even if he survives, this was written 2500 years ago. There were no antibiotics, so any gaping bear wounds probably got infected and so even the survivors likely died. And for what? Is there a commandment about insulting people? Is there a commandment about respecting elders who are not your parents?


If someone else in your exact situation could have come to a different conclusion, then that's not solid evidence. And you know that, otherwise you'd be all too keen to share it. No matter what your experience was, it is not hard evidence. A Muslim would have used it as evidence as justification for their belief system. A Jew would have used it as evidence for their belief system. I would have found a secular explanation for it.

But how is it humbling myself to ask for and to expect the creator of the entire universe to intercede in my life? That seems like just about the most arrogant thing a person can do. After all, there are over 100 billion galaxies in this universe. I would have to be pretty arrogant to think it was all made for us, and to think that God's just sitting by the phone waiting for me to give Him a ring. I think in the grand scheme of the universe, we're not anywhere near as important as we would like to believe. That alone is humbling enough for me.

That is what the bible says, it is called the Holy Spirit and that is how we can communicate and have a relationship with God.



The version I am reading? New Internation Version or NIV. Yeah it says youths in this version.



Now I don't know how many children made fun of Elisha whether it was 5 and 42 suffered for it or it 42 made fun of Elisha and they all suffered for it. I don't know if 108 children made fun of Elisha and 42 suffered for it. Besides you are wrong in saying 42 got mauled by a bear because it was 2 bears. I guess there are just some people that you should not mess with, especially if you make fun of them and they have the ability to summon bears at their disposal, excluding the druids ofcourse.



If someone else was in my exact situation they would have had the choice to either pray or not. Short version I got lost in the woods and after wandering about for a good half hour to no avail I decided to pray to God to help me find my way back and straight after I did that I went in a random direction and found my way back to the site. It is like he turned me around and said "Go that way." Now tell me what you would do if you got lost and wandering around for half an hour didn't work and you got even more lost? I turned to the Lord and I was saved.



The opposite of humble is pride. When somebody is prideful that means that person thinks that they are the greater than everybody else and they don't need help. They want to be the ruler of their own lives and say get lost to God. As a matter of fact pride is the root of all sin or the centre of all sin. Look at the 7 deadly sins and it can all be traced back to the sin of pride. Now a humble person would give their lives to God as a daily offering and allow God to take control of their life. Their life revolves around God and they want to do what God wants them to do. No it is not enslaving yourself to God because you do it because you want to and are happy to.

You would be surprised how much God cares for each and every one of his creation no matter how big or small. Do you have any idea how big the Universe really is? God cares and provides for every single insect and creepy crawly you can think of. Every single ant and fly, moth, gecko, spider etc. he cares for and provides meals for them daily. Why do you think we Christians pray before every meal? We are thanking God for providing us with the food we are about to eat.

Tell that to the people in Somalia...

not sure, but theres something beyond this life.

hes reading Lucifer's good book.
any freaking bible that differs from the translations of the Codex Sinaiticus fails.
changing the word to accommodate civil rights like gays in the newer versions is blasphemy.
NIV and NLT and NKJV all do a lot of paraphrasing which i am not fond of.

You're working on an old version of NIV then. The current NIV says boys.


Find an instance in the Bible where it says "some" and means over 100 people and I'll send you fg for it. You're really trying to stretch the definition of the word "some" there when it obviously means a small number. So God punished more children who were undeserving for the actions of a few.


Of course I know it was two bears. See posts 57 and 66. That's completely dodging the point. God sent two bears to maul 42 children. Literally killing children for insulting someone even though calling someone bald isn't a sin. That's just cold-blooded murder and is indefensible for an "all-loving" god. And you think Elisha might have had mastery over bears? That's absurd. The only way he could have gotten that is as a gift through God, and in that case God STILL is to blame for the bears murdering the children.


I wouldn't have gotten lost because I grew up around forests. When I go wandering through forests at random I know better and bring both a compass and trail marking tape so I can always find my way back to where I was before. But you know, it's a proven fact that people walk in circular paths when they're wandering through the woods and that causes them to NEVER find their way out. You probably just walked in a big circle and entered from the opposite side of the camp from the one you left.
[url=http://abcnews.go.com/Health/MindMoodNews/study-shows-people-walk-circles-woods/story?id=8368583[/url]


And you think Earth and humanity is greater than the rest of the universe. That's pride. That's arrogance. They're synonyms, so call it whichever you want. So you can call yourself humble in one way but that makes you extremely arrogant in another.


Yes, I have an idea of how big the Universe is, which is why I said in an earlier post (and repeated it in this one) that it's extremely arrogant to think that Earth is special and that the alleged Creator of the universe favors us above all the rest.


There isn't a single translation of the Bible that I know of that aims to accommodate gay rights. There are individual churches who see past the all the discriminatory BS and hyperbole and can recognize that gay people are as deserving of legal civil marriages as everyone else and that granting gay people equal rights isn't going to destroy the foundation of all that is good and holy in the world, but that's about it.

i heard on the radio, bott radio network (evangelical station) St louis. but broadcasts all over the place.
there is some translation that paraphrases and using a different word to sort of bend the meaning of gay in one of the passages they were talking about.
i cant remember exactly. i wasnt really paying attention. but i know its factual because i did go and read about it. my bad for not providing any evidence.
but its just what i read/heard.

sure is

I can only go by what I read. When I go to bible study that is the version we use.



I can only speculate how many there were. heck I had to use google to find why this happened and the number of men involved. http://www.gotquestions.org/Elisha-baldhead.html



This website that I just posted explains in the second paragraph that some of the different versions of the bible like the King James Version for example has done us a disservice by using the word 'children' while NIV uses the word 'youths'. Also the fact that there were 42 'youths' killed means that there were more than 42 'youth's involved. (I'm basically copying what it is saying so you can just read it from there if you want) This wasn't a small group of children but rather young men aged 20 and older who assembled and mocked a prophet of God. Ridiculing a prophet of the Lord is the same as ridiculing the Lord God himself as it says. "The seriousness of the crime was indicated by the seriousness of the punishment. The appalling judgment was God’s warning to all who would scorn the prophets of the Lord."



Perhaps you would need to know the full story first. I was at a leadership camp which goes for a full week. Half way during that camp the second years also known as stage 2 all go out into the woods for a 'solo'. The purpose of this is to STAY IN ONE SPOT and have some time alone for 4 days and 3 nights. It is the time where you can reflect on life and talk with the Lord and there are some restrictions on what you can bring so you don't have any distractions.

Anyway when I was unloaded off into my area just off the road the first thing I do is explore and see where I can set up. I found the spot, went back to get my bags but since I can't carry 3 big bags at the same time I decided to go take 2 trips. The first trip went successfully but after coming back from the second trip yeah I got lost. I wandered around for a good half hour then I decided to pray thinking "What do I got to lose?" Then it worked. What started as me getting lost ended up as the initiation of how I finally clicked and crossed that line. Suffice to say since there was no real travelling or hiking involved there was really no need for a map or a compass at the time.



You feel different which means you think that there is something you have in mind you feel is greater than the rest of the Universe? Is it VY Canis Majoris which is the largest known star in our Galaxy?



God thinks we are special because we are his creation. We are boasting in his name not in our own name and there is a huge difference. I know that we may not physically be the centre of the Universe but God still loves us and cares for us even though we are very small.

obv...