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RETIREDFAN1

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Posts posted by RETIREDFAN1

  1. 4 minutes ago, ctown81 said:

    Capitalism is a Ponzi Scheme. Let's talk about how banks securitize your loans and make ten times the amount of your loan but do not hesitate to foreclose a home or repossess a vehicle. 

    That's NOT how free market laissez faire capitalism is supposed to work......banks can only do THAT because the government has interfered with the free market and allowed them to power to do that by centralizing everything bank related into a monopoly called the federal reserve.......so to correct you, the GOVERNMENT banking system is a ponzi scheme........

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  2. Why did Stallone choose Mister T, the A-Team hero, for Rocky III's opponent?
    Because he's decided it's easier to teach an actor how to box than it is to teach a boxer how to act.

    His first choice was former Heavyweight Champion, Smokin' Joe Frazier. Sly was sparring with Joe to get an idea of what they might look like in the ring. Stallone told Frazier to make it look real, so Joe nailed Stallone in the head and split his eyebrow open.

    Soon after, Sylvester Stallone decided it was a bad idea to box with Joe Frazier, and ask him to make it look real.

    Getting in the ring with Smokin' Joe Frazier was a little too real.
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  3. XX No.IX Pg.4
    November 1983

    A New Church"

    Robert F. Turner

    From time to time brethren inform others that there is a "new church" in town. And, depending upon circumstances, this is generally hailed as good news. But, what is meant by a "new church"?

    The word "church" is never used in the New Testament in reference to a building. But since this has come to be a commonly accepted usage of the word in English, brethren sometimes are referring to a new meeting place when they send out their "new church" announcements.

    And, the building of a physical edifice is not unimportant. Great emphasis was given to the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem (Neh. 1:3; 2:18) and also the temple (Hag. 1:8).

    It is a serious thing to commit ourselves (Neh. 2:18; 4:6) to such responsibilities as spending time and resources, and commendable and worthy of rejoicing when such resolves are completed (Neh. 12:27), because such things "send a message." It says to those around us that we are serious about what we are doing (Neh. 6:1516). It likewise reflects our "pride" in and attitude toward the work of God. To start projects that are not finished or to be content to meet in poorly maintained facilities when we could do better conveys a negative message to those in the community (Neh. 2:17; Hag. 1:2-5).

    But the primary use of the word "church" is to describe people — a certain kind of people: those who at one time were in the world but now belong to Christ: (1 Cor. 1:2, "the church of God... them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints...") Having a new building, then, is not nearly as important as having "new people" to assemble in it. Even as important as the job was of rebuilding the walls and temple, the real need was to "rebuild" the people (Neh. 1:5-11; 9:1-2, 32-35). Thus, unless the people that have built the "new church" are what they ought to be, the new building will not accomplish much.

    The word "new" is significant in this regard. It is not a reference to time ("recent") but to character. The new man" (Eph. 4:24) or the "new creation" (2 Cor. 5:17) is not the recent convert but the person in Christ who is different from the person he or she was before their conversion (1 Pet. 4:3-4).

    Thus in this sense the local congregation is to always be "new." This "new church" will be characterized by people with new attitudes which will determine its course and conduct. There will be no division (1 Cor.1:10-11), toleration of sin (1 Cor. 5; Rev. 2:12-17), or lukewarmness (Rev. 3:14-16). But there will be love (1 Thess. 3:12; 2 Thess. 1:3), fidelity to the truth (Rev. 2:2-3), and a desire to work (Phil. 4:10).

    The time will come when another new building is needed, the first one having grown old. But may the time never come when the church no longer is "new" and thus has lost its influence in the community and among the brethren (1 Thess. 1:7-8; 2 Cor. 9:1-2). David Smitherman

  4. It seems that Obi-Wan Kenobi is portrayed much older than he should be in "A New Hope" especially if that took place about twenty years after The Clone Wars. Shouldn't Obi-Wan be in his fifties or so and more rubust to be able to take on Darth Vader?

    I had this in my head as well, but looking back Alec’s Obi isn’t nearly as old as he once seemed to me.

    Alec Guinness was 63 when EP4 released, so just over 60 when filming. While in retrospect Obi-Wan was meant to be 57 at that time. Him seeming older as probably do to being stuck on Tatooine instead of leading a more active Jedi lifestyle.
     

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  5. We NEED more of this attitude among people...

    Norman Rockwell
    Examine the picture: Mr. Hess (the model for this painting is a local mechanic, Carl Hess, a father of three and a neighbor of the Rockwells in VT) is wearing a blue shirt with a blue collar. The men listening to him are wearing white shirts with white collars. Mr. Hess' hands are the hands of a working man.

    Norman Rockwell painted four freedoms: freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom from want, and freedom from fear. 

    Finding new ideas for paintings took work, but painting "The Four Freedoms" was a more significant challenge. “It was so darned high-blown,” Rockwell said, “Somehow, I just couldn’t get my mind around it.” While mulling it over, Rockwell, by chance, attended a town meeting where one man rose among his neighbors and voiced an unpopular view. The young man appears unfazed by his modest attire amid formality, focusing instead on the subject matter that concerned him to the extent that he felt it necessary to attend this meeting and speak his mind.

    That night Rockwell awoke with the realization that he could paint the freedoms best from the perspective of his own hometown experiences using everyday, simple scenes such as his own town meeting.

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  6. 2 hours ago, Stoney said:

    Is this for Star Trekkies, Star Wars or a more sophisticated brand of nerd? 

    All of the above ......Star Trek is hard core science fiction......Star Wars is fantasy.....Dune has elements of both with an acceptable mixture......

  7. Vol.XX No.IX Pg.3
    November 1983

    The Home Wrecker

    Dan S. Shipley

    Though seldom identified, the sin of selfishness is the culprit responsible for most every problem, heartache, misery, and division occurring in the home. One of the marks of the "grievous times" of which Paul prophesied was that men would be lovers of self (2 Tim. 3:1,2). And, grievous it is when husbands and wives will subordinate family needs to personal preferences; when they think in terms of self: What I want, what I like, my rights, my interests, and my happiness. Such thinking is practically the guarantee of hard times at home. But too few see selfishness as being a personal problem.

    As H.W. Beecher has said, "Selfishness is that detestable vice which no one will forgive in others, and no one is without in himself." It is our inclination to see ourselves as the victims of selfishness rather than the guilty. As the unhappy wife I recently read about was heard to say, "My husband doesn't show any interest in what I do. All he cares about is whatever it is that he does at that place — wherever it is — that he works!" (Bits & Pieces, Aug. 83) Such an attitude may describe us more than we care to admit. As God's people we are not ignorant of Satan's devices (2 Cor. 2:11), the deceitfulness of sin, nor its blinding power. Therefore, however remote and unlikely it may seem, we must see the possibility of selfishness in our own lives! Like the prodigal son, we must come to self to overcome self (Lk. 15:17). As Paul says, "Examine yourselves..." (2 Cor. 13: 5), test your motives with absolute honesty for none can begin to deal with a problem he won't admit. Self-denial is one of the first lessons to be learned by the follower of Christ (Matt. 16:24). Nothing is more fundamental to obedience and righteousness. Without it, no man can truly love his wife as Christ loved the church (Eph. 5:25). As Christ's love sacrificed self for the church, so must be the husband's for his wife. It is an unselfish and giving love. Without it, wives cannot be in subjection to their husbands, as unto the Lord (v.22). The very spirit that prompts submission to the Lord should prompt it between husband and wife. Being what the Lord wants me to be means being what I need to be to my mate. Selfishness, then, is a sin against man and God — and, oftentimes, against children.

    Accordingly, bringing up children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord (Eph. 6:4) involves denying self. For instance, rearing children for heaven takes time. Selfishness robs many children of that precious time — under an alias, to be sure. Too busy, too tired, to talk and answer questions, to read the Bible, to pray with them, to take them to worship. But, worse perhaps, are those children who suffer because selfish parents divide the home rather than deny self. It is almost unthinkable that some would trade a good family for a selfish indulgence; for a bottle, for a lover, for "good times." Yet, it continues to happen, even among some claiming to be Christians. In these, and even in more subtle and respectable ways, selfishness is the great home wrecker: May God helps us to want it purged from our lives.

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