jim
-
Content Count
115 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Calendar
Posts posted by jim
-
-
I'm sad that I wasn't a part of this forum when it was really active.
But I plan to keep posting!!
-
Sometimes when they do the ALS challenge, the challenging person says, "You have 24 hours".
So it could just be a, "I've been away, but..." because it had been more than 24 hours.
It could be fun to play a game called, "Finish Emma's sentence"...
I'VE BEEN AWAY, BUT...
I'VE BEEN AWAY, BUT...things haven't changed.
I'VE BEEN AWAY, BUT...now I'm back!
I'VE BEEN AWAY, BUT...there's #noah place like home.
etc, etc...
-
An impact wrench (for removing the lugnuts on my car tires).
-
Agreed, it was a clever response!!
I was friends with someone that passed away from ALS just this past week.. It's a terrible disease.
-
"Everything is Awesome" song from the Lego movie. I can't get that song out of my head.
-
I am using Chrome version 36.something and everything is fine for me.
-
Emma has mentioned various times on Twitter how much she likes Nutella. I personally don't like the taste of it...but anyone that's addicted to it might want to stock up!
The link to the story is below:
http://www.wrcbtv.com/story/26324959/nut-price-spikes-stoke-nutella-shortage-fears
-
So sad. Thoughts and prayers for his family.
-
Really cool!
-
I made this from my Noah dvd. I thought it was funny.
I should have said Noah, Don't Dream it's over. Trying to catch the deluge in a paper cup.
-
This is the End
This is the movie where Emma Watson plays a character that thinks she’s going through a Zombie apocalypse. She is not one of the main characters, but in her role she gets to attack people with an axe because she thinks she’s going to be sexual assaulted.
So…other than the importance of running away from a person yielding an axe, what can we learn from this movie?
Look, I know this is a comedy that basically pokes fun at end times beliefs…and I personally didn't like it and don’t want to see it again. But if you peel away all of the terrible language, sexual references, and other crude jokes…there still might be some stuff that can be learned from it.
One thing this movie shows is how soft and dependent we have become. The movie itself is referring to actors and celebrities…but to be honest I think most of us that live in developed countries often take our blessings for granted. We can see something terrible on the news (perhaps about a sinkhole somewhere on the other side of the world) and we feel bad for about a little while, and then we go on with our lives. But if our cable or internet goes out…it’s a tragedy!
Look, I live in a somewhat rural area…and there are a lot of farmers that go out and do really hard work, taking care of animals and raising plants. They work out in the dirt under the hot sun. In the meantime, I sit in an air-conditioned office and prepare messages. If the apocalypse comes and I end up going through the tribulation, I am not going to last long! I just couldn’t handle all of the manual labor. So on at least one level, the movie teaches us to be thankful for what we have.
In addition, I found it interesting that in one section of the movie, Jay Baruchel’s character says he’s quoting out of the Bible…and he says what he’s reading is from the book of Revelation…the part about “the good-hearted people being taken upâ€. Well, the truth is that quote is nowhere in the real book of Revelation. The movie writers just made it up.
I wonder how many people even noticed. One of my sermon illustration books says that Benjamin Franklin used to rework Bible quotes using his printing press to support his own arguments. In other words, he’d basically just put whatever he thought into Old King James English, print it in a font that matched that of most Bibles, and then go on to say that his quote was part of the book of John…and no one ever called him on it, because they never checked his references.
Amazingly, I found this misquoting of the Bible slightly more offensive than the language, drug, and sexual references…because to me there wasn’t even a need to do it. I mean, regardless what religious book you decide to use in a movie…whether it be the Bible, the Koran, the Bhagavad Gita, etc., if you have a character say that he’s quoting a part of the book, and even have him holding the book…then quote it. Why make up your own quote?
The same thing happens if someone is making a sports movie…perhaps about American football…and the players keep lining up in an illegal formation…it might not be an integral part of the movie itself, but it ruins the show if it’s not accurate...because we want to think that what’s happening on screen is at least plausible - even in a comedy.
So here’s what was happening. The writers were basically assuming a pre-tribulation rapture when they wrote the script. We know this because at the very beginning before all the bad things happened, Jay Baruchel’s character sees some people being taken up to heaven in these blue rays of light.
Just to explain, some Christians believe that one day Christ will appear, and when he does, all the believers that have died, followed by all the believers that still are on earth, they will be taken up to meet him in the air. (This idea of being “taken up†is derived from a Latin word that basically translates into the English as rapture). This was represented in the movie by the blue lights taking people into heaven.
So, if you take this view, (this is part of only 1 of about 4 different systems of interpreting the book of Revelation)…but if you understand Revelation in this way, and you want to have Jay’s character read a passage that some Bible scholars believe refers to the rapture, then just have him read part of 1 Thessalonians 4:17…
…then we that are alive, that are left, shall together with them be caught up in the clouds 1 Thess 4:16-17 (ASV)
His character could have said, “Look, the Bible says that the dead would go first and that those that are alive, that are left, will meet God in the clouds…and that was the blue lights we saw…and we missed it.†The writers could have done all of this without making up a quote. This was one of my major pet peeves about the movie.
But I think we can also learn from this that it is important to know what we believe. When someone just starts making something up about our faith, we should be able to realize it. Other than the messed up Revelation quote, this movie basically says that we atone for our sins by doing something really good…but for Christians, we believe that salvation comes through trusting in Christ as our Lord and Savior. We do good works because of our love for Christ, not to earn God’s acceptance. Our acceptance was already earned through Christ’s work on the cross.
“When Jesus died for the sins of the world, the righteousness of God was vindicated, for sin was judged; but the love of God was demonstrated, for a Savior was provided.†– Warren Wiersbe
-
I mainly think that the snapchat part is creepy - sharing private pictures. At least with facebook/twitter, when a person posts a pic, they filter it somewhat because they know that all their friends/followers can see it.
But with snapchat, since people think that it's "private" and "temporary"...they are more likely to use it for, let's just say devious purposes...I deleted my instagram account once people started sending me pics via snapchat. I'm just not comfortable with it.
As far as Emma is concerned, if she wants an instagram account that's fine...that way people that are interested in the latest pics can go over there and see them. As for me, I just hope she continues to post her thoughts on Twitter.
-
I think Instagram is creepy. I deleted my instagram account about a year ago when they added snap chat.
-
There are some companies that are managing to pay their employees at least a basic wage that make fairly affordable products.
Element Electronics makes Televisions in the United States. They are fairly competitive in price with other major brands.
I've heard that Sears Guardsman tires are actually Cooper tires made in the U.S. re-branded for Sears...and they are very affordable automobile tires. (This might not be true...it might be just a sales line...but that's what I've been told).
Both of these brands are rather affordable, and they must be paying their workers at least U.S. minimum wage.
To me, though, I don't care if it's made in the US where I live or somewhere else...I just wish there was a place where you could look to find an item made at a factory where the workers were paid at least enough to have a chance in life. Whether it's made in Bangladesh, the US, UK, Europe, South America, China, etc.
Because the second problem, other than people not having the finances...is people having the time to research if all the things they buy are being made fairly...from their bananas to their shoes, etc.
It would be neat to have a website where you could go and look for what you want...and it would list some companies or brands that paid people fairly and had links to their products, so you would know the price, and then have information on what stores carry those products, or how they could be ordered online....so at least one could make at effort to see if a reasonably made item was affordable.
The ultimate would be to have it all embedded and categorized into an app (similar to Amazon or Ebay)...where you could just shop and buy fairly made stuff...from electronics, to instruments, clothing, furniture, etc...or at least when one was at the store, one could bring it up to see if any of the items they are looking at are more fairly made.
There are companies out there...if all that information could be categorized and put into one place, I think it would be more accessible to more people. Because in addition to people not having resources, many just don't have the time to do all of the research. Does that make sense?
...In other words, I'm not only cheap, I'm also lazy
-
http://www.christianitytoday.com/women/2014/june/fair-trade-in-unfair-world.html?paging=off
It's not the same "Fair Trade" company that Emma promotes...but it talks about the same basic concept. It even mentions the tragedy about a year ago in Bangladesh.
For me personally, I feel somewhat convicted by this...because I normally try to buy the cheapest things possible to save money. However, I know this probably ends up supporting these terrible working conditions. I've looked at things like the People Tree website...but there weren't many things in stock in my size. Plus there is sometimes a big price gap. I often get my shoes at Payless and my shirts at Walmart. For example, my last pair of sneakers cost me $10 brand new. They were probably made n a sweatshop. I wouldn't mind paying $20 for the shoes if I knew they were made by people in better conditions...but I just can't see spending more than $50 on a pair of shoes.
I guess if I absolutely had to, I could pay the $50. But I just wish there was a website for thrifty trade conscious shopping.
-
I like Five Guys. About three years age me and Julie (my wife) were in a Five Guys n Hampton, VA when we were on vacation. I started choking on a fry and a guy I didn't know got behind me to give me the heimlick...but I kinda threw it up before he started...at first I was embarrassed because everyone was looking at me. Then I thanked the guy for being ready to help...anyway, their food is really good (as long as you don't inhale it).
-
4633
-
While We Were Young
This movie hasn’t even happened yet. But I read through some of Ling’s post of the novel. In the part that I read, there is this 75 year old lady using self-deprecating humor to explain old age. She’s reminiscing about the past and things she could have done differently.
What can we learn from this? I think we’re often tempted to glamorize our own pasts. Looking back, we remember the good times, but we often forget about the struggles and work that took place when those memories were made. Through our own internal editing, we develop a view of the past that really isn’t accurate. When we compare our present to this jaded view that we’ve created…our current reality has a hard time measuring up. We end up feeling depressed.
Hopefully the following illustration will help. In one of the Screwtape Letters, C.S. Lewis talks about a woman being tempted with help from a demon named Glubose. She unintentionally glamorizes the past, and becomes trapped in what Mr. Lewis calls an, “All I want†state of mind. An excerpt from the story is as follows:
“Glubose has this old woman well in hand. She is a positive terror to hostesses and servants…All she wants is a cup of tea properly made, or an egg properly boiled, or a slice of bread properly toasted. But she never finds any servant or any friend who can do these simple things ‘properly’ – because her ‘properly’ conceals an insatiable demand for the exact, and almost impossible palatal pleasures which she imagines she remembers from the past; a past described by her as ‘the days when you could get good service’ but known to us as the days when her senses were more easily pleased and she had pleasures of other kinds which made her less dependent on those of the table.†(Letter #17)
Mr. Lewis makes the point by using this fictional lady, who in the present thinks that no one can prepare her food properly, because in the past she had other pleasures and wasn’t really paying attention to her food. Now that she inspects every piece of her meal with scrutiny and expects to get all of her pleasures from eating, she ends up disappointed.
The point is this: we often look back and remember things as better than they actually were at the time. Then we take those thoughts, and we compare them with the present. This leads to complaining, resentment, and bitterness.
Sometimes this is easy. In the Bible, when Job went through a series of terrible trials, it wasn’t difficult for him to long for the days of the past, saying,
“I long for the years gone by when God took care of me, when he lit up the way before me and I walked safely through the darkness. When I was in my prime, God’s friendship was felt in my home. The Almighty was still with me, and my children were around me. My cows produced milk in abundance, and my groves poured out streams of olive oil." Job 29:2-6 (NLT)
However, even though Job went through these bad situations which made his past look stupendous…the truth still remained that God had much more in store for him. In fact, Job’s future ended up being much better than his original past, as chapter 42 tells us,
“So the Lord blessed Job in the second half of his life even more than in the beginning. For now he had 14,000 sheep, 6,000 camels, 1,000 teams of oxen, and 1,000 female donkeys.13 He also gave Job seven more sons and three more daughters.†Job 42:12-13 (NLT)
The bottom line is this: We need to be honest about our past experiences. And in reality, regardless what has happened with our lives to this point, there is always hope for the future.
-
I went to a meeting in Baltimore last week and someone smashed out one of my car windows and took my gps.
However, I'm thankful that I'm OK...the GPS wasn't worth much (I got it on ebay for $25)...AND the theif left my inline skates in the car. Plus, I found someone that replaced my window for a very reasonable price. Everything worked out.
-
Eight Twenty Eight is a book coming out on...you guessed it...08/28/14. It's the story of a girl named Larissa that married a guy named Ian.
Ian had brain damage due to a car accident. His girlfriend at the time continued the relationship and decided to marry him. They've been married now for three years.
There is a video embedded on the publisher's website highlighting their wedding and some of the struggles they've faced...I'll put the link below. (The video is also on youtube...but it seems like their links always change, so I just liked to the book's site).
It's worth watching! Very inspirational.
http://www.bhpublishinggroup.com/products/eight-twenty-eight/
-
I've never read "Washed by Blood". I'll have to look it up. Thanks!
-
Hi.
-
"Mere Christianity" by C. S. Lewis is a great book. It actually started out as a series of radio broadcasts that were eventually compiled into a book. It's basically a nuts and bolts presentation of Christianity.
-
Independent study is HARD! I finished my undergrad degree on campus...But I did the last 6 credits of my first Masters online, plus I took one modular...which is basically like a class in a week with a pre-class assignments and a post class final. I finished my entire second Masters online while working full time for an insurance company. It's hard because you're tired when you get home from work & you have a lot more busy work in online classes IMO. I didn't go to Brown but I imagine the experience is similar. I can't even imagine how hard it was for Emma to finish school while making movies.
Congrats to her!
What's up
in Introductions
Posted
Welcome!