WWW.BIBLE.CA: "The first historical record of methodical Sabbath Keeping by Christians who stopped worshipping on the first day of the week, was two active Anabaptist leaders, Andreas Fisher and Oswald Glait, became the pioneer and promoters of the Sabbath in 1527 AD. Both were former priests who had sacrificed the priesthood to become first Lutherans, and then Anabaptists. Glait and Fischer, who had been taught the false doctrine of the Catholic and Lutheran churches, that Sunday is the Sabbath, were astonished to read in the Bible that the Sabbath was indeed the 7th day! When they began to teach this, theologians were sent to persuade them to abandon what they called the "Jewish Sabbath." Both of them suffered a martyr death, largely due to their Sabbatarian views. Sabbatarians owe a debt of gratitude to these Sabbath pioneers whose work later influenced the origin of the Seventh-day Baptist church. The latter (Joseph Bates) has been instrumental in helping the early Adventists and other Christians to rediscover the Sabbath. Historically, it was in 1844 the first Seventh-day Adventists (known then as Millerites) started keeping the Sabbath, introduced to them by a Seventh-day Baptist named Joseph Bates, who convinced their Methodist minister that the Bible teaches us to keep the Sabbath. But Seventh-day Adventists are convinced that God chose Ellen White and the modern Seventh-day Adventist movement as the medium through which to reveal and confirm this "truth" through direct inspiration and revelation. Although Adventists believe that a tiny unknown remnant has always kept the Sabbath day, (like the Seventh-day Baptist preacher mentioned above) only in the 19th century did God, through the Seventh-day Adventist church, restore in any measurable way, by direct revelation, the truth that the day Christians worship was Saturday."

74 AD The Letter of Barnabas "We keep the eighth day [Sunday] with joyfulness, the day also on which Jesus rose again from the dead" (Letter of Barnabas 15:6-8).

90AD DIDACHE: But every Lord's day, do ye gather yourselves together, and break bread, and give thanksgiving after having confessed your transgressions, that your sacrifice may be pure. But let no one that is at variance with his fellow come together with you, until they be reconciled, that your sacrifice may not be profaned. For this is that which was spoken by the Lord... [Matt. 5:23-24] (The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles, , Chap. 14:1, Ante-Nicene Fathers Vol. 7, page 381)

90AD DIDACHE: ...every Lord's day, hold your solemn assemblies, and rejoice: for he will be guilty of sin who fasts on the Lord's day, being the day of the resurrection... (Constitutions of the Holy Apostles, Ante-Nicene Fathers Vol. 7, pg. 449)

90AD DIDACHE: And on the day of our Lord's resurrection, which is the Lord's day, meet more diligently, sending praise to God that made the universe by Jesus, and sent Him to us, and condescended to let Him suffer, and raised Him from the dead. Otherwise what apology will he make to God who does not assemble on that day to hear the saving word concerning the resurrection...? (Constitutions of the Holy Apostles, Ante-Nicene Fathers Vol. 7, pg. 423)

90AD DIDACHE: On the day of the resurrection of the Lord, that is, the Lord's day, assemble yourselves together, without fail, giving thanks to God, and praising Him for those mercies God has bestowed upon you through Christ, and has delivered you from ignorance, error, and bondage, that your sacrifice may be unspotted, and acceptable to God, who has said concerning His universal Church: "In every place shall incense and a pure sacrifice be offered unto me; for I am a great King, saith the Lord Almighty, and my name is wonderful among the heathen, [Malachi 1:11, 14] (Constitutions of the Holy Apostles, Ante-Nicene Fathers Vol. 7, pg. 471)

90AD DIDACHE: And how can he be other than an adversary to God, who takes pains about temporary things night and day, but takes no care of things eternal? Who takes care of washings and temporary food every day, but does not take care of those that endure forever? How can such a one even now avoid hearing that word of the Lord, "The Gentiles are justified more than you" as He says, by way of reproach, to Jerusalem, "Sodom is justified rather than thou." For if the Gentiles every day, when they arise from sleep, run to their idols to worship them, and before all their work and all their labors do first of all pray to them, and in their feasts and in their solemnities do not keep away, but attend upon them; and not only those upon the place, but those living far distant do the same; and in their public shows all come together, as into a synagogue: in the same manner those which are vainly called Jews, when they have worked six days, on the seventh day rest, and come together in their synagogue, never leaving or neglecting either rest from labor or assembling together... If, therefore, those who are not saved frequently assemble together for such purposes as do not profit them, what apology wilt thou make to the Lord God who forsakes his Church, not imitating so much as the heathen, but by such, thy absence grows slothful, or turns apostate. or acts wickedness? To whom the Lord says to Jeremiah, "Ye have not kept My ordinances; nay, you have not walked according to the ordinance of the heathen and you have in a manner exceeded them... How, therefore, will any one make his apology who has despised or absented himself from the church of God? (Constitutions of the Holy Apostles, 100's AD? [date uncertain], Ante-Nicene Fathers , Vol. 7, page 423)

107AD IGNATIUS: Be not deceived with strange doctrines, nor with old fables, which are unprofitable. For if we still live according to the Jewish law, we acknowledge that we have not received grace... If, therefore, those who were brought up in the ancient order of things have come to the possession of a new hope, no longer observing the Sabbath, but living in the observance of the Lord's Day, on which also our life has sprung up again by Him and by His death (which some deny), through which mystery we received faith, and on account of which we suffer in order that we may be found disciples of Jesus Christ our only teacher, how shall we be able to live apart from him for whom even the prophets were looking as their teacher since they were his disciples in the spirit?... let every friend of Christ keep the Lord's Day as a festival, the resurrection-day, the queen and chief of all the days of the week. It is absurd to speak of Jesus Christ with the tongue, and to cherish in the mind a Judaism which has now come to an end. for where there is Christianity there cannot be Judaism.... These things I address to you, my beloved, not that I know any of you to be in such a state; but, as less than any of you, I desire to guard you beforehand, that ye fall not upon the hooks of vain doctrine, but that you may rather attain to a full assurance in Christ... (Ignatius, Epistle to the Magnesians, chp 9. Ante-Nicene Fathers , vol. 1, pg. 62-63.)

130AD BARNABAS: Moreover God says to the Jews, 'Your new moons and Sabbaths 1 cannot endure.' You see how he says, 'The present Sabbaths are not acceptable to me, but the Sabbath which I have made in which, when I have rested [heaven: Heb 4] from all things, I will make the beginning of the eighth day which is the beginning of another world.' Wherefore we Christians keep the eighth day for joy, on which also Jesus arose from the dead and when he appeared ascended into heaven. (15:8f, The Epistle of Barnabas, 100 AD, Ante-Nicene Fathers , vol. 1, pg. 147)

150AD EPISTLE OF THE APOSTLES.- I [Christ] have come into being on the eighth day which is the day of the Lord. (18)1

150AD JUSTIN: ...those who have persecuted and do persecute Christ, if they do not repent, shall not inherit anything on the holy mountain. But the Gentiles, who have believed on Him, and have repented of the sins which they have committed, they shall receive the inheritance along with the patriarchs and the prophets, and the just men who are descended from Jacob, even although they neither keep the Sabbath, nor are circumcised, nor observe the feasts. Assuredly they shall receive the holy inheritance of God. (Dialogue With Trypho the Jew, 150-165 AD, Ante-Nicene Fathers , vol. 1, page 207)

150AD JUSTIN: But if we do not admit this, we shall be liable to fall into foolish opinion, as if it were not the same God who existed in the times of Enoch and all the rest, who neither were circumcised after the flesh, nor observed Sabbaths, nor any other rites, seeing that Moses enjoined such observances... For if there was no need of circumcision before Abraham, or of the observance of Sabbaths, of feasts and sacrifices, before Moses; no more need is there of them now, after that, according to the will of God, Jesus Christ the Son of God has been born without sin, of a virgin sprung from the stock of Abraham. (Dialogue With Trypho the Jew, 150-165 AD, Ante-Nicene Fathers , vol. 1, page 206)

150AD JUSTIN: But Sunday is the day on which we hold our common assembly, because it is the first day of the week and Jesus our saviour on the same day rose from the dead. (First apology of Justin, Ch 68)

150AD JUSTIN: Moreover, all those righteous men already mentioned [after mentioning Adam. Abel, Enoch, Lot, Noah, Melchizedek, and Abraham], though they kept no Sabbaths, were pleasing to God; and after them Abraham with all his descendants until Moses... And you [fleshly Jews] were commanded to keep Sabbaths, that you might retain the memorial of God. For His word makes this announcement, saying, "That you may know that I am God who redeemed you." (Dialogue With Trypho the Jew, 150-165 AD, Ante-Nicene Fathers , vol. 1, page 204)

150AD JUSTIN: The commandment of circumcision, requiring them always to circumcise the children on the eighth day, was a type of the true circumcision by which we are circumcised from error and evil through the resurrection from the dead on the first day of the week of Jesus Christ our Lord. For the first day of the week, although it is the first of all days, yet according to the number of the days in a cycle is called the eighth (while still remaining the first). (Dialogue 41:4)

150AD JUSTIN: There is no other thing for which you blame us, my friends, is there than this? That we do not live according to the Law, nor, are we circumcised in the flesh as your forefathers, nor do we observe the Sabbath as you do. (Dialogue with Trypho 10:1. In verse 3 the Jew Trypho acknowledges that Christians 'do not keep the Sabbath.')

150AD JUSTIN: We are always together with one another. And for all the things with which we are supplied we bless the Maker of all through his Son Jesus Christ and through his Holy Spirit. And on the day called Sunday there is a gathering together in the same place of all who live in a city or a rural district. (There follows an account of a Christian worship service, which is quoted in VII.2.) We all make our assembly in common on the day of the Sun, since it is the first day, on which God changed the darkness and matter and made the world, and Jesus Christ our Savior arose from the dead on the same day. For they crucified him on the day before Saturn's day, and on the day after (which is the day of the Sun the appeared to his apostles and taught his disciples these things. (Apology, 1, 67:1-3, 7; First Apology, 145 AD, Ante-Nicene Fathers , Vol. 1, pg. 186)

155 AD Justin Martyr "[W]e too would observe the fleshly circumcision, and the Sabbaths, and in short all the feasts, if we did not know for what reason they were enjoined [on] you--namely, on account of your transgressions and the hardness of your heart. . . . [ow is it, Trypho, that we would not observe those rites which do not harm us--I speak of fleshly circumcision and Sabbaths and feasts? . . . God enjoined you [Jews] to keep the Sabbath, and impose on you other precepts for a sign, as I have already said, on account of your unrighteousness and that of your fathers" (Dialogue with Trypho the Jew 18, 21).

180AD ACTS OF PETER.- Paul had often contended with the Jewish teachers and had confuted them, saying 'it is Christ on whom your fathers laid hands. He abolished their Sabbath and fasts and festivals and circumcision.' (1: I)-2

180AD GOSPEL OF PETER: Early in the morning when (he Sabbath dawned, a multitude from Jerusalem and the surrounding country came to see the scaled sepulchre. In the night in which the Lord's day dawned, while the soldiers in pairs for each watch were keeping guard, a great voice came from heaven. [There follows an account of the resurrection. Early in the morning of the Lord's day Mary Magdalene, a disciple of the Lord …. came to the sepulchre. (9:34f.; 12:50f.)

190AD CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA: (in commenting on each of the Ten Commandments and their Christian meaning:) The seventh day is proclaimed a day of rest, preparing by abstention from evil for the Primal day, our true rest. (Ibid. VII. xvi. 138.1)

190AD CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA: He does the commandment according to the Gospel and keeps the Lord's day, whenever he puts away an evil mind . . . glorifying the Lord's resurrection in himself. (Ibid. Vii.xii.76.4)

190AD CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA: Plato prophetically speaks of the Lord's day in the tenth book of the Republic, in these words: 'And when seven days have passed to each of them in the meadow, on the eighth they must go on." (Miscellanies V.xiv.106.2)

200AD BARDESANES: Wherever we are, we are all called after the one name of Christ Christians. On one day, the first of the week, we assemble ourselves together (On Fate)

200AD TERTULLIAN: "We solemnize the day after

Saturday in contradistinction to those who call this day their Sabbath" (Tertullian's Apology, Ch 16)

EUSEBIUS: "They did not, therefore, regard circumcision, nor observe the Sabbath, neither do we; . . . because such things as these do not belong to Christians." (Ecclesiastical History, Book I, chapter 4.)

IGNATIUS, A. D. 107: "Those, then, who lived by ancient practices arrived at a new hope. They ceased to keep the Sabbath and lived by the Lord's Day, on which our life as well as theirs shone forth, thanks to Him and his death." (The Epistle of Ignatius to the Magnesians, 9:1)

TERTULLIAN, A. D. 200: ""We solemnize the day after Saturday in contradiction to those who call this day their Sabbath, and devote it to ease and eating, deviating from the old Jewish customs, which they are now very ignorant of." (Apology, Chapter XVI.)

ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA: Sunday, first day of the week; in Christianity, the Lord's Day, the weekly memorial of Jesus Christ's resurrection from the dead. The practice of Christians gathering together for worship on Sunday dates back to apostolic times, but details of the actual development of the custom are not clear. Before the end of the 1st Century AD, the author of Revelation gave the first day its name of the "Lord's Day" (Rev. 1:10). Saint Justin Martyr (c. 100-c. 165), philosopher and defender of the Christian faith, in his writings described the Christians gathered together for worship on the Lord's Day: the gospels or the Old Testament was read, the presiding minister preached a sermon, and the group prayed together and celebrated the Lord's Supper. The emperor Constantine (d. 337), a convert to Christianity, introduced the first civil legislation concerning Sunday in 321, when he decreed that all work should cease on Sunday, except that farmers could work if necessary. This law, aimed at providing time for worship, was followed later in the same century and in subsequent centuries by further restrictions on Sunday activities. (15th edition, vol. 11, pg. 392)

ENCYCLOPEDIA AMERICANA: From the apostolic era to the present it has been customary for Christians to assemble for communal Sunday services... Civil laws requiring the observance of Sunday date back at least to Emperor Constantine the Great, who designated Sunday as a legal day of rest and worship in 321. This law, however was not specifically Christian, since Sunday was the day of the sun-god for pagans as well as the Lord's day for Christians. While Constantine thus managed to please the two major religious groups in the Roman empire, numerous later law regulating behavior on Sunday have been avowedly Christian. (Sunday, 1988, pg. 21)

COLLIER'S ENCYCLOPEDIA: The New Testament contains clear evidence that from a very early period the first day of the week was observed by Christians as a day of assembly for "the breaking of bread" and perhaps for the collection of freewill offerings. (Acts xx:7 and 1 Corinth xvi:2). Justin Martyr in the middle of the second century describes how "on the day called Sunday" all town and country Christians assembled for instructions in holy writings, for prayer distribution of bread and wine, and the collection of alms. Tertullian declared that the Christians "made Sunday a day of joy, but for other reasons that to adore the sun which was not part of their religion. (Sunday, 1985, pg. 632-633)

HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH: The celebration of the Lord's Day in memory of the resurrection of Christ dates undoubtedly from the apostolic age. Nothing short of apostolic precedent can account for the universal religious observance in the churches of the second century. There is no dissenting voice. This custom is confirmed by the testimonies of the earliest post-apostolic writers, as Barnabas, Ignatius, and Justin Martyr. (Philip Schaff, vol. 1, pg. 201-202)

HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH: Hence, the first day was already in the apostolic age honorably designated as "the Lord's Day." ...it appears, therefore, from the New Testament itself, that Sunday was observed as a day of worship, and in special commemoration of the Resurrection, whereby the work of redemption was finished. The universal and uncontradicted Sunday observance in the second century can only be explained by the fact that it has its roots in apostolic practice. (Philip Schaff, vol. 1, pg. 478-479)

NEW SCHAFF HERZOG ENCYCLOPEDIA: The earliest traces of the observance of the first day of the week in remembrance of Christ's resurrection is found in the Pauline period of the Apostolic Age... Sunday was first regulated by civil authority in 321, under Constantine, directing that the day be hallowed and observed appropriately. (Sunday, pg. 145)

DICTIONARY: "The notion of a formal substitution by apostolic authority of the Lord’s Day (meaning Sunday) for the Jewish Sabbath (or the first for the seventh day) . . .and the transference to it, perhaps in a spiritualized form, of the sabbatical obligation established by the promulgation of the Fourth Commandment, has no basis whatever either in Holy Scripture or in Christian antiquity." - Sir William Smith & Samuel Cheetham, A Dictionary of Christian Antiquities, vol. 2, p. 182, Article "Sabbath"

ENCYCLOPEDIA: "It must be confessed that there is no law in the New Testament concerning the first day." - M’Clintock and Strong, Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature, vol 9, p. 196

CHURCH OF CHRIST: "I do not believe that the Lord’s day came in the room of the Jewish Sabbath, or that the Sabbath was changed from the seventh to the first day." - Alexander Campbell, Washington Reporter, October 8, 1821

ROMAN CATHOLIC POSITION: "You may read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, and you will not find a single line authorizing the sanctification of Sunday. The Scriptures enforce the religious observance of Saturday, a day which we never sanctify." (James Cardinal Gibbons, The Faith of Our Fathers, 16th Ed., 1880, p. 111)

SABBATH (Hebrew sabbat): The seventh day of the week which was set aside by the Israelites. In Judaism, the day was excessively strict with many legalistic ramifications. This led to several conflicts between Christ and the Scribes and Pharisees. In the early Church the Christian community probably observed the Sabbath as they did other Jewish customs. It was St. Paul who made the first day of the week the special day for Christians. (The Maryknoll Catholic Dictionary, 1965 Edition, Grosset & Dunlap, NY, NY)

CHAMBERS ENCYCLOPEDIA: "Unquestionably the first law, either ecclesiastical or civil, by which the sabbatical observance of that day [Sunday] is known to have been ordained, is the edict of Constantine. 321 AD." (Chambers Encyclopedia 1882 ed. Vol. VIII, p.401, art. "Sabbath")

(Constantine changed nothing. Constantine made a civil decree that because Christians were already meeting on Sunday, as they were doing since the time of the Apostles, that Christians should not work on Sunday.)

PRESBYTERIAN VIEW

ROMAN CATHOLIC VIEW

EGYPTIAN "Book of the Dead." The tone of the Pyramid Texts (earliest dates from 2345 BC, incorporated into the BD) is often threatening: the king almost bullies the gods into allowing him to enter heaven. There is little evidence that he expected to become one of their number automatically.

Heaven was democratized about 2040 BC, when changing beliefs reflected in the writings opened heaven to all those who could afford to acquire the relevant equipment. Osiris becomes supreme god of the Dead, who are actually assimilated into him. Entry became conditioned on the acts committed on earth depicted in the Weighing of the Heart.

(All spells from R.O. Faulkner, "The Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead," Univ of TX Press, Austin, TX, 1997)

Spell 31: Get back! Retreat! Get back, you dangerous one! Do not come against me, do not live by my magic; may I not have to tell this name of yours to the Great God who sent you; 'Messenger' is the name of one and Bedty is the name of the other.

(The crocodile speaks): Your face belongs to righteousness. The sky encloses the stars, magic encloses it settlements, and my mouth encloses the magic which is in it. My teeth are a knife, my tusks are the Viper Mountain.

(The deceased replies): O you with a spine who would work your mouth against this magic of mine, no crocodile which lives by magic shall take it away. (p56)

Spell 33 (for driving off a snake in the realm of the dead): O Rerek-snake, take yourself off, for Geb protects me; get up, for you have eaten a mouse, which Re detests, and you have chewed the bones of a putrid cat. (p58)

Spell 53: ...I detest what is detestable, I will not eat feces, I will not drink urine, I will not walk head downward...(p65)

Spell 63b: (spell for not being scalded with water)

Spell 82: (Spell for becoming powerful): My head is that of Re who is united with Atum... Those who are in Heliopolis bow their heads to me, for I am their lord, I am their bull. I am mightier than the Lord of Terror; I copulate and I have power over myriads. (p80)

Spell 90: (for removing foolish speech from the mouth)

Spell 130: (for making a spirit worthy on the birthday of Osiris and for making a soul to live forever)

Spell 163: (Spell for preventing a man's corpse from putrifying in the realm of the dead in order to rescue him from the eater of souls who imprisons in the Netherworld and to prevent accusations of his crimes upon earth being imputed to him; to cause his flesh and bones to be safe from maggots and every god who mutilates in the realm of the dead and to allow him to come and go as he wants and to do everything which is in his heart without being restrained.) p.158

Spell 176: (for not dying again in the realm of the dead) p175

Spell 178: (for raising the corpse, for having power in the eyes and ears and for making the head firm when it has been set in its proper place). (p176)

1 Cor 15:36-38 "That which you sow does not come to life unless it dies; and that which you sow, you do not sow the body which is to be, but a bare grain, perhaps of wheat or of something else. But God gives it a body just as He wished, and to each of the seeds a body of its own."

EGYPT: (Neper, ancient Egyptian agriculture-god): "I live and grow as Neper whom the honoured ones cherish, one whom Geb [god of the earth] hides. I live and I die, for I am barley, and I will not perish...I have gone forth in truth and my shape is raised up." ("Coffin Texts," "People of the Pharaohs," H Wilson, Michael O'Mara Books Ltd, London, UK, 1997, p 20)

ENGLAND: "...A pagan corn-god survives in the English folk tradition of Old John Barleycorn who was cut down, beaten and buried and yet 'still got up again.'" ("People of the Pharaohs," H Wilson, Michael O'Mara Books Ltd, London, UK, 1997, p 21)

====================

James 3:4-5 Behold, the ships also, though they are so great and are driven by strong winds, are still directed by a very small rudder, wherever the inclination of the pilot desires. So also the tongue is a small part of the body, and {yet} it boasts of great things.

"Be resolute of heart, make firm thy mind

Steer not with thy tongue;

The tongue of a man is the rudder of the boat

But the Lord of all is its pilot."

(Amenophis, Egyptian Scribe c. 1200 BC; cited in "Never to Die," Mayer and Prideaux, The Viking Press, NY, 1988, pg 201)

===============

Eccl 5:12 The sleep of the working man is pleasant, whether he eats little or much. But the full stomach of the rich man does not allow him to sleep.

Luke 12:29 And do not seek what you shall eat, and what you shall drink, and do not keep worrying.

"Lay thee not down at night fearing the morrow,

When day dawns what is the morrow like?

Man knoweth not how the morrow may be."

(Amenophis, Egyptian Scribe c. 1200 BC; cited in "Never to Die," Mayer and Prideaux, The Viking Press, NY, 1988, pg 201)

=================

Luke 12:29-30 And do not seek what you shall eat, and what you shall drink, and do not keep worrying. For all these things the nations of the world eagerly seek; but your Father knows that you need these things.

"Verily thou knowest no the designs of God,

Thou canst not realize the morrow.

Sit thee down at the hands of God;

(Amenophis, Egyptian Scribe c. 1200 BC; cited in "Never to Die," Mayer and Prideaux, The Viking Press, NY, 1988, pg 202)

===============

Prov 13:7 There is one who pretends to be rich, but has nothing; {another} pretends to be poor, but has great wealth.

Prov 28:6 Better is the poor who walks in his integrity, than he who is crooked though he be rich.

"Better is poverty at the hand of God

Than riches in the storehouse;

Better is bread with happy heart

Than riches with vexation."

(Amenophis, Egyptian Scribe c. 1200 BC; cited in "Never to Die," Mayer and Prideaux, The Viking Press, NY, 1988, pg 203)

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Gen 2:7 "Then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being."

"(Egyptian) ram-headed god Khnum... was also a creator god who moulded Egyptians out of the black alluvium deposited on the land in the annual miracle of the Inundation [of the Nile] and is often portrayed as a potter seated at his wheel, fashioning two mud figures for each person -- the physical body and the spiritual ka. Once Khnum had breathed life into the clay, the resultant human being...became...a true Egyptian." ("People of the Pharaohs," Hilary Wilson, Michael O'Mara Books Ltd, London, UK, p1)

=========

"Religion was not a way of life for the Egyptians, life was their religion. Their deities were very different from the distant, abstract beings of other civilizations. They lived amongst their followers in temples which were conceived not as places of communal worship but rather as palatial homes for the most affluent and influential members of Egyptian society. The gods were the first citizens of Egypts." ("People of the Pharaohs," Hilary Wilson, Michael O'Mara Books Ltd, London, UK, p10)

Isa 66:1 "Thus says the LORD, "Heaven is My throne, and the earth is My footstool. Where then is a house

you could build for Me? And where is a place that I may rest?"

====================

Prov 3:1-2 My son, do not forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments; for length of days and years of life, and peace they will add to you.

"If a man's son accepts his father's words, his plans will not fail. Teach your son to be a listener...a son who hears is a follower of Horus and all goes well for him as long as he continues to listen. When he is old and respected he will speak likewise to his own children, renewing the teaching of his father... he will speak to his children so that they in turn will speak to their children. (Ptah-hotep, Vizier of the Old Kingdom, cited in "People of the Pharaohs," Hilary Wilson, Michael O'Mara Books Ltd, London, UK, p55)

===========

Eph 6:4 "And, fathers, do not provoke your children to anger; but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord."

Col 3:21 Fathers, do not exasperate your children, that they may not lose heart.

"Set an example, do not give cause for rebellion."

(Ptah-hotep, Vizier of the Old Kingdom, cited in "People of the Pharaohs," Hilary Wilson, Michael O'Mara Books Ltd, London, UK, p55)

================

Matt 15:5-6 "But you say, 'Whoever shall say to {his} father or mother, "Anything of mine you might have been helped by has been given {to God,} he is not to honor his father or his mother.' And {thus} you invalidated the word of God for the sake of your tradition.

2 Cor 12:14 ...For children are not responsible to save up for {their} parents, but parents for {their} children.

1 Tim 5:8 But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith, and is worse than an unbeliever.

"Give to your mother double the food she gave you. Support her as she supported you. You were a heavy burden to her but she did not abandon you. When you were born after your months in the womb she was still tied to you, her breast in your mouth, for three years...she kept watching over you daily...When you take a wife and are settled in your own home pay attention to your children. Bring them up as did your mother. Do not give her cause to criticize you." (New Kingdom sage Any, cited in "People of the Pharaohs," Hilary Wilson, Michael O'Mara Books Ltd, London, UK, p58)

In my book "World Aflame," I told the story about Auguste Comte, the French philosopher, and Thomas Caryle, the Scottish essayist. Comte said he was going to start a new religion that would supplant the religion of Christ. It was to have no mysteries and was to be as plain as the multiplication table; its name was to be positivism. "Very good, Mr. Comte," Carlyle replied, "very good. All you will need to do will be to speak as never a man spake, and live as never a man lived, and be crucified, and rise again the third day, and get the world to believe that you are still alive. Then your religion will have a chance to get on." (Billy Graham)

JUSTIN MARTYR: "Either we marry for the sole purpose of bringing up children, or else we renounce marriage altogether and remain continent. Recently one of our people handed a petition to Felix, the Prefect of Alexandria, requesting him to allow his surgeon to remove his sex glands, for the physician there stated they were not allowed to do this without the prefect's permission. When Felix refused to sign such a permission under any circumstances, this young man remained single and was satisfied with that, a conscious attitude of mind which he and his fellow believers shared. (Justin Martyr, First Apology 29, cited by Eberhard Arnold, "The Early Christians," Plough Publishing, 1997, pg 107)

PROMISCUITY JUST AS PREVALENT: By examining samplings of colonial marriage and birth records, supposedly prudish and Bible-fearing Colonial America was very much like today. In Bristol, Rhode Island, between 1720-40, 1 out of 10 wives gave birth within the first eight months of marriage, and in the next twenty years it rose to one out of two! In Concord, Mass., 1756-76, 1/3 of all children were conceived out of wedlock. -(Facts from "Legends, Lies & Cherished Myths of American History," Richard Shenkman, 1988, Wm. Morrow & Co., NY)

FREE LOVE: Free-love movements have always existed. In the late 19th century, they lectured and argued their beliefs, supported well into the next century by many in the media and among published writers. It was supposed to have ended with the onset of the Great Depression in 1930, and according to a popular history of the period, "Only Yesterday," "the sexual revolution had at last reached an armistice." -(Facts from "Legends, Lies & Cherished Myths of American History," Richard Shenkman, 1988, Wm. Morrow & Co., NY)

TIME MAGAZINE: "Both men and women produce testosterone in their bodies, men in the testes and adrenal glands, women in the adrenal glands and ovaries. But men produce much more -- the average healthy male has 260 to 1,000 nanograms of testosterone per deciliter of blood plasma. For women the range is 15 to 70. But because men differ on how effectively their bodies process the substance -- for instance, some have more receptors around their body that absorb it -- a man on the low end of the normal range can still have all the testosterone he needs for normal sex drive and other benefits. In healthy men, levels also vary during the day, peaking around 8 a.m., which is why men commonly awaken in a state of sexual arousal, and dropping as much as half before bedtime.

...Testosterone in the blood of teenage boys can jump to as high as 2,000 nanograms, which helps explain teenage boys." ("Are You Man Enough?", Time Magazine, April 24, 2000, p. 61-2)

(Ladies, in case you missed it, the average highest-driven man is 1429% more driven than the average highest-driven woman. And the poor teenage boy is 2857% more driven!)

SEXUAL HEALTH MAGAZINE:

"He's sex-crazed":

A reader writes in: "My husband and I make love a couple of times a week, but he says this isn't enough to satisfy him. What he wants is to have sex just about every night, but frankly, it takes me a few days to get pumped up again after one of our long love-making sessions. Why is he ready for sex so much sooner than I am?"

The period of satiation after orgasm is different for everyone-man or woman. It's not unusual for a man to be interested in sex again within a few minutes of his last orgasm and ejaculation -- a phenomenon that has a lot to do with the fact that men experience far fewer hormonal fluctuations than women do. Women experience hormonal changes day to day, even hour to hour. In fact, the hormones secreted in a woman's body following orgasm can dampen her interest in further sexual encounters for quite a while. Women who tend to be interested in a repeat performance shortly after a sexual encounter are usually either multi-orgasmic, or haven't reached a satisfying orgasm the first time.

--Sexual Health, Dr Judy Seifer, For Women First (magazine), 9/25/00, p30

=====================

NEWSPAPER ARTICLE:

Teenage boys quietly suffer the pain

NO JOKE: Condition is real, says doctor whose report on 'blue balls' is being published

Sandi Doughton; The News Tribune

Romantically thwarted teenage boys, take heart. A Tacoma emergency room doctor feels your pain - and wants everyone to know it's not in your head.

It's actually quite a bit lower, says Dr. Jonathan Chalett, author of one of the first scientific reports on a condition clinically described as testiculoscrotal pain, but which commonly goes by a more colorful name.

"There is no doubt that blue balls is real, it exists," said Chalett. "I would bet my house, my kids, the farm, everything."

In the report published today in the journal Pediatrics, Chalett details the case of a 14-year-old boy whose mother brought him to the emergency room at Mary Bridge Children's Hospital because of sharp, stabbing pain in his testicles.

After considerable coaxing by Chalett - and after his mother left the room - the boy admitted the pain began shortly after he and his new girlfriend first started "messing around." The petting did not come to fruition, and a few hours later, the trip to the emergency room ensued.

"The pain was bad enough that it brought him to the ER," Chalett said. "How many others has it brought to the ER?" Chalett polled his male friends and colleagues and found many had personal experience with the condition, ranging from minor discomfort to major misery. But when he turned to scientific journals and medical textbooks, Chalett found next to nothing on the topic.

So he and his friend Lewis Nerenberg, a San Francisco pediatrician, decided to write up the Tacoma case.

"It hit our funny bone. There's no doubt it's real, and we could not believe it had not been written about," Chalett said.

They hope to alert other doctors to a condition many may believe is mythical, to encourage research and to urge educators to add an explanation of "blue balls" to sex education curriculum.

"We're opening it up for discussion," Chalett said. "We're just saying it exists, and people haven't talked about it."

The first two journals they submitted the article to didn't want to talk about it, either. They rejected the manuscript, at least partly, Chalett believes, because of queasiness over the subject. But Pediatrics, where the article is appearing, is considered the most prestigious publication of its kind.

"The better journal took it and ran with it," he said.

Films, books and adolescent folklore are peppered with references to the pain of "blue balls," and its link to frustrated sexual desire. "Three quarters of the lay people and three quarters of the medical people we talked to had heard of it," Nerenberg said.

The condition is probably caused by fluid buildup in the pelvic area, though no one has ever mapped out the physiological details, said Tacoma urologist William Dean.

Boys sometimes use the condition - honestly or not - as leverage to persuade their girlfriends to take pity on them.

Indeed, sexual release is one way to alleviate the pain. However, it also goes away on its own - in the case of the Tacoma 14-year-old, within one hour of arriving at the emergency room. And the single, previously published paper on the subject spelled out an unusual, alternative "treatment." An Oklahoma doctor reported in 1989 that it was "common knowledge" that males could get rid of the pain by straining to lift an immovable object, such as a car bumper.

Apparently, the resulting pressure may force fluid out of the pelvic area, Dean speculated.

Clearly, the condition isn't very serious, Chalett said. "This isn't huge. It isn't curing cancer. We just thought it should be acknowledged."

He and Nerenberg said they're concerned that some boys may needlessly undergo surgery for a serious condition called testicular torsion, when their problem is really nothing more than "blue balls."

But Dean, the Tacoma urologist, said that's not likely. More troubling is the possibility that publicity over "blue balls' will lead boys and parents to disregard pain that could be a symptom of torsion - a condition where a testicle twists, cutting off its own blood supply.

That's what happened to one of his patients, a 16-year-old whose grandmother discounted his complaints. By the time he got to the doctor, it was too late to save the testicle.

Neither Chalett nor Nerenberg would say what course of action they would advise for a young patient with "blue ball" symptoms.

"We're not advocating anything," Nerenberg said. "But sexuality is normal, and there have to be avenues for people having safe, candid discussions about real life issues."

And neither doctor could explain the condition's "blue' label, which doesn't reflect any of the symptoms.

"It's a colloquialism," Nerenberg said. "It's been around for at least 50 years."

© The News Tribune, 10/02/2000, 1950 South State Street, Tacoma, Washington 98405

INSURANCE LOSSES: "It doesn't matter whether you live in a big city, a suburb or the countryside, crime is out of hand. According to Business Week magazine, for example, '...the real [annual] cost of violent and property crime - when properly totaled up - far exceeds the $300 billion defense budget.'" ("Farmers Focus," Farmers Insurance Group, June 1994, Vol. 4, No.2)

INSURANCE LOSSES: "As a result, the prices we pay for products go up, insurance...premiums go up, and taxes soar [police and

courts]...According to the FBI, there were more than 12.5 million crimes against property in 1992 [only burglary, theft and auto theft are counted]. ...One out of every 120 registered vehicles was stolen, averaging 1 theft every 20 seconds; 25,000 carjackings took place." ("Farmers Focus," Farmers Insurance Group, June 1994, Vol. 4, No.2)

ANNUAL COST OF ADDICTIONS: Alcohol, $184 billion. Illegal drugs, $143 billion. Tobacco, $138 billion. Deaths: Tobacco, 430,000. Alcohol, 110,000. Cocaine & heroin, 114,864. Numbers of addicts: Tobacco, 65.5 million. Alcohol, 15.4 million. Cocaine, 3.3 million. (Popular Science, April, 2002, p 51-55.

THE DIDACHE: "Do not give orders in anger or bitterness to your man or woman slaves who hope in the same God, lest they lose the fear of God who is ruler over you both, for he does not come with his call showing partiality...And you slaves, be subject to your masters as to God's image, in shame and fear..." (cited by Eberhard Arnold, "The Early Christians," Plough Publishing, 1997, pg 198)

"WHITEY" ISN’T THE PROBLEM – SIN IS! Freed American slaves were shipped to Africa in 1822 to found the state of Liberia. They then divided up available land and captured slaves of their own to work that land.

--Brian Schwartz, "A World of Villages"

"WHITEY" ISN’T THE PROBLEM – SIN IS! The book "Amistad" narrates the history of the slave ship of this name, in which the slaves revolt and take over the ship, ending up in a trial in which they are defended by former Pres John Quincy Adams. They are declared free and the African hero is returned to Africa, where he subsequently engages in the slave trade himself, a fact moviemaker Steven Spielberg did not bring out.

SOCIALISM NEAR ATHEISM: "For socialism is not merely the labour question, it is before all things the atheistic question, the question of the form taken by atheism today, the question of the tower of Babel built without God, not to mount to Heaven from earth but to set up Heaven on earth." --Dostoyevsky: The Brothers Karamazov, I.i.5

DREAD THE CHRISTIAN SOCIALIST: "The socialist who is a Christian is more to be dreaded than a socialist who is an atheist." --Dostoyevsky: The Brothers Karamazov, I.ii.5

"The nature of socialism makes it the enemy of God. Nazi Martin Bormann stated in a secret decree of the Party Chancellery signed by him and distributed to all Gauleiters on June 7, 1941:

"Our National Socialist ideology is far loftier than the concepts of Christianity, which in their essential points have been taken over from Jewry. A differentiation between the various Christian confessions is not to be made here the Evangelical Church is just as inimical to us as the Catholic Church. All influences, which might impair or damage the leadership of the people exercised by the Füehrer with the help of the NSDAP must be eliminated. More and more the people must be separated from the churches and their organs the pastors. Just as the deleterious influences of astrologers, seers and other fakers are eliminated and suppressed by the State, so must the possibility of church influence also be totally removed. Not until this has happened, does the state leadership have influence on the individual citizens. Not until then are the people and Reich secure in their existence for all time." (Nazi Conspiracy & Aggression, Volume I)

GARY NORTH: "Imperial bureaucracy is produced whenever men believe that at least some men -- the central planning elite -- are essentially divine, or what is the same thing, that they have no god above them to whom their subjects (slaves) can successfully appeal."

--Gary North, Moses and Pharaoh, pg 48, Institute for Christian Economics, Tyler, pg 48.

NOTE: There is a modern parallel of Egypt in the form of the USSR. A vast central, static order, ruled by deified persons, with at least a certain cult of the dead. In Egypt, it was the pyramids; in the Soviet Union, Lenin's tomb is the shrine. The best-dressed person in the USSR -- all dressed up, with nowhere to go.

SOCIALISM COVETOUS ROBBERY: "Someone who is going to work for many years to have his own home wants some fairly rigid asurance that the house will in fact belong to him -- that he cannot be dispossessed by someone who is physically stronger, better armed, or more ruthless, or who is deemed more 'worthy' by political authorities. Rigid assurances are needed that changing fashions, mores, and power relationships will not suddenly deprive him of his property, his children, or his life. Informal relationships which flourish in a society do so within the protection of formal laws on property, ownership, kidnapping, murder, and other basic matters on which people want rigidity rather than continuously negotiable or modifiable relationships." (Murray N. Rothbard, For a New Liberty: The Libertarian Manifesto, NY: Collier, 1978, p. 39)

(Judaic/Christian teachings guaranteed rights, socialism fluidly does not).

Ancient Christian custom was generally to let the beard and hair grow, as the 'untampered face is in the image of God.' Yet because pagan Germanic and Scandinavian barbarians knew not the razor, shaven faces and tonsured monks appeared at least in part as a reaction. No pope in the last three centuries has even had a mustache.

By the 1920s, any facial adornment in America was the object of both derision and suspicion. The full-bearded House of David baseball team out of St. Joseph, MI, traveled the country to be laughed at -and coin money. Movie villains without black hats could be spotted immediately by their mustaches. It took Douglas Fairbanks Sr., Ronald Colman and Errol Flynn to confuse us again.

When the collegiate rebels of the 1960s let their hair grow long as a symbol of defiance to the "establishment," they were reversing a 17th-century British situation in which the powerholding Stuarts had the luxuriant locks and the rebellious Puritans cut theirs, thus becoming "Roundheads." And now in the 1990's, "skinheads" are appearing both as neo-nazi's and as a separate sub-current within the culture. (Facts from "Legends, Lies & Cherished Myths of American History," Richard Shenkman, 1988, Wm. Morrow & Co., NY)

"Middle eastern kings of the second millennium BC used a formula for announcing their sovereignty which was similar to God's announcement in Ex 20:1, and also similar to God's announcement to Moses of His name (Ex 6.2). Even when their names were well known, they announced them in the introduction to their proclamations." --U.Cassuto, A Commentary on the Book of Exodus, Jerusalem: The Magnes Press, the Hebrew Univ, 1974, p76-77.

GARY NORTH: "It also was customary for the king to record his mighty deeds. (See U.Cassuto, A Commentary on the Book of Exodus, Jerusalem: The Magnes Press, the Hebrew Univ, 1974, p341). To demonstrate the similarities between God's treaty with His people and the treaties of ancient monarchs, Cassuto summarizes the implicit assumptions of God's announcement: "I the Speaker, am call YHWH, and I AM YOUR GOD specifically. Although I am the God of the whole earth (14.5), yet I am also your God in the sense that, in consideration of the sanctification, I have chosen you to be the people of My special possession from among all the peoples of the earth (14.6); and it is I WHO BROUGHT YOU OUT OF THE LAND OF EGYPT; not just bringing you forth from one place to another, but liberating you FROM THE HOUSE OF BONDAGE. Hence it behooves you to serve Me not out of fear and dread, in the way that the other peoples are used to worshipping their gods, but from a sense of love and gratitude." (ibid, p241) By asserting His sovereignty from the very beginning, as the 13th century Jewish scholar Nachmanides said, 'God provided the reason for them to accept His commandments. Without acknowledging His sovereignty, they would not obey.'" --The Sinai Strategy, p18, Institute for Christian Economics, Tyler, TX.

GARY NORTH: "When Adam rebelled, he believed that he had the opportunity of becoming as God, knowing (determining) good and evil (Gen 3:5). His ethical rebellion was an assertion of human autonomy, a conscious decision to substitute his own authority and judgement for God's. Was Adam's word sovereign, or was God's?

That single forbidden tree, with its forbidden fruit, was a symbol of Adam's subordination, meaning his lack of original sovereignty. He did not have control over that one sphere of the creation. Only God possessed absolute control over everything, including control over both Adam and that tree. By asserting his right to eat from that tree, Adam was announcing unilaterally the legitimacy of his quest for total power -- the power to control anything and possibly even everything, as if he were God." --The Sinai Strategy, p. 73, Institute for Christian Economics, Tyler, TX.

(This is exactly the flaw of Mormon thought...they would be gods).

NORTH: "Middle eastern kings of the second millennium BC used a formula for announcing their sovereignty which was similar to God's announcement in Ex 20:1, and also similar to God's announcement to Moses of His name (Ex 6.2). Even when their names were well known, they announced them in the introduction to their proclamations (U.Cassuto, A Commentary on the Book of Ex , Jerusalem: The Magnes Press, the Hebrew Univ, 1974, p 76-77)) It also was customary for the king to record his mighty deeds (ibid, pg 341). To demonstrate the simlarities between God's treaty with His people and the treaties of ancient monarchs, Cassuto summarizes the implicit assumptions of God's announcement: "I the Speaker, am called YHWH, and I AM YOUR GOD specifically. Although I am the God of the whole earth (14.5), yet I am also your God in th4e sense that, in consideration of the sanctification, I have chosen you to be the people of My special possession from among all the peoples of the earth (14.6); and it is I WHO BROUGHT YOU OUT OF THE LAND OF EGYPT; not just bringing you forth from one place to another, but liberating you FROM THE HOUSE OF BONDAGE. Hence it behooves you to serve Me not out fo fear and dread, in the way that the other peoples are sued to worshipping their gods, but from a sense of love and gratitude." (ibid, p 241) By asserting His sovereignty from the very beginning, as the 13th century Jewish scholar Nachmanides said, God provided the reason for them to accept His commandments. Without acknowledging His sovereignty, they would not obey." --Gary North, The Sinai Strategy, p. 18, Institute for Christian Economics, Tyler, TX.

(Deu. 20.12) GARY NORTH, SINAI STRATEGY, P35-36: North says Moses fell into the Egyptian pattern of formula-magic, manipulating the elements by seeing what had worked in the past. He 'tapped into God's power" for his own use, so to speak, because in Ex 17:6 he had seen where striking the rock worked. We see in Acts 19:14 the sons of Sceva trying to spot the word or formula of magic that Paul used, and they found one common thing, the "formula magic words" of "in the name of Jesus," which they then attempted to control the power of God with. As Moses was 'learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians' (Acts 7:22), he was falling into old habits.

Man always thinks he can own part of God's sovereignty, even if by trickery. If I can find your car keys, I can possess your mobile power. Man thinks if he can find God's keys, he can use the power of God. God is reiterating His power is not that of a god, malleable to a man's use, and that His power is sovereign, and certainly is not empowered by magical formulae.

PAGAN GODS NOT SOVEREIGN: "The famous cylinder of Cyrus found by Hormuzd Rassam in the nineteenth century is in remarkable agreement with the royal edict as set forth in the Bible. "From . . . Ashur and Susa, Agade, Ashnunnak, Zamban, Meturnu, Deri, with the territory of the land of Gutium, the cities on the other side of the Tigris, whose sites were of ancient found-- the gods, who dwell in them, I brought back to their places and caused them to dwell in a habitation for all time. All their inhabitants I collected and restored them to their dwelling places . . . may all the gods whom I brought into their cities pray daily before Bel and Nabu for long life for me." --R. W. Rogers, Cuneiform Parallels to the Old Testament [1912], p. 383; cited in New Unger's Bible Dictionary, Moody Press of Chicago, Illinois.

Jer 46:17 They [Egyptian warriors] cried there, "Pharaoh king of Egypt {is but} a big noise; He has let the appointed time pass by!'

This nation once WAS a "Christian" nation. It is not now. 1963 marked the official outlawing of God in school, government, and law, beginning when prayer was banned from the classroom. Since then:

• illegitimate births from girls 15-19 has risen from 13 to 34 per thousand in 1987;
• illegitimate births from girls UNDER 15 rose from 5.0 to 11.0 in 1973 and is level since then;
• violent crime has risen from .25 to 1.7 million offenses in 1990;
• gonorrhea in the age group 15-19 yr. went from 350 to 1300 in 1975;
• SAT scores dropped from 980 to 890 in 1980; and have NEVER come close to 1963 since then;

divorce (broken homes, psychologically damaged moms and kids, deadbeat dads, higher welfare costs

included!) went from 2.4 to 5.2 in 1980, 4.7 in 1990 per thousand; all VD (including AIDS) types sent from 400 to near 1100 in 1975, 1000 in 1990... (The Myth of Separation, David Barton)

NO FAITH WITHOUT KNOWLEDGE: "We cannot trust someone or something we know nothing about. We need to know that the object of our trust is trustworthy. ...It is not possible to respond to the gospel without knowing the gospel; it is not possible to trust in Christ without knowing what Christ is all about. Thus even though we can only be redeemed through 'saving faith,' such saving faith presupposes some essential items of knowledge." (Winfried Corduan, No Doubt About It, Broadman & Holman, 1997, p19)

SEEK AND YOU SHALL FIND: "...It is at once objected that if the Bible is of God, it should be so plain that no one could misunderstand it...We might as well say that if God is the Author of Nature, its meaning should be so apparent that all would perfectly understand it, and therefore, understand it alike. And yet we know that our scientists are quite disagreed about many things in nature, and that the great masses of men are in ignorance, almost from first to last, respecting the whole question. God has therefore, made it necessary to study nature in order to get its lessons. Geology, astronomy, physiology, etc, etc, are known only to those who study them. It is reasonable, therefore, that He should make it necessary to study His word." --Prof DR Dungan, "Hermeneutics," pg 1-2, Gospel Light Pub., Delight, Arkansas

Jesus purposely made things hard to understand in order to separate the real students from the scoffers when He said we must eat His flesh and drink His blood (Jn 6:53). This methodology runs throughout the Bible, and does not lend itself well to the extremist or charlatan.

"If you and I don't believe in God, then the only other alternative is to believe in man which includes believing in self.

To believe in something means that we put our faith, trust, and confidence in that thing. It's to say that what we believe in has the answers. It knows what is best. It has the solution.

When you look at our troubled world and the troubles in our lives, the question that is often asked is why. Why would a man throw acid in the face of the mother of his child and thus severely burned eighty percent of her body? Why would a grandmother leave her infant grandchild in a hot car for hours while she played the slot machines at an Ontario casino? Why the murders? Why the rapes? Why the abuse? Why the failed marriages? Why the addictions? Why the children going bad?

Do not the answers to these questions and many more like them lie in what we believe in? You see, the fundamental problem is that we in our world for the most part have chosen to believe in man. We have decided that we know the answers. We have the solutions. We know what is best. And now we are reaping the results of what we have chosen to believe in. If we can be really honest with ourselves, our attempts of trying to be happy and bring about fulfillment haven't produced great results. There is little, if any room for boasting about success. Our world and sometimes our lives are in such a mess simply because of our basic belief system. In a very real way, man has created God in his image rather than allowing God to create us in His image.

"Don't condemn euthanasia if you're not terminally ill." Right and wrong is not determined by our experience with the moral issue in question. It is discovered by right reasoning from the Moral Law. The morality of the act exists independently of our experience with the act. In fact, the best time to assess moral issues is when you're thinking clearly and not emotional or in physical distress. (Ask a woman in hard labor if she wants more children...)

ASSISTED SUICIDE: "Would the Holocaust have been morally permissible if the Jews had consented to it? Was the mass suicide at Jonestown simply a matter of consenting adults exercising their rights?" (Geisler & Turik, "Legislating Morality," Bethany House Publ., Minn., MN, 55438, pg 136).

"I was not meant for...public life in Washington. Here, ruining people is considered sport." (Vincent Foster Jr., Deputy White House Counsel and friend to Pres. Clinton, shortly before he committed suicide.)

"Once every minute, someone in the United States tries to kill himself." ("Suicide", The Spokesman-Review Sunday Magazine, October 24, 1976)

"Suicide now ranks 10th among the leading causes of death." ("Suicide", The Spokesman-Review Sunday Magazine, October 24, 1976)

"Statistics are greatly underreported because of the difficulty in determining in certain cases whether death was deliberate or accidental." ("Suicide", The Spokesman-Review Sunday Magazine, October 24, 1976)

"For each completed suicide there are at least ten attempted suicides." ("Suicide", The Spokesman-Review Sunday Magazine, October 24, 1976)

"Suicide rates also vary by occupations, being highest in occupations of extremes of income and prestige, either very high or very low." ("Suicide", The Spokesman-Review Sunday Magazine, October 24, 1976)

"Among the professional groups, there is a high suicide rate among pharmacists, physicians, dentists, lawyers, nurses, and engineers. IT IS INTERESTING TO NOTE THAT THE SUICIDE RATE IS LOWEST FOR OBSTETRICIANS AND HIGHEST FOR PSYCHIATRISTS." ("Suicide", The Spokesman-Review Sunday Magazine, October 24, 1976)

"Among college students, suicide is the second most frequent cause of death - surpassed only by accidents." ("Suicide", The Spokesman-Review Sunday Magazine, October 24, 1976)

George Sanders, actor once married to Zsa Zsa Gabor, wrote in his suicide note: "I am bored and I have already lived long enough." (The article went on to describe other prominent suicides, with no goals, no will to live, no purpose in life!)

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