Originally Posted By tiggertoo Why does a biblical verse about a rich man and a camel keep popping into my mind? And frankly, why is God's name is it so important to some people? Feigned humility is, IMO, an insult to God.
Originally Posted By cape cod joe Tom--I said over and over again. I believe and that's why I have miracles but stop the wealth thing as I am in the bottom 10% here. Let's talk about my daughter not dying or some other miracle. We live so our kids won't get kidnapped or killed as so many others do and sacrifice for that purpose. We are NOT wealthy for the zillionth time but own real estate like George Washington who had his money in the real estate. I developed our business by getting up at 3 for decades and listening to Portuguese on our cd player so I could develop the Brazilian market here. The idea just came to me like Joel Osteen talks about. I think everyone can be a conduit of God if they believe and take the first step like Moses did. My wife's father (Baptist Minister) can idea when I spout Joel's ideas all the time. In our President's Foyer we have obviously the Presidents' stuff but also the Uuabridged Dictionary, the Bible, Joel's book, and Rick Warren's book. This info helps no one, if they scoff at Joel's ideaa and ideals and don't follow suit.
Originally Posted By TomSawyer By the way, Moses and his people waited an entire night while the waters parted before they stepped toward the Red Sea. Pharoah's army was kept from attacking them by a cloud that divided them from Israel's encampment while the waters parted. Moses and his people only went toward the Red Sea when God led them that way. You can read the account yourself in Exodus 14 - you can read it at <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=exodus" target="_blank">http://www.biblegateway.com/pa ssage/?search=exodus</a>%2014&version=31 Is this idea that Moses didn't wait for the seas to part something that Osteen claims?
Originally Posted By TomSawyer Joe, you said before that you're paying $10K a month to live where you do. If you can afford $120K a year on housing, I think you qualify as wealthy.
Originally Posted By cape cod joe That leaves us pretty broke as all our investments are real estate. How are your retirement plans Tom? We have NONE I was brought up Catholic and know little about the Bible but maybe Joel was wrong with the Red Sea and Diane's father who was a Minister. I'm just going by what they told me? It seems like everyone argues about the Bible, so let them as I know LITTLE about it. Teach me and I'll listen as I always do. tigger---frankly > you're right.
Originally Posted By TomSawyer That's one of the reasons I don't like Osteen, ccj. He's not a theologian and his view of the faith isn't terribly accurate. It's an immature interpretation that is designed to make people feel better about themselves. Have you read "Mere Christianity" by C.S. Lewis, by any chance?
Originally Posted By cape cod joe Thanks Tom and I'll look for it at the bookstores next time that I'm out with the kids. You are right but I want to feel good. I remember so well in my early "Willy Loman" sales days I read all the Norman Vincent Peale books ala The Power of Postive Thinking and How To Win Friends and Influence People and it seems that Joel took a lot from him. Diane's father did make fun of him all the time until we moved, and now he just smiles when I spout Joel said this or Joel said that. What's wrong with looking at the bright side? My lawyer told our kids "Your father looks at the glass as being 3/4 the way full the day after he told my wife and me that we would NOT pass papers on 10/15 on our dream house because we couldn't get the financing. This was on 10/14 when we had the 250K check of profits on the house in our hands that he said we couldn't sell months prior. I looked at him at 2:15 in the afternoon outside the Barnstable County Courthouse where the Registry of Deeds are located, and told him about the speech that William Holden gave in the 1977 movie Network and why we would pass and he laughed. My wife cried all night as we had started our kids in a whole new school system a month and a half prior and she believed the lawyer. This was before Joel or any religious stuff at all. I said "We will pass" The next morning the secretary for our lawyer called and said they got the cashier's checks and we could pass at 11:30. I said okay and the rest is history. Of course I fired the lawyer. Point is I always had that positive attitude but Joel on 1/2/05 framed it into an appropos religious context which no one else had done before.
Originally Posted By TomSawyer >>What's wrong with looking at the bright side?<< There's nothing wrong with looking at the bright side. It's the foundation of our faith, after all. But there are some obligations and responsibilities that we have as Christians that feel-good theologies tend to gloss over or ignore.
Originally Posted By cape cod joe Tom--I'm out of here in less than 40 years if I'm lucky so what you say is the bottom line and guess what I do at 8 on most Saturday nights? I watch Charles Stanley from Atlanta Ga. no matter how beat up I feel afterwards. Man does he make me feel my responsiblities and obligations. That's why the eclectic thing is the way to go especially in religion. Tom ----------Should I send my tithe to you?
