Iron J, are you talking of the DSS or Sinaiticus? I believe the Gospel of Thomas was part of the Nag Hammadi collection developed in the 200's by the Gnostics.

Johnzon, And why not feeble stuff as parchment, papyrus, or stone? God need not sturdy recording materials, just sincere hearts that believe. To the point: And he said to me, My grace is sufficient for you: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest on me. (2 Cor 12: 9) So, in that way, scraped ...more

Johnzon, And why not feeble stuff as parchment, papyrus, or stone? God need not sturdy recording materials, just sincere hearts that believe. To the point: And he said to me, My grace is sufficient for you: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest on me. (2 Cor 12: 9)

So, in that way, scraped animal hide is just fine. The Word will out.less

PS. Already got the Codex Sinaiticus on my favorites. Extremely useful tool in Scriptural study. Wonder what this site could offer?

Was enjoyable when the DSS came to the local museam. It was a sensation (as are all their special exhibits), but with a twist. When you entered the gallery holding the Isaiah scroll, there was a decided lack of skeptics (i find myself lucky sometimes). The conversations you have with the strangers in the room about the significance of these documents demonstrate a reverence for the Word that at...more

Was enjoyable when the DSS came to the local museam. It was a sensation (as are all their special exhibits), but with a twist. When you entered the gallery holding the Isaiah scroll, there was a decided lack of skeptics (i find myself lucky sometimes). The conversations you have with the strangers in the room about the significance of these documents demonstrate a reverence for the Word that atheists and agnostics can't realize, recognize, or reproduce.
When The Darwin exhibit comes to town, it will be interesting if that same feeling will be experienced.less

So much for the outer beauty of the church building. What is more important is the integrity of the message within. Time to drop the superficials and work on the deep things of God. How better to critique the church?

DP, You're spot-on on this matter. In Milwaukee, the charter schools are to grant the students who come in on grant money to opt out of the religious courses. They don't. They see it as the one weakness of the public system (and Milwaukee's is notoriously awful) that such courses can't be offered.

Sorry for coming in rather late on this string, but busy, busy, busy schedules keep me from doing more than reading posts. I understand the points made by Chicago and Norman, to an extent, but I would make one quick point, and if no one responses, I'll say I was served well for my slowness to post. In the matter of giving God glory for incidences as this ... what if, in the months that efforts...more

Sorry for coming in rather late on this string, but busy, busy, busy schedules keep me from doing more than reading posts. I understand the points made by Chicago and Norman, to an extent, but I would make one quick point, and if no one responses, I'll say I was served well for my slowness to post.

In the matter of giving God glory for incidences as this ... what if, in the months that efforts were intensified to get these trapped miners out of their predicament ... perish forbid, but what if there had been an earthquake that would have brought tons of rock down and crushed the security enclosure holding the miners?

It would be a sure bet that the atheists among us would have been having a field day blaming God for thwarting the heroic efforts of the rescuers. But there was no such happening. The efforts of the excavators above ground successfully reached those below. No mishaps in the transposrt, no failures to draw up each one safely.

While I'm also sure that for some God would only win if the 33 miners were supernaturally transported to the surface, God was, in His wisdom, allowing humankind a rare opportunity to come to the aid of the unfortunate. Too often I have read of hands held up in despair at trials as this, resulting in miners left buried, given up on. Only in this light, this moving of men to come to rescue when they could more conveniently sit on their hands in "helpless mode" ... in this light "God won."less

Great article about the Christian faith. We aren't out for comfort as the highest good. That means the CHristian is an amazing contradiction to worldly thinking. The Phillipian congregation was the most generous Paul had seen, and commended this congregation to others with a giving problem. Yet, was this a congregation loaded with fat cats dripping with mullah? Hardly. The same is seen w...more

Great article about the Christian faith. We aren't out for comfort as the highest good. That means the CHristian is an amazing contradiction to worldly thinking.

The Phillipian congregation was the most generous Paul had seen, and commended this congregation to others with a giving problem. Yet, was this a congregation loaded with fat cats dripping with mullah? Hardly.

The same is seen with the churches of Revelation 2 and 3. The churches that were oppressed and struggling were blessed, while the wealthy, self-sufficient congregation at Sardis was as dead as the proverbial doornail.

Encountering the discomforts of life allow us to call on Jesus to see us through the times. In that light, it's no so odd or disagreeable. It just takes eyes enlightened by the Spirit to see all this.less