Falwell, Martin Luther King, et al, are a perpetual
embarrassment to me, not because they weren't great
men, but because their extra-pastoral activities tend
to diminish the extreme importance of thier primary duty
(preaching salvation) in favor of lesser, more temporal
benefits like political security and civil rights.

When pastors do this it deceives the ungodly into thinking
the pastors' lesser causes are an integral part of their
ministry and are as important--if not MORE important--than
the preaching of the Gospel.

That is, the more liberal (read: WORLDLY) the church
gets, the less distinctive it becomes from the rest
of the un-churched world.

Is it a sin to make money off of someone
elses bad theology?

I also suspect a selfish motive in limiting the number of people
which (in their minds) means more resources for those who remain.

Think about it.

As long as people as a whole GIVE more than they Get, population
INCREASE is actually much better for all of us than population
decrease.

Though not much of a reader myself, I did manage to come across a
wonderful book which explains this and many other seemingly counter-
intuitive concepts of human economy and resource-usage, called
"The Ultimate Resource".

I believe they call it Rayleigh modeling (with Rayliegh numbers), if I
remember my fluid dynamics classes (taken over 20 years ago!).

I've been told by modern engineers that Noah's ark, specifications of
which were called-out by God himself in Genesis, would have been (I mean,
WAS!) a very stable marine platform in all 6 degrees of freedom
(roll, pitch, yaw, heave, surge, and sway) even on high seas, unlike
the perfect cube-shape of the ark of the Epic of Gilgimesh, which would've
tumbled end-over-end in a similar environment.

I personally don't see the value of physical fasting in our
post-apostolic age, preferring to adhere to the spiritual
aspect that Lurker pointed out in the Isaiah passages.

I guess the "separation-of-church-and-state" crowd weren't quite
so restrictive and pervasive back then...at least not in that part
of the country.

In contrast, my high school, in 1980, had a COW when a professing
Christian student wrote an open letter to all his fellow classmates,
including his own testimony and an enclosed Bible tract.

Jewish students seemed most offended, but many others were also.

Another friend, who attended public school back in the late 50s told
me they actually used to open class with PRAYER.

Then again, I and my friends would've been nearly as helpless
and unarmed as the rest, since it's illegal to have a gun near
schools or hospitals here in CA.

Unless you're close enough to jump the gunman while he's reloading
there's not much anyone can do in such a situation except stay down
and/or get the heck out of there.

I'm Googling him now.

That's gotta be one of the most creative phrases I've heard
used by people to try to compartmentalize their sin!

That being said, I can't help but suspect a lack of attentiveness
on the part of the murdered husband regarding his wife and her
feelings.

God's word itself regards her as "the weaker vessel", not as a
critisism of her but an admonishement to him to keep short accounts
with her and where she is in their relationship.

So says Billy Graham, in response to people who focus on homosexuality more
than other sins (like Fred Phelps).

But this statement has virtually NO convicting power in it to save anybody, much
less a hard-core homosexual. As written, it may even ENCOURAGE the homosexual
that his "lifestyle" is somehow acceptible to God and his people.