Sounds like this guy might just be a loner type.  That is fine too.  Churches need to be inclusive of all types of personalities.  

Some people find that making conversation with others is just difficult or uncomfortable.   Many people like this find it easier to be busy working at an activity such as setting up tables and chairs, cleaning up after or maybe cooking.  

It is a good thing for Christians to gather together as the scriptures say.  Getting to know each other helps us to aid each other and know where to put people in ministries that best use their special and unique talents.  

Would you hire someone with a disability?  The disability could be anything:  in a wheelchair, deaf, blind, mental retardation, various types of autism including Asperger's, learning disabilities, mental illness (on medication).  

I am currently doing a scriptural study for proof against or for communal living.  That is Christians sharing all there goods and land in common.  There are a few Christian sects such as the Broderhof and Hutterites that do this today.  It seems many cults practice this as well.  

What are your opinions on communal living?

What answer can be given when the Bible is attacked?  Some people say that the Bible can be used to justify slavery and the slave trade.  

Many people blame European (or American) colonialism on all the problems of the world today.   Particularly that Christian missionaries destroyed cultures and interferred with political and social structures in some societies.   What should a Christian's response be to these statements?  

Christians do have some explanations for violence/slavery in the Bible as you have explained.  I have yet to hear any Muslims explain the passages of the Koran that advocate genocide.

We do however forget that there are some Christians who have justified their acts of terrorism.  Organizations such as the IRA and other groups have been supported by Christians, even some American Christians.  

So what turns an ordinary person into a terrorist?  Some answers.  

http://whyfiles.org/140terror_psych/

As much as I hate to be a moderate voice on this subject ....... a few points to ponder.

Not all Muslims are radicals and wish their children to become suicide bombers.   Could it be that some are just like the cultural C&E (Christmas and Easter) Christians who are just as ignorant about their holy scriptures?  Just as much as all western European colonists were not Christian missionaries.  It is totally unfair to brand a whole group of people as evil.  If people are presenting factual information on this forum fine.  There should be no tolerance for hate or advocating genocide.   I do have a problem with radical Islamists and so do many moderate Muslims.  Britain and Canada have hate crime laws so there really is not true freedom of speech that Americans love.  If Britain deports or jails people for committing hate crimes, fantastic.  Other countries should do the same.

I had the interesting opportunity to have to defend the Christian/Jewish Bible against allegations that it was hate literature against Wiccan beliefs.  I know a woman who is Wiccan (I often pray for her) who was very upset and angry that the Bible says all witches should be put to death.  I had to explain to her that Christians are not on a witch hunt to kill Wiccans (while there might be some who are, I am not one of them).  While there are several crimes which the penalty prescribed is death in the Bible, we do not use those punishments today.  The Bible does advocate genocide against the Amekelites (whoever they may be today?)  So someone should really have to survey several moderate Muslims to ask them why those scriptures advocating genocide against Jews and Pagans (can be interpreted as Christians, Hindus, etc) are in there and what is their revelance now (and maybe why they have not been removed).  

The question about the 9 yr bride.  There are several reasons to arrange a marriage: for protection of the girl/woman, alliances with other families/clans, not just for sexual purposes.  I had pointed this out in a Muslim/Christian discussion.  After which one Muslim said that the marriage was not consumated until the girl was 11 yrs old since she had a child from that union when she was 12 yrs old.  That alleged fact did not add any favour to the case.  I was still disgusted.  

The only thing that bothers me about Jesus is the clearing of the temple.  I do not particularly like the image of violence.  But it should be noted that Jesus is often portrayed as a revolutionary against oppression when evangelizing to Muslims and some other populations.  The issue of the Bible allegedly supporting slavery is often used when convincing African-heritaged people to convert to Islam.  (terrorist groups often recruit converts and convicts because then they will have the desire to 'prove their devotion' and because they have broken the law already they will be more likely to see justification in breaking it again.  That is why I have a huge problem with prison allowing in these 'missionaries'.)  As the plight of the Palestinians/ strife in Pakistan being the fault of (Christian) European/American governments used to convert other cultural/racial groups.   Of course the converts are told that the Koran must be read only in Arabic (which they will have to learn) so they do not know what it is really about.  

I also question that if the Koran is considered to be such a piece of hate literature why is it the first thing given along with clothing and a bed roll to prisoners at Guitanimo Bay, Cuba?  

To the parents of sunday school students.

I am getting ready to start teaching sunday school again next month.  I am looking forward to seeing the little darlings again while dreading the few problem children in the class.

I would like to remind parents of a few things:

1.  Sunday school is not babysitting.  Your children are there to learn not because they can not sit through the service.  Some families do sit together during the service and prefer not to use the sunday school.  

2.  Sunday school is not a substitute for Christian learning at home.  

3.  Do not send your children to class with toys, purses, dolls or other distractions.  

4.  Do not expect that the children will be doing a craft or getting a treat every Sunday.  We have a curriculum that we follow with certain objectives.  We would like to focus on teaching scriptures, prayer and relationships with Jesus.

5.  Please help your children complete take-home sheets and memorize the weekly verses at home.

6.  After Sunday school is over, the teachers are not responsible for your children during coffee time.  We do our best to make sure your children and safe and secure during class time.  Once you pick up your children from class, you are responsible for them.  I can not understand why parents let their children play unsupervised in the parking lot, washrooms and other rooms of the church when we have a safety program to follow during classes.  

7.  If your child has an allergy, learning or behavioural problem, please let the teachers know.  We do our best to accommodate every student.  

Is this what you are looking for?

Deuteronomy 22:11  "garment if divers sorts, as of woollen and linen"    
the Hebrew "sha'atnez" is talking about cloth of linen and wool carded and spun together.  Very Orthodox Jews will only wear clothing made of fabric that is 100% wool, 100% cotton, 100% linen, 100% silk, 100% polyester, etc.  50/50 polyester/cotton will not due.  

Deut 22:5  "A woman must not wear men's clothing, nor a man wear women's clothing, for the Lord your God detests anyone who does this."

In any case, for Orthodox Jews, the women are always seen wearing long skirts and feminine apparel.  The men wear pants and masculine apparel.  This would also help in making sure some did not become ritually unclean by wearing their menstruating female relative's clothing.  As well as clearing up issues with cross dressing and sexual roles.  

It may also be noted that up until the past century, most cultures that embraced Christianity or Judaism had distinct types of clothing worn by each sex respectively.  

Has someone been telling stories of Bibles being chained to tables in churches and common folk not allowed to read the Bible for themselves?

Many of the beautiful churches and cathedrals built in the Middle Ages and before were full of carvings and stained glass windows that illustrated the life and suffering of Christ and several Biblical stories.   Other elements of design in the churches were used to represent different aspects of Christianity.   People could look at the artwork and be told of the scriptures.  Mass was said in Latin which most common folk could not understand fully but lessons and sermons were given in the common language of the people.  

Before the printing press was invented, all books had to be copied by hand onto parchment.  This made books including Bibles very very expensive,a reason why they might have been chained up.  Sometimes one book volume might include one Gospel and not a whole Bible because of the thickness of the pages.  Mostly just the nobility could read and afford to own books.  Some men would become monks so they could get an education.  

The social structure of Europe changed and more people had access to education and became literate.  Then books became more available.   Other areas where Christianity existed might have had different levels of literacy.  For example, Jews have always had high literacy rate.  Jewish mothers taught their children at home and then boys were sent to the synagogue later for more learning.  

The reformation churches usually preferred simplier unadorned churches and preferred to focus on the scriptures.  They did not need the stained glass pictures to teach people because people could read the scriptures from the Bible themselves.  Mostly it was due to costs and having to keep their churches underground.  If they had control of the cathedrals from the beginning, they would not have changed them much, except maybe remove some of the Virgin worship.  

I do not understand what a missionary license is.  Is this required by your denomination or by your country's government?

If you are doing such needed work for your church, why are they making you pay to do it?  I volunteer for many activities at my church that I do not get paid for.  I expect them to pay for a reasonable amount of supplies and I pay for my own carfare and food while I am working at the church.  If you can not afford to keep working for free and they still need you to work, why can't they help you out.  I know someone will give me a ride or lunch if I am in a situation that is difficult.

_"

Along the stopping terrorism line...
I noted that a US Representative from Colorado actually called for the destruction of Mecca if Islamofascists set off a nuke in the USA.

Now - I know that in an earlier post in this thread I said "nuke 'em", but a day or so I read a comment on another website that made the point/asked the question -

"If destroying Mecca is justified because of the actions of some muslims, wouldn't the bombing of the Vatican be justified by the British because IRA terrorists are all Catholic?"

That made me stop and think..."[/sub]

No, bombing is not justified.  I could never agree with bombing those sites.

But I tried a little substitutions myself with parts of a Time article on the London attacks.

I have changed the names and places to make substitutions marked like *().

"At about 10:30 p.m., on July 7, the parents of *(John Doe) called police to report that their 18-year-old son was missing.  He had told them he was going to
*(Los Vegas) 'with some mates'; and they hadn't heard from him.  
"Although locals claimed not to have noticed anything unusual, all three men, in hindsight, had show proclivities for radical *(Christianity).  After *(John Doe) got into some fights at his racially divided school, he went to *(The Vatican) on a pilgrimage with his father, who then sent thim to study in a
*(monanstery) in *(Canada), hoping the teen would gain discipline.  When *(Joe Doe) returned to *(Phoenix), he grew a beard and began dressing in traditional *(Amish) clothes.  

"In *(Phoenix) the nexus for their slide over the edge appears to have been a youth-outreach project that was an offshoot the government-funded *(Our Youth) community center.  
*(Joe Doe) and *(other terrorist) regularly played football there.  *(older terrorist) was described as an influential father figure to them."

Has this scenario happened to many Christian families who provided their children with a Christian education?  Who knew who their children were associating with?  Who knew what ideologies their children were being taught in religious instruction?

Are any mainline Christian churches associated with recruitment of terrorist cells?   Would people let their church be used that way?  Would Christians give money to unregistered charities that funded terrorist activities?  Would Christian youth workers be allowed to recruit children and young adults to be suicide bombers?

At worst, I can think of a few rogue Christian groups who were tainted with evil:  Jonestown,  Branch Davidians.  They succeeded in killing off their congregations, law enforcements officers and some other innocent people including a Senator.  But I do not believe they committed random acts of terrorism.  

London police chased down and executed a suspected suicide bomber who was wearing a "padded coat" just this morning.  This is the way all suicide bombers should be treated, that is if they can be caught in time.  

I am also thinking about the story of Esther.  

So I guess sometimes we have to obey laws that seem trivial just to show that we respect authority.  

It is difficult not to speed when everyone else is driving over the limit.  I often try to think of the consquences for speeding:  getting a ticket, causing an accident,  higher insurance premium.  Could poor witness also be thrown in their too.  How far should someone go in trying to obey all the laws?  

It is really rude for people to ask if you are planning to have children or not.  

My husband and I have been trying to have children for several years.  I have to accept that God might not bless me with children as He does others.  It really makes me sad.

I really hate it when people ask "when are you going to start a family?".  I do not intend to discuss infertility problems with others.  I do not like to hear them suggest that we should adopt or become foster parents either.  That is not for everyone.

When people ask me if I have any children, I can reply that God has not blessed us with children.  Any further discussion is met with a blank stare.  

Where is M going with this?

I was hoping someone might have some scriptural wisdom on this topic.  

Some bylaws are very strange such as  prohibition of lawn ornaments.   Kite flying is prohibited in public parks where I live.  This was because some people were flying "fighting kites" that have razors on the tails.  People were concerned about these kites falling are hurting people and animals in the park.  But they just banned all kites.  

"Act 2:31  He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption. "

Thank you.  That was exactly the scripture that I needed.  I had a question before about the Apostle's Creed.