Sometimes when things seem wrong in the bible I like to look it up in a different version, sometimes a different version will make it make perfect sense for me.

and your phone looks very smart! cooL!

God, evil spirit thing:

Is what God doing there related to what God did with the pharaoh during moses time? I would think so.

2 thoughts come to mind with these type of passages.

1. Is it that “from the Lord” means God has forced the harmful spirit to do His will or that God has allowed the spirit to do the spirits will? I think in the Pharaoh’s case it is clearly God doing His will. This one with Saul I am not so sure.

2. Why is the spirit labeled “harmful”? Is it the same as evil? Or just has harmful intent? Good can come from harm so it isn’t necessairly evil. With the Pharaoh example, did he actually commit sin or evil acts if it was God leading the charge?

I personally think God is capable of any act. But when God is leading the charge it is obviously not considered ’sin’ as ’sin’ is going against God’s will. We tend to judge actions as evil, bad, or sinful based on what we feel is right and wrong, however God judges them based solely on His will. If He wills it, then it is not sin. Hence God decrees murder as winful but when He leads an army, it becomes ‘ok’.

Remember, Saul was a king chosen by the people, not God. Sauls kingship was not Gods will, thus any spirit bringing down that reign might be looked upon as harmful, but to God the spirit is righting a wrong.

On the discussion of marrying to have sex I bring you Paul’s thoughts to examine and ponder over:

1 Corinthians 7:9
“But if they do not have self-control, let them marry; for it is better to marry than to burn with passion.”

Melissa - yeah, I am with you. I don’t think there’s a certain “age” that you NEED to be married by. I think it is really based on when you meet the RIGHT guy! haha. And then, when you both believe God is leading you towards marriage.

I didn’t really have room in my post to write my own opinion on the subject…so here goes:

There is so much that goes into marriage - that the process could take 3 months - 10 years! It just depends on who you are and where God is leading you. But, I do think sometimes other “priorities” get in the way of marriage - such as graduating college, then starting your career, etc. And while I can see that by the world’s standpoint that might be a smart thing to do, to become your “own person” before you jump into marriage, but I also believe that a healthy marriage is when a man and a woman make sacrifices - and serve each other rather than themselves.

There is also a lot of “libido” factors that this article and others fail to mention (probably because they are secular articles and assume that sex and marriage don’t have to go together). And while, I mentioned in the beginning that I agree that getting married so you can have sex is plain wrong. It also can’t be ignored that the longer you wait for marriage…the more temptation will come. For the average man, their libido peaks from 15-25 years old and then slowly declines, while a woman peaks from 35-45 (Wow! Right?) and by that point having children is near impossible.

And I agree with Liz, a lot of couples today are getting the benefits of marriage (sex, living together, etc) without the commitment…and I would say this happens even for “Christians.” That’s why I believe that it is healthy to spend time praying about your future mate and actively pursuing (guys) and allowing pursuit (girls) of the opposite sex when your in your early 20s. I don’t think we should hide out and wait till we finish our degree and careers to seriously start considering others of the opposite sex as potential mates.

Some people say Christians marry younger so “they can have sex or live together without feeling guilty.” This is obviously not why anyone should get married, but I have also noticed in my friendships with non-Christians that many wait to get married because they already enjoy the benefits of marriage (living together, sex, etc) without having to worry about the commitment (it’s easier to break-up than to get a divorce).

Obama just wants the tax brackets the way they were during the Clinton years, I doubt you will really notice the difference. While I may not agree with that move, I don’t think blowing it out of proportion is fair to his policy either. The other issue of not having an attitude to work for what you need… He has stated it is his intention to help those who need it, which is like you said, giving the people a heling hand, however he does want to get people off of the government hand if they don’t show improvement. It is meant ot help teach to fish, not keep feeing fish, like our current system does.

Rather then bad mouthing what you don’t understand, let’s pray for him to make the right decisions. Hopefully he will be able to do what his vision and ambition has stired up in the heart of this country.