TigerJ

You do know who I'm talking about, don't you? He's the tight end long snapper Buffalo signed and then allocated to Amsterdam in NFL Europe. I'm watching the game between Amsterdam and Frankfort, and he's getting his name called a lot for good things. They are describing him as having very good hands, and some speed. They also mention his long snapping favorably. They haven't talked about his blocking. One obvious drawback, he's got to put on some meat. At 6'6" he only weighs 240. I know he doesn't have the greatest pedigree, but with the Bills thin at TE if Campbell and Ehus need a little more time, maybe he can help.

Agreed 100%. If Brit would like to cite sources, I always try to keep an open mind, but I suspect he'll have a tough time finding them. I also like your other takes on "virgin" in Isaiah and background info on crucifixion. BTW, the original language in Isaiah was Hebrew, not Aramaic.

Yes. In the case where the body decomposes completely, God remakes it I guess. In any case, when we are resurrected, I believe God also transforms our bodies so that they will be like Jesus' body. God will not leave our imperfections.

There was a story, purported to be true about my former bishop in the Unted Methodist Church. The story goes that he swung under the ball, trying to drive it off the tee. The ball went straight up, I mean PERFECTLY straight up. In his frustration at the terrible miss, the bishop wound up and swung again just as the ball was coming down. He connected and hit a perfect drive, just as the ball reached the ground.

Does he have Hodgkins or non-Hodgekins lymphoma? I thought I heard he had Hodgkins, but I can't be sure. Stage four is the most advanced but there is some hope he can beat it.

Short, sweet, and to the point. Good post, pkwwjd. Sometimes people ask if you have to believe in this or that to be a Christian. I belive in the virgin birth, for instance, but the Bible does not state that the virgin birth is a required belief for salvation. The resurrection however, is on the short list of absolute necessities.

If a measurement of 86 trips your trigger, just use your imagination. Don't let my little dose of reality stop you.

Do your conversion from metric. She's 5'10" and measures a hair under 34"

I don't know how much it affects this particular incident because much of this occurred some time ago, but with thedeep fiscal problems Erie County has, and the massive layoffs in just about every department, including social services, people sure aren't going to ber getting much individual attention. If people were just a number before, it's only going to be worse now.

I was trying to be funny, but there were no smileys that were obvious enough. I've seen one on another board that explodes in rage. That's the one I was looking for.

The thing JP will need to work on is not his arm, but poise in the pocket. He'll need to learn how long he has before he needs to get rid of the ball. He'll need to learn how to feel the pressure. He'll need to learn to alwaysh know where his hot reads are. He'll need to learn how to step up in the pocket. In short, he'll be fine in the throwing department. He just needs to learn how to be an NFL QB.

It's true, I've never had to deal with those kinds of issues. Three more years and the last one is finished with college. Afro was more responsible than some, some guys just disappear.

As long as he can direct it in appropriate fashion and keep his play on the field within the bounds of the rules.

I never get defensive and angry.

I don't doubt that this scouting report was accurate based on everything that happened up through last season. It does not take into account what JP has done this offseason. I don't think he's really had enough time at the pro level, under pro coaching to really get a complete read on his abilities and potential.

I wholeheartedly agree that belief in God and life after death softens the sting of death. It also might make one more willing to sacrifice his/her life for a cause if need be, but in Christianity at least, suicide is very much looked down upon. I would not presume to judge the fate of someone who committed suicide, but most Christians would not think suicide is consistent with Christian values. I did the funeral of a suicide "victim" a couple years ago, and it was one of the hardest funerals I've done.

Melanoma is dangerous when not caught early, but fairly curable when it is caught early. Other kinds of skin cancers are generally more curable and less dangerous. i think the main reason is the tendency of melanoma to metasticize. Your wife should be OK, but we'll pray regardless.

It depends on what you want to accomplish. I was a camper as a kid and have been involved in church camps most of my adult life. Camps have the advantage of providing an intensive experience. The conventional wisdom is that a week of camp is worth a year of Sunday School in terms of the impression it cam make on a child. Of course that's only true if camp is a positive experience. If your talking a private, non-church related camp, I would ask for references to make sure the camp provides a positive experience where children are having fun and hopefully learning some positive values. If your child is quite young a day camp (no nights) is often a good idea, because nighttime is the time when a young child is most often going to feel homesick. Church camps often run 2 or 3 day camps for younger elementary children rather than a full week.

I've seen Gallup polls that suggest belief in God is in the range you expected, 90-95%. I don't know what these percentages say about football fans. It is interesting that some religions are essentially universalist. Hinduism has a saying that goes something like this: "All roads lead to the top of the mountain." Of course, Hindus believe in reincarnation, that you keep coming back until you get it right, or something like that. Other religions, including the one in which I believe stubbornly insist that there can only be one right way. I freely admit that the possibility exists that the way I think is the right one isn't, but it makes the most sense for me. Moreover, and those outside of Christianity would not be able to appreciate this, Jesus shows himself to believers in such a way that faith really is not blind. That is the experience of Jesus is real. You mention in your post that all religions believe in life after death. That may be true after a fashion, but there are lots of differences in how different religions perceive life after death. Of course Hinduism posits a nearly endless cycle of life, death, and reincarnation. The ultimate goal however is Nirvana, which is a melding back into the oneness of the universe and the yielding up of individual consciousness. Islam posits a very materialistic heaven complete with all manner of material delights. Christianity is less definitive about our hereafter than some. Tghe final book of the Bible, Revelation describes a fantastic golden city in a huge golden cube that comes down out of heaven. For most of us however, that seems more figurative than actual. I think that heaven is mostly about the bond of relationship between God and the redeemed, and between the redeemed being much more real. In the letters of Paul, the apostle describes being sealed with the Holy Spirit (figurative language for receiving the Holy Spirit) as a foretaste of heaven.

Putting together what seem to be the most insightful posts on this thread, I think Gandy was released to make room for Columbo because the Bears had a glut at guard and saw Gandy as more of a guard than a tackle. I agree is something of Marcus Price type, but he's actually more versatile since Price only ever played guard. Gandy can potentially play any line spot. Realistically, I think the Bills realize he is a stopgap answer at LT until someone else demonstrates he is ready (Peters), but they hope with McNally's coaching he can go at LT as long as the Bills need him.

While the "step backward" is an undeniable part of his article, there's a lot of other stuff in it as well. It's tough to blame someone for spoouting "conventional wisdom." The plain truth is that first time starters at QB struggle more often than not, and their teams struggle with them. We're all hopeful he won't. We have some evidence on our side. Most highly rated QBs starting for the first time play for bad teams. There is evidence that the Bills have surrounded Losman with a lot of talent and there are relatively holes in the team. I think the coaching staff assembled by the Bills is just about ideal for a young QB. The evidence suggests that Losman not only has an abundance of natural talent, but is even more dedicated to success than we hoped when the Bills drafted him. Still, until or unless Losman does it on the field he, and we, will continue to be subjected to "conventional wisdom."

The pretty much sums up what I believe.

The Bible is a collection of separate works written over perhaps 1,500 to 1,600 years. These separate works came into being by different means. Many of the books of the Bible we can only speculate about. Old testament form critics look at texts in some of the first books of the Bible and suggest that they can determine the identity of different groups who made those contributions or changes in the text. They have names for those groups based on the terms those aloleged groups have for God. If the text refers to God as Yahweh, then it must have come from that group called the Yahwists by form critics. This is all speculation, and I'm rather skeptical of it. It is pretty widely accepted that the gospels in the New Testament found their way into written from from 20 to 70 years after the death and resurrection of Jesus. The first three gospels, the "synoptic gospels" probably include material that was part of an "oral tradition;" sayings of Jesus, stories of miraculous healings, etc. Christian believers passed those stories on to each other, from one church to another. Over time, those sayings and stories began to appear in written collections. Textual critics suggest that there was one prominent collection of written sayings and accounts of Jesus' actions. This collection, called "Q" was used as a source form much of the sayings and miracles, etc. that appear in the three synoptic gospels. I think there is probably something to this theory. That does not eliminate the possibility that there was a Luke, a Gentile physician and some time traveling companion of the apostle Paul, who took some of that wwritten material and incorporated it, but also going back and talking with some of those who knew Jesus personally and verifying the truth of what he wrote. Each book has it's own story, and many of the books we'll never know for certain how they came into being. There are many other books that circulated in the church in the second and third centuries AD. There are other gospels, other letters and books that don't fit into any particular category. Maybe you've heard of the Gospel of Thomas or of Barnabus, or the Shepherd of Hermes. In the 4th century AD the church began to get deliberate about collecting in one body all of those literary works deemed worthy of being called scripture. The process was not easy or without controversy. It is for me a matter of faith that with God's guidance the church got it right.

The Letter of Paul to the Romans was originally written in Greek. As the Roman church gained in power and authority the Bible was translated into Latin.

The modern translations are indeed translations from the manuscripts that have been found in the original lanquages. You can find, however, Old Testaments that were translated first into Greek, and then into English. Look for English translations of the Septuagint. The Septuagint was a Greek translation of the Old Testament that was done in Alexandria, Egypt by a group of 70 scholars. Hence the name "Septuagint. You might be interested to know that at least some quotes in the New Testament of Old Testament passages appear to be from the Septuagint. An example, the synoptic gospels quote the book of Isaiah to explain the ministry of John the Baptist. The New Testament says "A voice crying in the wilderness, 'Prepare the way of the Lord." In Isaiah, in modern translations at least it reads, "A voice crying, 'In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord." The explanation: The New Testament appears to be quoting the Septuagint, which according to modern scholars made a small error in the Greek translation from the Hebrew. There are a few versions of the Bible in modern language that are billed not as translations (notably The Living Bible), but paraphrases. But unless the translators are guilty of gross dishonesty they do indeed go back to original language manuscripts to do genuine translations. There are a few telltale signs of the fact that modern translators are not just paraphrasing the KJV. The KJV includes a familiar passage in the gospel of John chapter 8 where Jesus intervenes when a woman is about to be stoned. You may be familiar with the quote, "Let him who is without sin cast the first stone." No one is without sin, so they leave the woman alone. Modern translations correctly note that this story does not appear in the oldest available manuscripts. Some include the passage with an explanation. Some put the passage in a footnote. Speculation is that it was part of the oral tradition of the church which some enterprising young monk felt should be in one of the gospels. It may have been an actual incident in Jesus' ministry, but was probably not part of the Jospel of John when it was written. There is another passage in the last chapter of Mark with a similar history, and a single verse in I John.