steveorino

Fastest way: It takes 25 jumps and a complete profecientcy card to earn your "A". You can do both by any method in 25 jumps if you don't have to repeat levels. steveOrino

Okay, you get the intentially obtuse award. Its not a struggle because I understand it, but rather because I don't care. Are you bothered by the fact you cannot determine the cause of the universe from a scientific viewpoint? If you know how it all started -- there is a Nobel prize for you too. steveOrino

I wouldn't come down on anyone who smokes. Pity them, yes, give 'em a hard time, no. That being said ... about the only thing I don't like about being a tandem master is taking up a smoker. Give me the fatties any day. To calm their nerves they light one up right before the jump. Then when I have to attach them "prison-friendly" to my harness I get to smell their breath, clothes and hair. Gawd, it's like licking an ash tray! steveOrino

As far as I know, you don't. But then if you don't assign something to an unfathomable god, what use is god? I'd love to tell you what God means to me and what us I have for him. Perhaps I will do so in a PM. This forum is not a good place to do that IMHO. PM me if you want that PM ADDED THOUGHT: For me it is not the unanswered questions about God that bother me the most, but what I know God wants me to do that is contrary to how I feel at times. Like being loving to those whose intent is to do me harm. THAT I struggle with. How God exists outside the time continuim is not a big struggle for me. steveOrino

What questions do you think I have about the real world that I'm struggling with, and in order to cope I must assign my insecurities to an unfathomable God? steveOrino

I think I could ask you the same question.

DZOs are able to verify License #s. Have your DZO check his D# (D-17671) to see if he is legit. Go from there. Good luck, my neighbor sent $3000 to someone he didn't know trying to buy a Harley on Ebay. In the future use the DZO or rigger as an in between. That is common practice among skydivers. steveOrino

What I said was I can't understand about God completely. I don't and will not understand all his reasonings. This is what the book of Job teaches. However, I do believe it makes sense that whatever aspect about God that He wanted me to know about Him, he could make known to me, through Christ, scriptures, Holy Spirit, creation and nature. steveOrino

It sounds like a good program but I need some clarifications: 1) What type of exit wil they do in a C182? It is my understanding most tandem manufacturers are wanting TM to NOT do poised exits anymore. 2) The typical "legs up the butt and out of the airstream" are normal for tandems when does this change? Ist tandem? Second? I'm sure I'll have more questions, but I'm interested in learnig more about this methods, as it seems VERY flexible. steveOrino

Quote 1. There is NO evidence what so ever to support the stories of Christ as depicted in the bible. Okay the very first Christians made it up and they knew they made it up. they propegated a lie so they could be run out of town, beaten, fed to the lions, imprisoned. yeah, that makes sense. LISTEN. I'm not talking about later Christians. Lots of religous people will die for what they believe to be truth. I'm talking about the very first ones, like the disciples. They would know it was all a sham if it were. I seriously doubt they would all die for that. 6. To date there is not a single piece of archaeological evidence to support the gospels. We haven’t found the Ark of the Covenant, the Holy Grail or even Noah’s ark, and even the Turin Shroud is a proven fake… The AOC was OT - it ceased to be mentioned in OT times. Probably was melted down during Babyloinan captivity. Holy Grail is a Middle age myth, why would it be mentioned? Same with the Turin of Shroud. What would the early Christians keep? His robe? I guess some centurian owned it and unless he was converted I doubt he would let it go. It would make a good movie. JC owned NOTHING. Not much to keep until Middle age Christianity came along with their penchant for relics. 7. Between the earliest Gospels and the oldest existing manuscripts of the New Testament, there is a blank gulf of three hundred years. It is, therefore, impossible to say what the original Gospels contained Check the reliability of the DSS to the OT. They proved the OT scribes were VERY reliable in what they wrote. Early Christians were mostly Jews. Its not that unfathomable to believe they would protect the viability of scriptures just as the OT scribes did. Also where are getting your information? There are fundamental Christians whe believe Matthew wrote matthew, Mark wrote Mark, so on. No problem with that, but it may not be. There are fundamental atheist that believe NOTHING was written down until 300 AD. Somewhere in between lies the truth. Lee Strobel's "A Case for Christ" and "A Case for Faith" give good research from a Chicago newspaper writer who was an atheists looking for facts. For instance: there are reputable sources that say Jewish historian, Josephus recorded about JC and his followers in the 1st century. He merely places them in history. It gets muddled by later christians who attribute to Josephus claims about JC's deity. Unfortuantely this makes critics throw out the reliable with the fakes. Josephus never wrote about JC being more than a man. There is no evidence he converted. There is strong eveidence that he recorded that JC existed and his followers were being put to death steveOrino

Two schools of thought on this debate: Calvinism and Arminism. You are a Calvinist like most fundamentalists. I seldom spend too much time trying to convince a Calvinist he should be an Arminian. If you want an indepth look at how omniscience and fee will can co-exist read the writings of Jacobus Arminius. One flaw in your debate though is you put the creator of the world into your time restraints such as past, present & future. If God created the world into existence then he would be outside that (because he created it) and all time to Him (past, present & future) would be ever present. steveOrino

The ultimate in cop outs. How can you possibly be satisfied with this big god shaped block in your understanding of the world? Imagine just one second that there was a God. How could you be so arrogant to know Him? steveOrino

Yep, I agree. People may say some things about me too -- some true, some not so true.

Seriously, read Irvin Yalom (an existential pyschologist). His writings are entertaining. A recent good book of his is Love's Exectutioner. steveOrino

Not Christianity. Isaiah 55:8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. steveOrino

Nah, it's all good ... hugs & kisses all around. steveOrino

Speaking of C&Hs. Watterson frequently begged for his comic to be analyzed; not from an artistic point of view but a moral philosophical viewpoint. See attached: Do lazy people deserve what they get or get what they deserve? steveOrino

Please accept my apology for my tongue in cheek comment that sounds rather morally superior when I reread it. There are two major schools of thought on free will in Christian theology, Calvinism and Arminism. The fundamentalist tend to be Calvinist. My theology is Arminian. Your understanding aligns with the calvinist interpretation whether you are Christian or not. steveOrino

It's okay. Even though my theology is Arminian, I believe Calvinist are going to heaven. steveOrino

No he doesnt, he cant have...... If you are all-knowing, you know your future actions, what choices you will make, and you cannot change them otherwise your knowledge would be wrong, and you wouldn't be all-knowing. An omniscient being has no free will to choose actions; all its actions are predetermined. "There is a light switch on the wall; God may either turn it on, or leave it off; but, since God already knows the future, God knows that he will turn it on. That is part of his knowledge. But what if God exercises freewill, and chooses not to turn it on. Is this possible?" Your argument goes back to the debate bewteen Calvinism and Arminism. There are two sides of the Christian camp. Calvinist and Arminians. You my friend are a Calvinist.

Well, your theology of Satan sounds like Brother Al's from the Second Baptist Church in Podunk, Okiehoma, so I guess it stands to reason you'd be a "calvinist". http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/calvinist steveOrino

I guess I'm not buying your "if you're omnipotent and omniscience -- no one has free will" argument. It has flaws in it's conception, the first being that you can think like an omnipotent and omniscience god. the fact that if you could somehow know what someone was going to do with 100% accuracy that you would be dictating their choice doesn't make sense to me.. But maybe it is just me. steveOrino

Wait until you study other theories, then you will totally confused on where you are screwed up. steveOrino

Here's the thing. There is VERY little in scripture about the origin of Satan. In essence the scriptures are virtually silent on his origin. Some theologians and most people are uncomfortable about areas where the Bible is silent, therefore they "create" their own story that makes sense to them. I prefer not to do that. For instance. Some attribute passages such as EZ 28 to be about Satan (but that passage is a prophecy about the King of Tyre) Truthfully, I do not believe the Bible teaches much about Satan's origins. For that cause I prefer not to comment. Yes, I know some will see that as a copout ... so be it. I simply prefer to not answer scriptures's silence with my own eisegesis. steveOrino