If someone is smoking MJ and gives it up for a girl, he might go back to it if times get stressful or the girl isn't making him as happy as she sometimes does.
I personally don't plan to consider someone as a potential spouse if that person's walk with God is that beginner, just like I probably wouldn't be considering someone a potential spouse if they had been sexually active with someone in the past 6 months to a year.
I don't think it's sin, but I currently avoid it. If I've never tasted it, then I won't have to worry about cravings for it. There are a lot of other alternatives these days to wine. Back in Jesus' time, they didn't have the same variety.
They might mean: Hot- looks more like an adult with sex appeal going (tight jeans, lower neckline, and/or sleek figure)
Cute- an adult that has that slightly girlish look to her- baby face, clothes that aren't focused on playing up their figure or clothes that are brightly colored and less part of the societally-accepted spectrum (the kind of clothing that makes them stand out like a sore thumb in a crowd).
While I do pre-judge women to some degree based on what they are wearing (I think most people make judgements about a person based on what they are wearing), it doesn't mean I would stick to the those judgements after getting to know someone, and it doesn't mean I wouldn't consider her as a potential spouse simply because she happened to dress a certain way. I would be less likely to want to marry a woman that dresses to get men's attention, but if she had a lot of other positive traits that outweighed her naivety to how she was affecting men, then I probably would still marry her.
Imo, u get into dangerous territory when u assume that perhaps the law is still to be followed, as what becomes of the laws that order that people be killed for committing adultery? A lot of America would be dead if that were followed. And if you believe Jesus changed that, then what else did God change, and perhaps what else of the Law wasn't meant to be God's ideal way of dealing with things?
That said, why don't you research the health benefits or detriments of eating unclean food. To my understanding, pork isn't as healthy for you as beef or chicken is, especially because pigs are designed as animals to be garbage disposals that eat a large variety of things, including dead animals. I've heard that eating bottom dwellers (like crab, lobster, oysters) is also less healthy, and I've heard that lobsters actually get more red in color when increased amounts of toxins/unhealthy for the lobster substances are in the water. And even most Americans practice not eating meat with the blood still in it. Imo, the dietary laws may have been simply common sense laws that God gave to mankind, and not simply symbolic laws that were to reveal some hidden idea or truth. Though I haven't fully gone over the dietary restrictions myself. And while I did read part of the book "The Maker's Diet" and it seems to have the Jewish dietary guidelines in there, and so that book may be helpful, at the same time the author sounded like a used car salesman in it, so if you read it, let his sales pitches go out the window and try to focus on the data/potential facts presented in the book. And don't worry so much about offending God, even worrying is unholy. Remember God's grace and that Jesus not only died for you, he lived the perfect life in your place. So take a deep breath, remember you're God's child, and remember that growing up as a kid takes time, and God's grace helps to cover that. You're not righteous because you do 99 works instead of the 90 works you could have done at a slower pace; you're righteous because Jesus gave his righteousness to you at the cross as a sign of God's mercy. And know that as your seeking God, he is big enough to help you find the truth, though that doesn't mean the devil won't want to try to stop you. I would just say just try to relax and do what you can with God. Imo, the food issue is a minor one compared to the impact a lot of the other sins can have in a person's life.
And I don't hold the situation in the Philippines against you. And I apologise for any hand America may have had in exploiting your country. If only people knew half the history of what their ancestors did to other people, perhaps they would be a lot more compassionate toward other people groups. But you're right, all of mankind has to work together now and work with God to clean up the mess mankind has made in the world. America is in a bad spot too. Last I heard, we were $14 trillion dollars in debt as a nation. Imo, America's credit card has to go bad at some point, and when it does, we might face another time in our country like the Great Depression. So yea, it is everyone just simply trying to do the best they can in this world with the resources that God allows them to get.
Imo, a man ruling over a woman came in the Fall- "Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.� Genesis 3:16. Christ redeemed us from the Fall, so that we don't have to live in that way any more. I plan to have an egalitarian relationship with whatever future wife I have, where we both make decisions together equally, and when we can't agree, we can always take turns on who gets the final say. No biggie. Some people are stuck on the fact that they think God is a guy, and so therefore men have the higher spot. But the problem with that thinking is, is that God is a spirit. He doesn't inherently have boy parts, and for that matter, when we get to heaven, we may not have boy parts or girl parts either ("30 At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven." Matthew 22:30). So to assume that women are somehow less human/less capable simply because they don't have an extension like guys do, well that's about as smart as that extension is.
And yes, I am aware of what Paul (I believe it was Paul) said, but you also have to take Paul's culture into context, and don't forget that Paul also said that women would be saved through childbearing and that they shouldn't braid their hair or wear gold jewerly (or at least some Christians interpret those things as what was being said). Most Christians would agree that salvation comes through repentance and Christ's blood, not through the need to give birth to a child at some point. Most Christians would also agree that there isn't anything inherently wrong about braiding one's hair. We can't simply pick and choose and say Paul is always right..........*except* that little verse over there and this little verse over here. Either the Scriptures are flawless, or we have to take culture and other signficant factors into context. Paul's culture was a male-dominated one, which is part of the reason why I believe Jesus/Yehoshua was born as a male, as God would be able to have more influence that way. Paul's culture would also give Paul a bend toward men staying in power because that's "how things worked" back then. Paul wasn't perfect; he was human. He wouldn't have all the answers, but we do have his letters. It doesn't mean that God didn't pass along wisdom in Paul's letters, but it also doesn't mean that Paul took his letters and sealed them in super-sealant and put them up on a high altar somewhere and said "This is the Word of the Lord for all mankind!!" He didn't claim to be an infallible mouthpiece of God, and he apologised on at least one occasion in Scripture (Acts 23:3-5). That said, in the least, it appears that what was "In the beginning" has precedence over what happened later in time, as Jesus pointed out in Scripture when he was talking about marriage between one woman and one man. And in the beginning, man and woman were equal. God said:
" 26 ... ' Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground. 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them." Gen. 1:26-27.
The same power was given to both. That said, and given the fact that that there may not be sex differences in heaven, and given the fact that there is no significant scientific data to back up why women shouldn't be allowed in leadership positiions, I'm going to side with treating the other 50% of mankind as equal human beings who have equal rights as human beings, including the right to be president of America if they want to be. I have a hard time believing that the "ideal" male-authority-ruled relationship according to "as Christ loved the Church" would look that different from an egalitarian relationship to begin with. Women have a lot of bright ideas, and so a smart husband would be listening to his wife quite a bit. I bet the "ideal" husband would start to question why God would want him in an authority position to begin with, seeing as how egalitarian the relationship has seemed to become anyway.
If you want me to be honest, I see a sea of Filipino women on here. I also see a lot of women on here from the Ukraine. I also know that in some societies, the living conditions are bad, with it being worse for the women. I've also heard that some people encourage the women (in whatever part of the world where they are living in very bad conditions) to try to marry an American because then they would get to live in America and have a much better life. I believe a lot of the Filipino women on here are here for that reason, regardless of how amazing their personalities might be. If that's not it, then why aren't they on a Filipino Christian dating site? Why seek out a generally American website when they might have closer options on a Filipino site? I can understand a few women coming here, but it seems that next to Americans, the Filipinos are a strong second, which doesn't make sense. Where are the people from the rest of Europe? Where are the people from Australia? Where are the people from India? I hardly see them on, and so this leads me to believe that there is a problem in the the Filipino's country that is leading the women to seek getting out of it to go somewhere better.
This doesn't mean that every Filipino on here is on here for the wrong reasons. God could use this website to have his ideal match of an American man and the right Filipino woman happen. But at the same time, I think a lot of men could get themselves into trouble if they jump too quickly into a relationship and the Filipino woman is too nice to them because she wants to get out of the country and so the relationship could end badly later on when the truth comes out that it wasn't as good of a match as people thought.
I'm not looking for a relationship, so I don't have to worry too much about the issue. But if I was looking for a relationship, I would be incredibly cautious about any Filipino woman who showed an interest in me, because the tendency might be there for the woman to laugh a little more than usual and to act like I'm the best thing in the world, simply because she knows getting into America would be better than staying in her country/situation. It doesn't mean I would necessarily outright deny her the chance though. And I've been to another country and have seen desparate people attempting to take desparate measures, so I know how it can affect people. I don't take offense at Filipino women, and I'm not prejudice against them; I'm just taking a realistic caution. It doesn't mean you aren't real people. It doesn't mean you couldn't make good friends. It simply means that it seems something is going on in the Philippines and so I need to have my guard up as a safety precaution.
(And if it's supposed to be written Filipina women, I apologise, as I don't know your language).
TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, and Design. They have a website with a lot of videos about different inventions and ideas that people have been coming up with. I figured if people like Popular Science/Mechanics magazines, or like Modern Marvels (and other similar tv shows), they might also want to know about TED. A little while back they had the head of the U.N. food program (feeding the poor and etc) on, and I was surprised to hear some of the technology and info she was talking about.
