I'm new here. I've been familiar with Tentmaker for years and communicated with Gary in the past, but I never joined this chat forum. I've also been a believer in universal reconciliation for years. Recently I was Googling Christian chat forums and found a site called ChristianChat. I just spent a couple weeks on there. I met some friendly folks, but I went in there knowing I would probably not have much in common with folks except Christ dying for our sins and being roused from the dead. There was a lot of "debating" about theology, but, instead of being concerned with Calvinism & Arminianism vs. Universalism, it was mostly about Protestant vs. Catholic and Covenant theology vs. Dispensationalism and Pentecostalism. And, of course, universal reconciliation is considered heresy as well as disbelief in the Trinity. Eventually I got burned out, and I remembered I'd seen a chat forum here in the past. So here I am. I don't claim to be an authority on anything. I'm just a humble brother in Christ. I've been reading the Concordant Version for years, and I agree with their teachings. I have an open mind, and I'm interested in what other folks have to say. That's why I'm here. I'm looking forward to communicating with some like minded folks for a change. God bless you all.
Welcome Tom, glad to have you!
Welcome aboard Tom. I've just been around a short time myself but I like this forum. I learn a lot here.
Jock
:welcome: Tom
Glad you decided to join the Tent !
Thank you all for the welcome. It is good to be here with like minded folks. I don't really have a lot of experience social networking. I never joined Facebook because I heard the guy ripped off his partners. I never saw the need for Twitter. I have a stepson who works for Google. So I joined to try Google+, but I got burned out debating with atheists. The last two weeks on ChristianChat weren't much better even though I went in there knowing I would be accused of heresy. Now it's like I finally found my way home. I look forward to communicating with you. God bless you.
Hey Tom, welcome!
I'm John, from Alabama.
You have come to the right place. :thumbsup:
No one here is going to give you a hard time.
You will be refresh, not burned out. :dsunny:
We enjoy sweet fellowship and rational, respectful discussion on UR and related (and sometimes unrelated) topics.
The glorious Gospel of Victory is our central focus. :banana:
Tell us what's on your mind.
Tell us how God called you out of the ET (eternal :eek: torment) doctrine.
Welcome! I spent some time on Christian Chat too, and after a while, I bowed out. It was too much under the fist of one man. I think you will find Tentmaker more congenial. :friendstu:
Quote from: jbertonbounds on May 23, 2013, 05:32:37 PM
Hey Tom, welcome!
I'm John, from Alabama.
You have come to the right place. :thumbsup:
No one here is going to give you a hard time.
You will be refresh, not burned out. :dsunny:
We enjoy sweet fellowship and rational, respectful discussion on UR and related (and sometimes unrelated) topics.
The glorious Gospel of Victory is our central focus. :banana:
Tell us what's on your mind.
Tell us how God called you out of the ET (eternal :eek: torment) doctrine.
I was raised in the Catholic Church, but I left it when I was young because I knew something wasn't right. I began seeking the truth elsewhere. I tried psychedelics and Eastern philosophies. One day I had an out of body experience in a hospital that was typical from what I've read in that it involved going through a dark spooky tunnel into the light where I experienced total peace and unconditional love. When I found myself back in my body, I was compelled to look in the bedside stand where there was nothing but a Gideon's bible. I wasn't really familiar with scripture being raised Catholic, but I picked it up and began reading. I was overwhelmed with emotion at the realization that God was actually speaking to me through the words in that book. I began studying scripture. I visited a few Protestant churches. One day when I was on a die hard King James site, I mysteriously got bounced to another site where there was information about universal reconciliation. I never heard of it before, and I thought it must be bogus. So I started reading everything I could to try to disprove it, but eventually I came to think it must be the real deal. I switched from the King James Version to Young's Literal Translation, but then later I became aware that they had a few things in common. I found the Concordant Version, and I've been studying it ever since. I keep telling folks you have to read a good translation to get the truth. These days I'm busy taking care of my youngest sister who is handicapped. That's why I was seeking a good chat forum online to fellowship with folks, but you've got to weed out the folks into church doctrine from those who believe scripture translated correctly. I should have checked out this forum years ago, but better late than never. Anyway, that's my crazy life story that brought me to belief in universal reconciliation. I published a few vids on YouTube of the Concordant Version of Paul's evangel to benefit folks who aren't familiar with it or may be blind, deaf, or illiterate. I had a friend out in the mountains who couldn't read. Somebody gave him some King James Version cassette tapes. I've done a little volunteer work for the Concordant folks helping out with proofreading their HTML version, converting Paul's evangel text to speech, and scanning the pages of their Concordant Literal New Testament book to provide a free digital PDF version online. The scanned pages with the text to speech soundtrack is what my vids are on YouTube. I also proofread the CLV module for the Interlinear Scripture Analyzer for the author of the program. I recommend it to folks for a good comparison of the ancient text, an ultra-literal translation, the King James Version, Young's Literal Translation, and the Concordant Version. I always say I don't claim to be an authority of anything. I'm just a humble brother in Christ that knows God is love, the savior of all mankind, who will have all on earth and in heaven reconciled to him through Christ so that he may be all in all. I have to take my 89 year old dad who has Alzheimer's to the doctor now. Mom had it, and she finally died. I'll be checking out the forum regularly now when I get a break in the action here with my dad and sis. I appreciate the welcome, and I look forward to communicating with all of you. God bless you all.
http://concordant.org/online/index.html
http://www.scripture4all.org/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyUBUG8bmqEFvXPe26iDtyw
PS: I'm wondering where you guys are. You're like seven hours ahead of me.
Quote from: TomH on May 23, 2013, 07:21:50 PM
PS: I'm wondering where you guys are. You're like seven hours ahead of me.
I'm guessing that the posted time is dependent on the location of the server. The members are all over the place. I'm in New Mexico, for instance.
Tom, your testimony touched me. It is similar to my own. We have been blessed to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light and having seen the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ- and knowing that eventually every creature will be reconciled through our Lord's sacrifice.
Makes us mostly happy campers in the tent :o)
I think the server is in the central time zone USA. Missouri, perhaps?
PPS: I only proofread the New Testament section of the CLV module for the Interlinear Scripture Analyzer. I didn't get a chance to do the Old Testament. The author told me he would be replacing it and not to bother. I did see a few typos in it, but the program is a great study aid.
The forum server reads like it is out in the Pacific somewhere on my laptop. I'm in south Florida. When I was posting earlier, California time was like about half as many hours away as the time I was seeing on my posts.
Thanks again for the welcome guys. God bless you.
Quote from: lomarah on May 23, 2013, 03:25:51 AM
Welcome Tom, glad to have you!
Thanks, sis. I like your signature, the most comprehensive statement of all.
"seeing that out of Him and through Him and for Him is all: to Him be the glory for the eons! Amen!" (Romans 11:36)
Quote from: Jock on May 23, 2013, 02:32:37 PM
Welcome aboard Tom. I've just been around a short time myself but I like this forum. I learn a lot here.
Jock
Thanks brother.
Quote from: jbertonbounds on May 23, 2013, 05:32:37 PM
Hey Tom, welcome!
I'm John, from Alabama.
You have come to the right place. :thumbsup:
No one here is going to give you a hard time.
You will be refresh, not burned out. :dsunny:
We enjoy sweet fellowship and rational, respectful discussion on UR and related (and sometimes unrelated) topics.
The glorious Gospel of Victory is our central focus. :banana:
Tell us what's on your mind.
Tell us how God called you out of the ET (eternal :eek: torment) doctrine.
Thanks, bro.
Quote from: Lazarus Short on May 23, 2013, 06:24:05 PM
Welcome! I spent some time on Christian Chat too, and after a while, I bowed out. It was too much under the fist of one man. I think you will find Tentmaker more congenial. :friendstu:
Thanks, bro. There were some friendly folks on ChristianChat, but most of them are still in bondage to church doctrine.
Quote from: eaglesway on May 23, 2013, 09:20:27 PM
Tom, your testimony touched me. It is similar to my own. We have been blessed to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light and having seen the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ- and knowing that eventually every creature will be reconciled through our Lord's sacrifice.
Makes us mostly happy campers in the tent :o)
Amen, brother. I know it's always a blessing to hear how the power of God blesses folks. You got the short version though. I used to be a wild man with booze, dope, and the ladies, but God's love changes lives. There's nothing it can't overcome.
Quote from: rosered on May 23, 2013, 03:20:06 PM
:welcome: Tom
Glad you decided to join the Tent !
Thank you, sister.
Hi Tom welcome to Tentmaker. Don't get me started on Christianchat dot com. I would like to thank the mod who banned me from there though. The reason I would like to thank him or her is that right after I got banned I started searching again and found the Tent. I don't have problems here because I think most here are like minded at least for the most part.
Even if we find we have differences in beliefs, respect for the feelings of others is a Jesus-like trait. We should always agree to disagree agreeably. Otherwise, what is the point in discussing spiritual matters in a sinfully rude fashion, which negates the whole purpose of following the Christ.
Quote from: mplsfitter539 on May 23, 2013, 11:34:34 PM
Hi Tom welcome to Tentmaker. Don't get me started on Christianchat dot com. I would like to thank the mod who banned me from there though. The reason I would like to thank him or her is that right after I got banned I started searching again and found the Tent. I don't have problems here because I think most here are like minded at least for the most part.
Thanks for the welcome, bro. I agree that they did you a favor banning you. I was surprised I wasn't banned. I went there knowing I would get some persecution, but wow those folks even argue with each other over church doctrine. From what I can see here so far today, I agree with you about folks here.
Quote from: jbertonbounds on May 23, 2013, 11:47:51 PM
Even if we find we have differences in beliefs, respect for the feelings of others is a Jesus-like trait. We should always agree to disagree agreeably. Otherwise, what is the point in discussing spiritual matters in a sinfully rude fashion, which negates the whole purpose of following the Christ.
Amen, brother. I kept telling those folks on CC that, but some of them just don't seem to get it. Some of them were friendly even though we disagreed about doctrine, but others weren't any better than the atheists I was debating on Google+. And I say who cares about Covenant theology vs. Dispensationalism and Pentecostalism. Let's talk about Calvinism and Arminianism vs. Universalism.
I've got a question for you folks that have been here a while. I searched for a tutorial on inserting an image, but it only talks about an image from a webpage. How about an image from your pc? What's up with that? Before checking out the tutorial, I found the insert image button and all I got was some code. I tried attaching the image at the same time, but that didn't help. I don't see info about how to upload an image from the pc to a post. It seems like it ought to be a little easier. Maybe they don't want you to do that.
PS: They don't even like my images from my pc for an avatar.
Quote from: TomH on May 24, 2013, 03:56:14 AM
PS: They don't even like my images from my pc for an avatar.
Same thing happened to me. I have tried resizing the photo and changing dpi but no luck.
Quote from: TomH on May 24, 2013, 03:56:14 AM
PS: They don't even like my images from my pc for an avatar.
Your file size may be too large, and that is why I am happy to have a fairly low-resolution digital camera, as well as my 7.2 megapixel Sony. Also, make sure the image you want to upload is the right file type.
Quote from: Lazarus Short on May 24, 2013, 04:01:28 PM
Quote from: TomH on May 24, 2013, 03:56:14 AM
PS: They don't even like my images from my pc for an avatar.
Your file size may be too large, and that is why I am happy to have a fairly low-resolution digital camera, as well as my 7.2 megapixel Sony. Also, make sure the image you want to upload is the right file type.
Thanks, but I don't think that's the problem. I tried a couple of small images in both png and jpg formats. I was just successful at attaching some images to a message. So I guess I'll just do it that way. I'm still kind of curious about the avatar though.
Quote from: Lazarus Short on May 24, 2013, 04:01:28 PM
Quote from: TomH on May 24, 2013, 03:56:14 AM
PS: They don't even like my images from my pc for an avatar.
Your file size may be too large, and that is why I am happy to have a fairly low-resolution digital camera, as well as my 7.2 megapixel Sony. Also, make sure the image you want to upload is the right file type.
You were right, bro. I just reduced an image 50% that I had no problem with anywhere else, and it worked.
Quote from: mplsfitter539 on May 24, 2013, 04:15:44 AM
Quote from: TomH on May 24, 2013, 03:56:14 AM
PS: They don't even like my images from my pc for an avatar.
Same thing happened to me. I have tried resizing the photo and changing dpi but no luck.
Try again, bro. I just reduced an image 50%, and it worked.
Quote from: TomH on May 24, 2013, 04:46:16 PM
I'm still kind of curious about the avatar though.
My avatar? It's Kosh Naranek, an alien character from
Babylon 5 who was both wise and enigmatic. I quoted his, "The truth points to itself." statement.
Quote from: Lazarus Short on May 24, 2013, 05:27:18 PM
Quote from: TomH on May 24, 2013, 04:46:16 PM
I'm still kind of curious about the avatar though.
My avatar? It's Kosh Naranek, an alien character from Babylon 5 who was both wise and enigmatic. I quoted his, "The truth points to itself." statement.
Actually, bro, I meant the problem I was having uploading my avatar, but thanks for the info about yours. I finally reduced the size of mine and got it to work.