it would come down to the age old tactic of deciding a winner...

Rock, Paper, Scissors, best 2 out of 3

Va Beach, one of the only places in VA where it never snows... except during spring.

You're right in that he knows the who, what and when, but he doesn't have the ability to stop us. The closest he can get to controlling our actions is through the self-conscience which the holy spirit within us. have you heard the phrase "you can lead a deer to water, but you can't make it drink?" That quote directly applies here in that God can give you guidance, but he can't stop you from doing what you're doing or about to do. God had given us free will and the only way to stop one from committing a certain sin is for the person them self to no longer have to desire. If you are going to commit and sin (for example, steal something from somewhere or someone) If you have that thought in your head, and you really want to do it, but somehow you had your hands and feet chained to a fence, in the eyes of God, the fact that you would still do it were you not chained up, is considered a sin.

Christmas is actually a pagan holiday but Christians use it to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ (no one knows what day he was actually born, only the era in which it happened) Sorry kids but Santa doesn't exist, these days he's just a spokesperson/fictional character that companies use to market their advertisements, allowing them to make millions of dollars...

The only time the bible mentions anything about giving and receiving gifts is when the non-believers killed the two prophets during the seven year tribulation. The time in which Satan, the false prophet and the anti-Christ will rule the nations in government and religion.

However, I personally like see Christmas as a time where families can come together as one. Getting gifts is always fun but as for Santa, he's not real, sorry if I dashed your hopes on meeting him by hiding behind the couch on Christmas night.

Okay, first of all, Revelations isn't a bunch of "gobble dee gook" when read correctly, Revelations is a very inspiring book that helps you see what life is and will be like should you choose to side with Satan or God. Also, Revelations depicts the future of what is to happen amongst the nations of the Earth, and I tell you right now, a lot of it is beginning to happen. It was written over a thousand years ago yet it describes what is happening with the middle East and Russia. It describes how nations will rise against each other which is happening now with the oil crisis and the problems in Israel, Iraq and the rest of the middle East.

anyway... sorry for the rant. It depicts in REVELATIONS that within the city of New Jerusalem, there will be a tree on both sides of the river which flows from the throne of God. These trees will produce fruits all year round and that the people of God will eat of it. Also, outside the city of New Jerusalem there will be nations among nations. We will eat and not hunger, but we won't be gluttonous. Food will not be hard to acquire because we will no longer have to toil the land to produce crops, rather fruit producing plants and veggies will be abundant year round. Now... what I can't tell you is what exactly will be on the menu. Or how it will work, but I can tell you that there will be food, we will eat but there will not be a gluttonous appetite because our bodies will not be the same in heaven as they are here on earth.

wow... let's see if I can clear some things up...

okay, first of all, about Jesus.

Yeshua ben Yosheph = Jesus son of Joseph. You can translate Yeshua to be what it sounds like, Joshua or Jesus (you have to watch the accent marks.) In the Old testament it was proficied multiple times that the King of the Jews would descend from the direct blood-line of King David. Joseph was a descendant of King David and became father of Jesus. This would make Jesus the King of the Jews proficied hundreds of years before. The reason Jesus was not accepted as the King was because the Jews didn't see him fit to be king since he was born in a manger as opposed to some great castle in some huge city. The reason for this is because Jesus did not come to be served as a King but to serve as the humble son of God. Jesus lived his life as a young child teaching in synagogues. When he turned 30, he began his ministry to spread the gospel, the "good news" which is the word of God, with the help of a chosen few who were Disciples.

He didn't preach it to Jews alone but to people of all nations, whether Jews or Gentiles (if you don't know, a gentile is someone who is not a Jew.) He didn't preach in just synagogues, but in city squares, hill tops or wherever people would gather to listen. He performed miracles from healing the sick, calming storms and raising the dead back to life. When he was 33, he was captured by Romans, by order of the Jewish high-priests who were corrupt and arrogant, thus being sentenced to death. His death on the cross would be the final sacrifice for all the sins of Man.

(In the old testament, in order for atone for your sins, you had to sacrifice an animal on an alter and perform a tiring ritual that lasted a couple days. God sent his song, to die on the cross so that whomever believed in what he did would would have everlasting life in Heaven. The death of Jesus Christ on the cross was the sacrifice to end all sacrifices, so that whoever believed in this true event would simply need to ask forgiveness, with an honest heart, from our Father.

-Now to answer the original question of this thread.

Yes, Jesus was a Jew and he taught based on the old testament and the word of God. This is all true, but this is where Christianity comes in. The Jews are God's chosen people, and there are two types of people in this world, Jews and non-Jews (gentiles.) Now Christian are people who follow the teachings of Jesus Christ and believe in his sacrifice (his death by crucifixion that I stated earlier.)

Paul did not meet Jesus Christ in person, but rather he was called into the Christian ministry. This is for those who don't know about Paul. Paul was orginally named Saul. He was a Jew who persecuted Christians. So before Paul even did his thing, he was persecuting people who had already been Christians, people who had already seen and heard Christ and witnessed his miracles. Saul was a high ranking officer and was in charge of capturing and Christians and having them imprisoned or killed. Saul was traveling to Damascus when a bright light had blinded him. During the blinding Jesus spoke to him and asked him why he was persucting those who believed him (Jesus) and told him that when he enters Damascus, he will meet a man known as Eli who will heal his blindness. After he was healed, he had his name changed to Paul.

Now think about it, Saul was a high-ranking officer who's sole purpose at the time was to capture and/or kill people who believed in this man called "Jesus." After the incident at Damascus, he had a life changing experience that turned him from a military officer, greatly respected by the high-priest to a Christian who had to live the rest of his life running from the very people he had served. Why would he make the decision to change from what Saul was to whom Paul had become? After Saul had become Paul, he traveled from city to city teaching the words of God and the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. For this he was stoned, imprisoned and greatly persecuted, however he continued because he knew the truth.

There's a lot more but hopefully I cleared some things up, if you have any questions, feel free to ask. There's so much more to this than what you hear or read from people who don't want to listen and don't want to believe.

Here's my take.

God didn't create sin, only the ability to do so. By giving man(people in general, not just males) free will, and the ability to do as we wish, he had given us the ability to sin. God did this, because he knew that man would fall from grace, knowing the difference between good and evil through the temptation of Lucifer.

God did this, so that we would be able to make a choice, to either live a life of sin, living only to please the flesh with the things of the world, or choose to live a righteous life, glorifying Him. God didn't create man to be robots, to forcefully worship Him but to give Him glory and honor out of our own free will.

It's not like God put man on the Earth and was surprised that Adam and Eve had eaten from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, he knew they would. It was because of that action that we as people now have the decision to live for the world with temporary satisfaction, eventually falling to Hell along with Satan, or to live a life that pleases our Father and rising up to Heaven to live forever with God and truly love him, not just loving him because he makes us love him, but with all our heart, of our own free will.

The Book of Revelation only gives a few examples of what will be in heaven and what we will be doing.

1. There is no sun, only the light shining from the Glory of God.

2. There is no night, sadness, pain, suffering, tears and one of the most overlooked thing that the Kingdom of heaven will lack is an OCEAN. There will no sea, thus the river of life that flows from the throne of God will continue forever.

3. The city of New Jerusalem is simply a city within the kingdom of Heaven. Outside the city there will be nations among nations, ruled by Kings which will offer glory and honor unto our Father in New Jerusalem where He and His throne reside.

(*Note, what I'm about to say is a matter of opinions formed after reading revelations)

Obviously there are many more things yet to be explained or shown to us, the things listed above is only a small speck of what will be in store. Now, that being said, of course there will be the singing praise and glorifying God, that's a given, but there's so much more. We will reign in Heaven, and among the nations, outside the city, there will still be those who choose to sin, we will have Free Will, however those who do such shall never be able to enter New Jerusalem. God knows all, but we won't and there will be discoveries to be made among his people.

You can almost imagine living as we do now on Earth, without all the bad things. We will have families and friends, we will have work to do and praises to sing.

Again this is all only a guess, I could be close or completely off so don't take my word for it. It's just one of many ways to envision what life will be like in those days.