The first thought in my mind after hearing that the Orioles traded away closer George Sherrill for two minor league baseball players was “what in the world are they doing?!”. It seemed like the team was burying itself by giving away a key piece in exchange for some scraps.
Fortunately, my mindset has shifted a bit since looking more into the players they received in return. Of course it would have been nice to have received players who can make an immediate impact, but Bell and Johnson both look like pretty promising prospects.
Sure, the season’s obviously done in Baltimore. There’s no way in the world they can think about catching the Yankees or the Red Sox, let alone the Rays. Maybe Toronto, but that’d get the team nowhere anyway.
Let’s face it. The Orioles aren’t going to contend for the AL East this season. They might be an improved team from years past, but they’re still last in their division, as nearly every team in the division is somewhat competitive.
Players like Melvin Mora (who happens to be aging anyway) go into free agency after the season, and it’ll be vital for the Orioles to fill any holes formed after the end of the season.
Josh Bell could easily fill his shoes, as his .296 batting average, 11 home runs and 52 RBI with Chattanooga are all solid 2009 numbers. Johnson’s posted very respectable numbers at the starting pitcher position for the same team, with a 9-5 record and a respectable 3.61 ERA. Both players have bright futures and could be key contributors to the Orioles in the years to come.
An already promising young collection of players just bolstered its strength by a bit. With a team that’s sure to improve in talent over the course of the next few years, it looks like Bell and Johnson can both carve out their roles as valuable contributors in Baltimore.
Let’s go Orioles!
Nicholas McMillan is an eternal baseball fan, and is pleased to see improvement on the Baltimore baseball scene. He often adds to his thoughts at this Baltimore Orioles forum, and lurks at their sports forum whenever he needs a change of pace.
Posted on 14 March '10, under Sports. No Comments.
There is no argument that the Mormons will not use the cross as a symbol of Christianity. What they will argue with is because of this it does not make them any less of being a Christian. It must be remembered that the early Christians did not use the cross as a symbol either and the answer to this is because the believer must look beyond the cross and to the resurrection. Emphasis should not be put on the suffering aspects but on the joy and promise of life.
Its quite ironic that the Mormons have the very same complaint as the Christians in that stating Christians will play with words in order to attack the doctrine of the Latter Day Saints. The whole premise comes down with respect to this issue that suffering is respected and remembered and sacrifice is as well.
However, the look of the future must be placed on the resurrection and that it really should not be remembered that Christ went through the torture and humiliation. This is not what the emphasis should be put on.
To put their argument in a common picture they have used examples. For example if an individual had a loved one that was struck by a car and killed then they wouldn’t put pictures of cars on their wall to remember the. loved ones by.
And this has given new status to the next staggering statement we made, that there ought to be one church. Time was when the churches rejoiced in diversity, when they said, we are enriched by our differences, when the standard approach to conflict was, God has taken account of all the individual traits of men and therefore does not require the same patterns for any set of men. All of us can speak for him and with him and by him. We need not worry.
In the final closure of this part of the argument is the Mormons will put great emphasis on not worshiping graven images which they feel that the cross is a well but in the same breath they tell you that it is not wrong to have pictures for example or even a statue but it must be remembered that they are not the object of worship.
Discover the shocking discovery about Mormonism that changed everything. Previously a mormon of 15 years, Simon the member of church of jesus christ latter day saints reveals secret scriptures for the temple lds
Posted on 14 March '10, under News. No Comments.
If one were to ask at the Mormon what their beliefs are they will more than likely refer you to the 13 articles of faith. These are points at that were written by their founder Joseph Smith in order to explain what the Mormon church is based on. The Mormon church incidentally is the Church of latter-day Saints. Some of the points covered in the 13 articles are based on what they believe in God as being the eternal father and that his son is Jesus Christ and they also believe in the Holy Ghost. If one goes a little further to research this they will soon find that be are not considered as one and the same as Christian belief teaches but the Mormons believe they are three separate Gods.
They believe that man is punished because of what they do not because of what Adam did. They will tell you that they believed in the atonement of Christ and that all mankind will be saved but going a little further they will stipulate that saving comes from obedience to the Gospel. In essence they are taking away being saved by grace which was the payment Christ made when he died on the cross in accordance to the Christian belief
They believe that the important sectors of their faith is first to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ then following that must be repentance after that comes baptism and then the laying on of hands. These again on the surface appear very closely related to the standard Christian religion
In order to be of any type of leader or significance then you must be an individual that has been called by God through prophecy and also all by the laying on of hands of those that are in authority now.
They believe in the organization that goes back to the New Testament days referring to apostles and prophets etc.
They believe in the gift of tongues and prophecy as well as visions and healings. Again many of the beliefs are tha of whicht the Christian religion holds true.
One of the interesting and most substantial factors to bear in mind is that they do believe that the Bible is the Word of God only when it is translated correctly. They will also tell you in the same breath that they believe the book of Mormon to be the word of God as well. It must be noted that the book of Mormon was written by Joseph Smith himself.
They do believe in the revelations that God gives. They do stand on the premise of the restoration of the 10 gatherings of the tribes but this is to be built upon the American soil.
They believe that all men should be allowed to worship how, where or what they may. However based on this if your beliefs are not following the Mormon belief you would never take a position of authority in their organization. They believed in obeying the government and the laws. They also hold the promise of doing good to all men.
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Posted on 14 March '10, under News. No Comments.
Boise real estate owners are trying to keep their homes and in so doing, seek loan modifications, but that is the top fraud complaint in the state right now. Foreclosures were up 89 percent from the previous year, but complaints about modifications leapt from a handful in 2008 to 353 in 2009, according to the attorney general’s office. Loan modification fraud complaints dwarfed every other complaint type this year with Idaho’s Attorney Generals office.
Many of the reports of fraud being reported are outrageous, says Lawrence Wasden, Idaho’s Attorney General. Many homeowners, who are desperate to keep their homes, are charged hundreds and sometimes thousands of dollars, although no attempt to change their loan is made. The legal wrangling has led to 2 filed lawsuits, and 3 settlements being agreed upon on behalf of consumers, through the Attorney Generals office. Many Boise real estate holders have been left without a plan when it comes to foreclosure because of these types of behaviors.
In order to help many Boise real estate owners receive the loan modifications they were hoping for, the Attorney Generals office even brought in a counselor as a resource. To help out, free foreclosure handbooks were printed up and handed out.
Efforts last year netted the largest amount of restitution ever recovered by the office – $7.4 million, about $12.14 for each taxpayer dollar budgeted for consumer operations, Wasden said. Collecting $5.9 million in additional civil fines, penalties and fees for the Idaho tax payer, the Idaho Attorney Generals office set records in that category too. The office also reached an agreement with the tobacco industry which brought in $31 million to state coffers from negotiations made in 1998. So far, this agreement has brought Idaho $254 million it wouldn’t otherwise have.
While only costing the state of Idaho $833,000 and bringing in a total of $44 million, the consumer affairs operations are a very positive force for citizens in general, but specifically for those who own Boise real estate. The department was very effective in the broad range of topics it worked in last year. It prosecuted and settled consumer protection cases with Eli Lilly & Co., other pharmaceutical manufacturers and several businesses. In topics as broad as illegal monopolies to anti-trust issues, Wasden is not one to back off or step aside. They even managed to reach an agreement involving a price fixing vitamin company.
With over 900,000 phone numbers added to the “do not call” list, residents reported getting fewer and fewer calls from solicitors and marketing firms. The office also updated its ProtecTeens DVD to protect children from Internet sexual predators and plans to release it soon.
The author enjoys writing articles about boise real estate & Boise real estate source. To learn more about these topics click on the links above!
Posted on 14 March '10, under News. No Comments.
Stock market trading has faced many ups and downs recently. Each market in the world has its own trend. An investor has to follow the trend to get decent profits. In the next few lines we shall see Markets’ three best trend following indicators.
Trend following is an investment strategy that helps the investors earn profits during the ups and downs of the markets. The traders who follow this strategy don’t try to predict the market prices, but sit on the trend and ride it. These indicators are what the stock traders use to determine the trends and follow them. Following long term trends is very fruitful. The trends are dips and stops.
Let us look at breakouts first. You can trade the breakouts to new highs and lows. Check momentum it will support this move if it occurs. Use the RSI also called the “relative strength index” for checking if momentum is accelerating. Enter the market if it does so. For information on RSI please visit the website Trendfollowingstrategies.com.
Secondly let us talk about dips. Trends tend to move too far in a quick period. To be overbought and oversold these trends ought to level the price. If you have eighteen days moving average. Take the profits when the prices come to an average rate.
Next are the stops. To earn decent profits you have to follow the larger trends. Unlike dips in stops investors observe the trend on forty day MA. ADX line is also used. Profits can be taken if the line goes above forty and turns downward.
In this article I showed you the 3 best indicators all over the world. If you are an investor and want to have good results than you have to make the trends for a bigger period and you will see the best results will come in no time.
Find more on trend following systems and trend following Michael.
Posted on 13 March '10, under News. No Comments.
If one is to ask a Latter Day Saints follower which is of the Mormon religion if they are Christian their answer will be yes. Their stance on this is that they do worship Christ and they have an obligation to follow him. That they are baptized in his name and that they do take part of holy communion and that they are bound to remember the sacrifice of his life. They do pray to the Father in his name and they do make every effort to obey the teachings of Christ. They will tell you that they believe he is the living Christ, the son of God and that it is the way it is said in the old and New Testament and as well as their own book which is the book of Mormon also referred to as another Testament of Jesus Christ.
How can you be a Christian – Don’t you believe you are saved by works. Don’t you deny the basic truth of the trinity?
There is always been a speculation that the Mormons believed that they are basically saved by good works and this is one of the contentions with Christianity. However some of the Mormons will tell you that know they actually believe that they are saved through grace. It is quite often a play on words when it comes to trying to understand Mormonism. For example Christianity believes that the Father, the son and the Holy Ghost are one.
The Mormons will tell you they believe this as well but they will put it in the pretext that they believe they are one in purpose. Another speculation of what Christianity is comes down to where things start to get a little confused. Some believe that if an individual looks to Christ for salvation and seeks to follow him then that’s enough to qualify as a Christian no matter what else that person believes. The Mormons will tell you that is the reason they are judged as being non-Christian because one they believe in keeping the commandments and secondly because they do not accept standard doctrine of the Trinity.
When it comes to keeping the commandments they will often refer to excerpts from the Holy Bible as their stance on this. They will tell you that they are not saved by works but that they must follow Christ in order to be saved. Then they will go on to talk about spiritual death as well the physical death which is what they purport the resurrection of Christ as. When one looks at all of the explanations that the Mormon will stand on they are very close to being what the Bible says with the change of a word here and there. Unfortunately it is the change of the word that changes the entire context of what the Holy Bible as saying in comparison to the Mormon faith.
When it comes to the Trinity which is one of the biggest contentions or differences in Christianity and Mormonism the argument here by the Mormons is that this concept was what man has taught not what Christ and the apostles taught. They will present the many different creeds as their argument as the various creeds all depict the Trinity as something different.
To support their view of the Trinity they will pick out several verses from different parts of the Holy Bible but it must be remembered that the Mormons rely heavily on their own book which is the book of Mormon. Many of the experienced Mormons will agree that some of their doctrines do go against what most of the other churches teach about .They further believe the cause of the attacks from other Christians is because they take the Bible to literally.
The Mormons really put a lot of emphasis on Luke 24 in the Bible regarding the resurrection of Christ and the fact that he is in a flesh and bone state so therefore they believe that because he was resurrected as such that he was resurrected as a flesh and blood. This is also used in their support of the Trinity not being one entity. The Mormons will go on to tell you a great deal about Joseph Smith and his visions. They believe this because the instructions in the New Testament indicate that there are individual circumstances that apply for every individual including Christ.
If one wanted to get an understanding what the Mormons are referring to when it comes to the Trinity he would have to look at each Scripture that they are referring to from the Holy Bible and then do a combination all of these scriptures together to get a true picture.
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Posted on 13 March '10, under News. No Comments.
One of the latest great debates when it comes to Mormons is determining if their religion is Mormon or Christian or is one and the same thing. In the eyes of the Mormon the answer to that question is yes. There has been a great attempt in the last little while for the Mormons to stand on the grounds of Christianity more so than they have in the past.
It is interesting to note that in 1982 the book of Mormon’s name was given a name with reference to the Testament of Jesus Christ.
Then in 1995 the official letterhead changed to take on a larger stance of the Jesus Christ of latter-day Saints. Even one of the leaders states that the church talks a lot more now about Jesus Christ than it used to because they want to show people that they are Christians.
It would appear on the surface a great effort is put into convincing nonbelievers that the Mormons stand on the very same basis that Christianity does. On the surface it may seem this way although when one begins to become well-versed in the Mormon religion they see the vast differences.
It would seem that there are even differences of the union of Christianity amongst the leaders in the congregation of the Mormons themselves. Interestingly enough a past president stated that he definitely was a Christian and had prayer through Christ and tried to follow him and when asked further whether he believes in the traditional Christ his answer was no he didn’t. He states that the non-Mormons are not speaking of the same Christ whom he believes in. At the beginning of Mormonism they took a great stance against being classed as a Christian denomination for the simple reason that they believed that there was a great apostasy that included all of the Christians and they did not want to be counted as part of that.
Joseph Smiths claim was that the Latter-day Saints Church was the only true church. Brigham Youngs comment about Christians is that the current day Christians are not the Christians that are defined in the New Testament. He even goes on to say that Catholics and Protestants are nothing less than the whore of Babylon. Then again another leader goes on to say that the darkness of the apostasy still is the same today except for those that have come to know what he calls the restored gospel which is of course the Joseph Smith Doctrine.
It is easy to see when one looks over all the explanations of what these leaders stand for that they certainly do not equate themselves as what society sees Christianity as.
Most of the Mormons believe that the Christians of today are selfish and do not maintain the law according to the Mormons. They claim that they never criticize other beliefs and yet they have made some pretty staunch statements against Christians. So this again is just one more fallacy of the religion itself when it comes to making one statement at one time and then totally changing at another time.
Find out how a controversial collection of long forgotten scriptures almost got a mormon lds church member of 15 years banned. These lds ideas of mormonism has never been revealed before.
Posted on 12 March '10, under News. No Comments.
For individuals that are not too well versed in either the Mormon religion or Christianity as society knows it they will often wonder what are the differences between these two religions. According to the Mormons they will consider themselves as the true Christians and the only church that is going to be recognized by God himself. First of all it must be remembered that the whole Mormon religion is based on Joseph Smiths vision that he purported to have in 1820 where to celestial beings appeared to him during this vision. It was declared to Joseph that that there was no true religion on earth and that he was going to be chosen to institute the new church religion.
One of the things that must be realized is that Christians believe that God is the spirit whereas Joseph taught that God himself was once a man and through his good way of living became a God. Joseph also uses the term God as plural and further believes that that man can and will become gods if they are to live their life the way that the Church of latter-day Saints promote. The Christians believe that Jesus is Lord of all and creator of all the Mormons will tell you that this was the spirit brother of Lucifer
There is no way that you would ever get any Mormon to tell you that the Bible was the only book to be depended on. The Mormons have several books written by man and the most distinctive one is a book of Mormon which was written on the teachings of Joseph Smith. So as far as they are concerned this book is the only one that should be depended on. Most Mormons although they will refer to the holy Bible for some resources but this is most often for convenience and as a way to prove that they are true Christians. There are several other books that they will depend on as well and this is “The Doctrine and Covenants” and the “Pearl of great Price”.
In the book “Doctrines and Covenants” it will have the revelations of polygamy. It’s interesting to note though that this revelation of polygamy did not come about until after the government was threatening to take action against the Mormon church for their stance on this subject.
The book “Pearl of great Price” suggested to the revelation that was used to make sure that the black society did not enter into the priesthood of the Mormons which means according to the Mormons that they could never become gods.
To add to all of these interesting takes of the Mormons one has to take a close look at their viewpoint . This becomes interesting in that they believe that there are several level to heaven, if fact there are basically three .Depending on your life here on earth will dictate which department or level of heaven that you will be able to go to. Their vision of how they are going to appear before God is wearing fig leaf aprons and holding all the good works that they have done while here on earth in their hands. It would seem that no matter what sins were committed here on earth everyone will have some type of good standing in heaven although it might take some longer than others to get there.
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Posted on 12 March '10, under News. No Comments.
Almost every Mormon will answer the question are Mormons Christians with an addict yes.
It can become quite complex when trying to sort out just what do the Mormons believe. On the surface it seems like they are in tune with what Christianity teaches. They believe that Jesus is the Redeemer and the son of God and that his atonement was for all mankind. They will refer to the holy Bible in this regard but then they also depend on another book very strongly over and above the Bible. This is called the book of Mormon. In this book it is declared that their job is to convince the Jews and gentiles that Jesus is the Christ.
According to the Latter-day Saints Church which is the Mormon church Joseph Smith is the one and only prophet that God chose to reveal his new church to. Now its interesting to note about how they promote Joseph as they make the statement that the fundamental principles of their church is simply that Christ was buried arose again the third day and then went on to Heaven. The problem is though that they will say that anything else that is added to this is an appendage. This is something that goes against Christianity as it stands upon the premise that there is to be nothing added extra to God’s holy Word which is contained in the holy Bible.
Another controversy with the Mormons is that they have the strong stand on what they feel that a Christian is which is of course is only within their religion according to them. They also will not tell you that they believe that it is possible that one can still be a Christian and have a different point of view to theirs.
It’s really interesting to see how they will take the Scripture and apply it to their belief they will point out that the term Christian or Christians is only spoken up three times in the New Testament the interpretation of a Christian is in their eyes one that follows Christ.
The Mormons have difficulty understanding why Christians will only depend on the one specific book being the Holy Bible. Their argument is that it is inconclusive and that a lot of its information was lost over the years and that it also has not been historical proven. This is their explanation of needing the book written by their prophet Joseph Smith.
They also promote that the word Christian has been used somewhat loosely over the many many years. So in as a word in itself it is really not all that clear. The Mormons who will resort back to history in many cases to stand on their beliefs and to put down some of the beliefs of the Christians as we know it today. They believe that many of the Christian teachings and practices are not true and are in many ways lacking many of the truths and are inadequate to put it as simple as possible. They will tell you that a Christian is a person who accepts Jesus Christ as their Lord. This again sounds just exactly as what a Christian would tell you. The difference is that there will be an appendage to this on the behalf of the Mormons where it will not be with the Christians.
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Posted on 12 March '10, under News. No Comments.
If someone were to tell that in order to be a true believer in Christ that he only came to America, or you had to wear unique underwear would you perhaps not think that was a little unusual? Combine this with the omission of consuming acohol, tea or coffee and the fact there is one remaining prophet on earth then you may be learning about the Church of Latter Day Saints, or aka “Mormons”. If you are thinking that not too many people would pick up on these beliefs then you will be surprised to hear that this particular Church is the 4th largest in America.
What argument do Mormons make? Mormons create brave statements about their attitude. For instance, they stipulate that the Church of Latter Day Saints is a ?restored? edition of the unique Church recognized by Jesus Christ 2000 years before. They purport that they themselves know the beginning of existence, why we even exist and what the purpose of our death will be. The basis of their believe stems on that every being can gain individual knowledge in order to become familiar with what to do by means of their existence. They state that weddings and families can last for all time without end.
There are some various fascinating claims. In some cases though they are actually a spin off of what Christianity as we know it claims. Although many of the claims made by the Mormons are classified as weird or crazy, their argument is that so is many of the claims made by the Christians when made to the non believers.
The Mormons retort to the unbelief of those that approach them with accusations of being weird or crazy is that it is all based on their lack of knowledge of their faith. They will point out that the Mormons believe that the Son of God came to earth, died for everyone’s sins, and came back to life. They go on to stipulate that this sounds crazy to the non believer yet many Churches outside of their own teach these concepts.
While this is true that there is every indication that the Mormons do stand on this belief its what they have added to the Christian doctrine that causes the upheaval in what to believe. For example they believe that they themselves can become Gods by doing the right thing. They further believe that God himself was once bone, flesh and blood. It is all these add ons that really hurt the credibility of the Church of Latter Day Saints. Ironically enough many people to this day do not realize that this church is based on the Mormon beliefs. They are considered as two distinct entities. Another interesting factor about the Mormons is that their rituals are very much conducted in the same form as that of the free masons, yet neither of these entities claim any tie to the other.
The important lesson to learn here is that when considering any religion whether it be Mormonism or Christianity that one look at the religion in its entirety and not just its basics.
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Posted on 12 March '10, under News. No Comments.