Website of the day: SyQuest E-Solutions for Science

Are these people completely mad! $4550.00 to see ANYBODY in concert is crazy! And the cheapest is $210.00 for limited view.
If you're rich and want what you want, here's the homepage: Tickets Now

I was in a Mac store in the new mall down here (Mall at Millenia) and found them to be very nice units. Still, I find the price way out of line. The Jaguar operating system is wonderful. So, here's my little Mac tribute.

Do you find yourself asking "What is wrong with those people? Why don't they get it? What is wrong with their minds?" everytime you see news from the middle east?
Here's an article that explores Ancient Hatreds.

Matthew 6:14 "For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

Matthew 18:21 Then Peter came to Him and said, "Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?" 22 Jesus said to him, "I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.

Mark 11:25 "And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses. 26 But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses."

Jonah 3:1 Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, 2 "Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach to it the message that I tell you."
Jonah 3:4 And Jonah began to enter the city on the first day's walk. Then he cried out and said, "Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!"
Jonah 3:5 So the people of Nineveh believed God, proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least of them.
Jonah 3:10 Then God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God relented from the disaster that He had said He would bring upon them, and He did not do it.
Jonah 4:1 But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he became angry. 2 So he prayed to the Lord, and said, "Ah, Lord, was not this what I said when I was still in my country? Therefore I fled previously to Tarshish; for I know that You are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, One who relents from doing harm.

Jonah had an argument with God because he didn't think Ninevites were worthy of forgiveness. Jonah wasn't afraid of them as most believe. He had already intervened previously for God and kept the Ninevites from attacking Israel.

2 Kings 14:25 He restored the territory of Israel from the entrance of Hamath to the Sea of the Arabah, according to the word of the Lord God of Israel, which He had spoken through His servant Jonah the son of Amittai, the prophet who was from Gath Hepher.

Jonah had a problem with forgiveness. Jonah was willing to die (and did) rather than see Nineveh repent. You know the story

Jonah 1:4 But the Lord sent out a great wind on the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship was about to be broken up.
Jonah 1:5 Then the mariners were afraid; and every man cried out to his god, and threw the cargo that was in the ship into the sea, to lighten the load. But Jonah had gone down into the lowest parts of the ship, had lain down, and was fast asleep.

Did you ever see the "Worlds Most Dangerous Jobs" on the Discovery channel? The one about the king crab fishermen in Alaska? What does it take to scare a mariner?
These guys were praying to their gods, throwing the cargo overboard, they were gonna die. Then they found Jonah sleeping down below. Sleeping! They cast lots to see who was the cause of the trouble and the lot fell on Jonah. They asked him all kinds of questions and found out who he was, they knew of him already, he had spoken for God and told the Ninevites they could not conquer Israel and God restored Israel.(2 Kings 14:25) He told them to throw him into the sea, he was still angry with God.
They refused and tried desperately to get to shore but couldn't. Finally they asked God's forgiveness, tied him and weighed him down. It doesn't say they weighed him down but it is implied in this verse.

Jonah 2:5 The waters surrounded me, even to my soul; The deep closed around me; Weeds were wrapped around my head.

When they threw him in he went down immediately, otherwise he would have been at the surface and drowned long before he hit bottom. Also, it was more merciful to weigh a person down and kill them quickly.

Jonah 1:17 Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.
Jonah 2:1 Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the fish's belly. 2 And he said: "I cried out to the Lord because of my affliction, And He answered me. "Out of the belly of Sheol I cried, And You heard my voice. Sheol is the grave.
Jonah 2:5 The waters surrounded me, even to my soul; The deep closed around me; Weeds were wrapped around my head. 6 I went down to the moorings of the mountains; The earth with its bars closed behind me forever; Yet You have brought up my life from the pit, O Lord, my God.

He was writing this after the fact, he is remembering what happened.

Jonah 2:7 "When my soul fainted within me, I remembered the Lord; And my prayer went up to You, Into Your holy temple. 8 "Those who regard worthless idols Forsake their own Mercy. 9 But I will sacrifice to You With the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay what I have vowed. Salvation is of the Lord."

His soul fainted within him. That was it for Jonah. That's what he remembers. The last thing he remembered may have been being sucked into the mouth of the fish. He was already so near death, his lungs already filled with water. This exact type of death is described and shown in the Discovery channel show "Worlds Most Dangerous Jobs". They showed what would happen to a fisherman if he got caught on the rope and pulled into the sea with the crab trap. That's how Jonah died.

Jonah 2:10 So the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.

Jonah didn't necessarily write this entire chapter. Some of it is in first person and some is not. When you die you "know nothing". When he was resurrected, his last thoughts before he died would be what he remembered, what happened while he was dead he didn't know. If you have an operation they put you to sleep and when you wake up you remember nothing of what happened while you were out.

Ecclesiastes 9:5 For the living know that they will die; But the dead know nothing, And they have no more reward, For the memory of them is forgotten.
John 3:13 No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven

Jesus said the only proof that He was the Messiah would be the example of Jonah.

Matthew 12:38 Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered, saying, "Teacher, we want to see a sign from You." 39 But He answered and said to them, "An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 40 For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. 41 The men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and indeed a greater than Jonah is here.

The only way Jonah could be a perfect type of Jesus was if he was dead. Christ died and was dead 3 days and 3 nights and Jonah died and was dead 3 days and 3 nights. The difference being Christ was resurrected and born again into a spiritual body as the Son of God and Jonah was just resurrected to his natural, fleshly body.

The fisherman had gone back to port (they had no more cargo) and told everyone what happened. They threw the prophet Jonah overboard, Jonah was dead! Word spread, everyone knew of him. So when Jonah comes walking into Nineveh and tells them what will happen to them if they don't repent, guess what, they believe him! They repent! He was dead and now here he is! But Jonah was still mad at God for forgiving them.

Jonah 4:1 But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he became angry. 2 So he prayed to the Lord, and said, "Ah, Lord, was not this what I said when I was still in my country? Therefore I fled previously to Tarshish; for I know that You are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, One who relents from doing harm. 3 Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live!" 4 Then the Lord said, "Is it right for you to be angry?"
Jonah 4:11 And should I not pity Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than one hundred and twenty thousand persons who cannot discern between their right hand and their left--and much livestock?"

The whole world is ignorant of the plan of God and what exactly the Good News of the Kingdom of God is. They don't know the real God, just as Nineveh didn't know. God doesn't hold the ignorant as responsible in this lifetime as those who know the truth.

Luke 12:48 But he who did not know, yet committed things deserving of stripes, shall be beaten with few. For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more.

Luke 23:34 Then Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do." And they divided His garments and cast lots.