Posts Made By: Mark Costello III

September 1, 2011 05:57 PM Forum: Religion

Quick poll (Works or Grace)

Posted By Mark Costello III

'Ephesians 2:8-10: "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them."'

My answer. We are saved by Grace through Faith, as Saint Paul says in Ephesians 2:8&9 "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast."

Where do works fit in? It's at least one reason for GOD to save us, to give Him glory and honor by the works we do for Him, as St. Paul says in Ephesians 2:10 "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them."

September 2, 2011 12:20 PM Forum: Politics

If I...

Posted By Mark Costello III

Tony Aguire said:

If I crapped in your toilet and didn't flush it, can I blame you for the stink two days later? BOO-YA Bush is at fault for Obama getting stuck with a stinky poop pot...

Obama '12 grin

I don't like almost all of this President's policies, didn't vote for him in 2008 and will not in 2012. BUT I've always given President Obama the respect for the office won fairly and honestly. So as you see my response, please remember you asked the question the way you did.

Suppose after you used my commode without flushing it, another guest, whose name will remain anonymous, came into the bathroom. Having a big attack of diarrhea, he jumped on the commode. As he got up, he said "boy, does that stink! Who came in here and didn't flush the toilet?" That's the analogy that comes to my mind thinking about the President taking over a big debt and adding trillions to it and saying "IT'S ALL BUSH'S FAULT!"

September 12, 2011 09:02 PM Forum: Politics

GOP Debate Tonight

Posted By Mark Costello III

Governor Perry might be right but the only reason that Social Security might be a Ponzi scheme is the government's unfortunate propensity to dip into its funds for general spending. And that is going to make your "eventually" v-e-r-y eventually and doing away with it some trick....

October 26, 2011 01:18 PM Forum: Religion

Why are threads disappearing???

Posted By Mark Costello III

Doug Matulis said:

Why


Hi Doug. I don't post often on Astromart compared to most others and don't read every post, but from what I've seen, presumably a lot of series here and on the Politics Forum sooner or later include threads that take the series to "ad hominem" attacks. Sometimes threads start with a post with an edge (I respectfully submit that the most recent one here was like that). At any rate, it seems that before long, I see posts at variance with this

4.2.2. Astromart™ prohibits posting of material which contains racial, ethnic, religious slurs or derogatory epithets, or advocating violence, hate or other language that is offensive; material referencing the sale or distribution of controlled substances, any posting intended to harass another, unsolicited advertising (whether commercial or informational) and unsolicited email or advertisements including, but not limited to adult or dating services placing advertisements (“SPAM”); information about another on-line astronomy classified and/or auction service;

Which sooner or later evokes a response from the moderator or Astromart owner along the lines of this

19.3. Astromart™ is largely a self-policing discussion site, which means that our site administrators will respond and react to e-mails received from members regarding violations of the Terms of Use. Upon receipt of such e-mails, Astromart can and will take appropriate action (at its sole discretion), including, but not limited to the removal of post(s) and the suspension or termination of account(s). If you are honest, sincere and civil with your posts, Astromart expects that you will never have to worry about termination. However, you subject yourself to possible suspension and/or termination if you violate any of the “Prohibitions” set out above in Section 4.

Best,

November 11, 2011 01:41 PM Forum: Religion

Please say a prayer for my dad

Posted By Mark Costello III

Hi Darrell, I'm very sorry to read this about your mother. My mother had a stroke in March 2006 which has left her with very little ability to move her right arm or leg and impaired her speech. My Dad is still taking care of her. In addition to our two family trips, I still go down to Jacksonville a couple of times a year to see how they're doing and help out what I can. It is a privilege to see them together. I sometimes pray that if anything like that happened to Laura, the LORD give me the strength that my father has to care for her.

It is evident that your Dad also was gifted with a lot of strength and patience to care for your mother the way he did. I'll pray that the LORD bring your father and you through this time of fiery trial.

November 17, 2011 10:07 PM Forum: Refractors

Got Aperture Fever?

Posted By Mark Costello III

8O

Good thing I'm happy with my 5" achro (an ES AR127). I'd probably get myself killed in the metalworking shop needed to make a refractor around that lens. 8O

November 21, 2011 01:41 PM Forum: Politics

November 29, 2011 01:52 PM Forum: Politics

December 9, 2011 06:41 PM Forum: Politics

Hmm.. workplace violence? What was 911?

Posted By Mark Costello III

... An act of disgruntled airline passengers? 8O :S

December 18, 2011 05:46 PM Forum: Religion

This forum has less than 24 hours to live...

Posted By Mark Costello III

Do we not have a moderator here?

I'd like to make a suggestion. Let's have threads that positively speak of God (I'm Christian but you should be welcome if you want to start a thread on Allah, Bhudda, Rama & Shiva & Vishu, the Shinto pantheon, etc...) rather than just negatively on atheists who evidently are limited in what they can write here and evidently no longer have their "Non-Religion" forum....