Recent content by Joshua_Belyeu

With snakes in particular, its a very deep-rooted fear that goes all the way back to my school days. I think I was in a museum or something, casually passed by one's cage, and it struck at me without any warning. I couldn't have been more than 10 years old, but inside I was half that age. Ever...

RoboOp, Yesterday afternoon, I was carrying on a conversation in the Bible Study room of the Chat app. When I casually mentioned I was afraid of snakes, someone (I don't don't who) immediately switched the background to a coiled rattler. I immediately screamed, freaked out, and left (which I'm...

No disrespect, but there's debate even among pastors and Biblical scholars, whether those verses refer to Satan or one of the Babylonian kings. Even the word "lucifer" means "day star", while "satan" means "accuser" or "adversary".

Satan did - even though it's not in Scripture, tradition says he was once the leader of God's choir. But for some reason he became envious, tried to take God's throne, and convinced a third of his fellow angels to follow him when cast out.

Trivia Fact: the so-called Killing Curse from the Wizarding World ("avada kedavra") is actually Aramaic for "Let the thing be destroyed", while "Abracadabra" is Hebrew for "I will create as I speak". I have no problem with The Lord of the Rings, since Tolkien was an outspoken Christian (even...

Stoker's novel was very different from any adaptation that's ever been done. Many of the popular elements were things he never wrote, such as Dracula explicitly being either Vlad the Impaler or Judas Iscariot, his loving Mina in any way, she herself being his reincarnated bride from centuries...

I know there's lots of people at both extremes of this, but I'm slightly more to the center from the right. For example, I adore the original Halloween because there's very little blood and nudity, no explicit sex, and minimal language...even for a film made 47 years ago. The spooky nature of it...

I relate very much to Zacchaeus - not in the monetary sense of course, but simply in his desire to be close to Jesus and help anyone he thought he'd harmed.

Very nice - Dustin has a sister from one of his father's previous relationships; her name is Trish, and she's in her 40s. Well, her son Darius became a father about 18 months ago, and now his wife is pregnant again. So that branch of my family tree is definitely growing for sure! :D

Two days ago, my 23-year-old nephew Dustin called me up, to excitedly tell me he's going to be a father! I am totally thrilled for him. My sister Nita (his mother) is on Cloud #9, by her own admission; I already teased her by saying "Congrats, Grandma", which made her laugh. If all goes well...

Whenever someone implies I should be grateful for being single because it would bring me closer to God, they have no idea how the core of my being boils over that. It takes all I have not to scream in response, "I've only loved one woman in my life that way, and it's been almost 20 years! My...

No offense meant at all, but this seems very similar to the classic "God is all you need" mantra, which I do not believe in the absolute sense. Here's the reason for my stance - if that were true, then God never would've made Eve to begin with. The first thing God saw in Eden which He described...

I never understood the vegetarian or vegan mentalities. Now admittedly, I'm not much of a pet person, but I do think we should do our best to care for them gently as stewards, like God would expect us to. Having said that, we also need to recognize that they are not our equals, and stop treating...

Generally speaking, I can be fairly territorial with some things, but I'm not mean-spirited or super-strict about it; I just don't want to be a doormat. If the woman I end up marrying expects me to compromise on certain things, then she must be willing to do the same.

Well, the small place I live in doesn't appear to have any single Christian women my age; I'll be 45 in August. The church I go to is largely divided between two groups: couples 65 and over, or the same who are my age with kids. The main reason that I decided to try online dating was because my...