'If you stand still, you WILL get shot at'

Just read this article which gives an inside look at some Marines in Iraq.
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'If you stand still, you WILL get shot at'
Speed is the rule for Marines in violent Iraqi city of Ramadi

RAMADI, Iraq (AP) -- Weapons locked, loaded and ready, a U.S. Marine platoon runs through this troubled Iraqi city's war-wrecked streets, hurling yellow, gray and violet smoke grenades to shroud their path.

Pausing only to train gun barrels around corners or scan rooftops for insurgents, they bound across desolate roads lined with broken glass and charred cars -- and start running again.

Standing still is rarely an option in this insurgent-plagued metropolis beset by roadside bombs, rocket fire and, Marines here say, the worst sniper threat on the planet.

"Every time we go out, we run," said 2nd Lt. Brian Wilson, a 24-year-old platoon commander from Columbia, South Carolina. "If you stand still, you WILL get shot at."

And most of the time, Marines shoot back.

Buildings around Government Center, the Marine-defended headquarters of provincial government, offer stark evidence of fighting between insurgents and U.S. forces in downtown Ramadi, a city 70 miles (112 kilometers) west of Baghdad in the heart of the Sunni Arab-dominated insurgency.

Some buildings have been blown away by airstrikes, their walls ripped open, their twisted floors collapsed. Others, including a small mosque and its tank-blasted minaret, are riddled with rocket and bullet impacts. Plastic awnings over shop fronts are shredded. Power lines hang down along sidewalks.

Marines patrolling this city on foot don't like to stay exposed too long, preferring instead to blow front gate locks off private homes with special shotgun shells to take temporary cover in walled courtyards before moving on. They don't knock first -- there is no time.

On one recent sweep, U.S. and Iraqi infantrymen climbed over walls between houses instead of risking the streets outside.

"We try to stay mobile, so snipers can't aim in on us," said 1st Lt. Carlos Goetz, a 29-year-old Miami, Florida, native. "If we walk, then it gives them more time to aim in on your head."

With 60 to 80 pounds of gear, the Marines' pace is more of a quick jog.
The enemy could be aiming

The urban environment of walled villa rooftops and four- to five-story windowed buildings keeps Marines edgy.

"You try to take cover wherever you can, but it just feels like someone's always watching you. It really messes with your head," said Cpl. Jason Hunt of Wellsville, New York.

"You look for dark windows, tiny holes anywhere," the 24-year-old said. "They could be sitting back on a bench with a scope and a barrel -- they see you, but you can't see them."

Troops from the 3rd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment aggressively patrol the blown-out district around Government Center at all hours -- during the hazy, gritty heat of the day, and in the quiet of night, when moonlight casts buildings and villas in blue hues.

Marines say the patrols have disrupted insurgent operations. But the guerrillas operating in small teams are relentless, firing rockets, mortars and machine guns daily at Government Center, U.S. bases and fortified observation posts. Sometimes they attack the same targets several times a day.

Goetz said Marines patrol with the hope of bringing insurgents out into the open, where they are little match for the overwhelming U.S. firepower.

It usually doesn't take long.

"It takes about eight minutes from us stepping outside of the wire and getting across the street to the time that we start receiving contact from the enemy," Goetz said.
Vehicles stay on the move

The safety-in-motion logic also applies to U.S. vehicles. Drivers roll back and forth in danger zones, rather than park, to make their vehicles harder targets, particularly for rocket-propelled grenades, or RPGs.

One young Marine manning a machine gun in a Humvee turret outside Government Center was hit by an RPG and killed instantly just before the vehicle rolled inside. In recent weeks, another Marine was killed by a sniper's bullet that tore through his shoulder toward his heart.

Two Iraqi soldiers were fatally shot manning a guard post -- one as he walked out of it and one who went to save him, said Marine Capt. Carlos Barela, 35, of Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Out on the streets, troops are wary of all the spots that insurgents have used to hide bombs: heaps of garbage and rubble, mangles of wires, scrap metal, the occasional dead animal or body part.

"This is the kind of stuff that makes you cringe," said Capt. Andrew Del Gaudio, 30, of Mount Laurel, New Jersey, gesturing at a large pile of dirt near a light pole as he ran along ahead of a raid with a platoon from his Kilo Company.

Sprinting into the entrance of an abandoned building and seeing a bag on the ground with wires sticking out, the Marines quickly retreated as one shouted, "Get out! Go! Go! Go!"

One Iraqi soldier bounding between two roads this month stepped on a bomb that blew off his leg. It's easier to spot bombs when moving slowly, but speed is the rule for Marines in Ramadi.

Cpl. Scott R. Gibson, 22, of Carlisle, Pennsylvania, said his platoon had started off walking during their first patrol in the city last month, worrying about pressure-plate bombs that explode when stepped on.

They soon came under a hail of gunfire.

"After that, we started running," Gibson said. "We can't stand still here too long."

Adventists and the Trinity

Ok i had initially wanted to post this as a comment on Faith's blog (yeah i keep referring to her blog i know..that's coz 1) i rarely surf other blogs and 2) there's not much issues to comment upon elswhere) but i thought that 1) my blog needs an update and 2) i don't want to spam her.


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Interesting experience you had with the doctor there. Honestly, the first few minutes after reading your account, i felt like hanging the doctor upside down because he was so flawed in his views. I cooled down later and read a couple of stuff that said that anti-trinitarianism was prevalent in the pioneers like James White, Uriah Smith and maybe even Ellen White as she had some statements that indicated so. It was not until the 1890s that Ellen White published clear Trinitarian statements. One thing to note was that the pioneers believed in "present truth" and they were willing to accept new light as it came. Not because there was new truth added to the bible. But because their understanding on those existent bible truths grew clearer. As a result, some of the pioneers like James White, Uriah Smith and Prescott changed their views, though not at similar times.

It is true that some Adventists once held anti-trinitarian views. But it was never the church position (as stated in the fundamental beliefs whether now or then as it was changed a few times) to hold to an anti-trinitarian view. In fact, the early statement of beliefs in 1872 and 1889 phrased the understanding of God in such a way that both Trinitarians and Anti-Trinitarians could agree. It was not until the 1931 amendment to the statement of beliefs added the Trinitarian position. So IOW, it was never the official church position that anti-trinitarianism was held.

It is interesting that the doctor thought we believed that Jesus was not the God although He was God. As Adventists, we do face many questions but such a question brought forth is rare (my first time hearing it) and i would bet on it that he got his facts confused with the Jehovah's Witnesses as most often is the case. The JWs believe that Jesus was a lesser God preceding from the Father.

Ok, i think now i feel like hanging the doctor upside down still as being an educated person (a doctor!), he should have got his facts right before forming a belief upon Adventists based on flawed ideas. I had a similar experience with my JC econs teacher who did the same "do you know Adventist doctrines are not right?" on me. For such people, i feel like telling them to study first before they talk! But if i were to hang everyone who didn't do so, then i'll have to hang myself upside down too. ;)

References:
-THE ADVENTIST TRINITY DEBATE
-THE DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY AMONG ADVENTISTS
-A Declaration of the Fundamental Principles Taught and Practiced by the Seventh-day Adventists, 1872
-The Arian or Anti-Trinitarian Views Presented in Seventh-day Adventist Literature and the Ellen G. White Answer
-THE FUNDAMENTAL BELIEFS AND "GROWING IN CHRIST

I was on a young adults' retreat over easter weekend. Really didn't expect the whole experience. I had thought there were some planned activities but when i found out there was no itinery, the first thought that came to my mind was "i'm going to be super bored". I'm not one who struggles with boredom. The last time i was dying of boredom was when i was in primary school. I still vividly recall myself speaking to my mom "I'm so bored, nothing to do..etc" and i would walk around the house not knowing what to do. As a child, i didn't have responsibilities where i had to attend to and not having anything to do is a real torture. Those incidents may have developed a boredom-phobia in me until now. And when i realised there was no itinery, the phobia kicked in and almost immediately, i was plunged into the preparatory stages of depression where i knew that it was only through time that i was going to die from the boredom monster.

But it wasn't so bad as i had thought out to be. Apart from the 2 devotional sessions a day, we had almost a choke-full of activities like gym, kayaking(watching), strolling along a dock full of private boats, cycling, water polo and a few rounds of a card game called Munchkin.

All in all, i didn't die from boredom but it was an ok retreat for me.

This will tickle some funny bones..lol


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A southern Baptist minister was completing a temperance sermon.
With great emphasis he said,
"If I had all the beer in the world, I'd take it and pour it into the river."


With even greater emphasis he said,
"And if I had all the wine in the world, I'd take it and pour it into the river."

And then finally, shaking his fist in the air, he said,
"And if I had all the whiskey in the world, I'd take it and pour it into the river."


Sermon complete, he sat down.

The song leader stood very cautiously and announced with a smile, nearly laughing,
"For our closing song, let us sing Hymn #365, "Shall We Gather at the River."

University professor attempts to explain miracles with science

I just read this piece of news from CNN.
Comments below

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MIAMI, Florida (Reuters) -- The New Testament says that Jesus walked on water, but a Florida university professor believes there could be a less miraculous explanation -- he walked on a floating piece of ice.

Professor Doron Nof also theorized in the early 1990s that Moses's parting of the Red Sea had solid science behind it.

Nof, a professor of oceanography at Florida State University, said on Tuesday that his study found an unusual combination of water and atmospheric conditions in what is now northern Israel could have led to ice formation on the Sea of Galilee.

Nof used records of the Mediterranean Sea's surface temperatures and statistical models to examine the dynamics of the Sea of Galilee, which Israelis know now as Lake Kinneret.

The study found that a period of cooler temperatures in the area between 1,500 and 2,600 years ago could have included the decades in which Jesus lived.

A drop in temperature below freezing could have caused ice -- thick enough to support a human -- to form on the surface of the freshwater lake near the western shore, Nof said. It might have been nearly impossible for distant observers to see a piece of floating ice surrounded by water.

Nof said he offered his study -- published in the April edition of the Journal of Paleolimnology -- as a "possible explanation" for Jesus' walk on water.

"If you ask me if I believe someone walked on water, no, I don't," Nof said. "Maybe somebody walked on the ice, I don't know. I believe that something natural was there that explains it."

"We leave to others the question of whether or not our research explains the biblical account."

When he offered his theory 14 years ago that wind and sea conditions could explain the parting of the Red Sea, Nof said he received some hate mail, even though he noted that the idea could support the biblical description of the event.

And as his theory of Jesus' walk on ice began to circulate, he had more hate mail in his e-mail inbox.

"They asked me if I'm going to try next to explain the resurrection," he said.

Copyright 2006 Reuters. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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I think that even if Jesus were to walk on ice, wouldn't it take great skill to do that? I do not believe Jesus had sufficient training to walk on ice and if he did walk on ice in that famous incident, then it's still a miracle. Add to that he was walking on ice amidst not so peaceful waters and this theory on walking on ice becomes ridiculous.