George Hayduke

Well Kitty Kat, it's been a pleasure and honor to have ridden the dusty trail with you. Keep your pencil sharp and watch your top knot. GH

One can only hope.

A female Marine lieutenant quietly crossed one of the last remaining hurdles for women in the service Monday, celebrating graduation of the famously difficult infantry officer course in a private ceremony reserved for family members. The officer, who asked not to be identified, is the first woman in the Marine Corps to earn the 0302 infantry officer military occupational specialty. She will soon be sent to her new unit, which is within 1st Marine Division, out of Camp Pendleton, California, officials with Marine Corps Training and Education Command said Monday morning. "I am proud of this officer and those in her class‎ who have earned the infantry officer MOS," Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Robert Neller said in a statement. Some 32 female officers have previously attempted the 13-week infantry officer course at Quantico, Virginia since the course first opened to women on an experimental basis in 2012. The vast majority of applicants did not make it past the grueling combat endurance test that kicks off the course. The test runs more than 14 hours and is designed to test Marine officers mentally as well as physically, forcing them to hike many miles with 80-pound packs and complete an obstacle course in which they must climb a 20-foot rope multiple times. http://www.military.com/daily-news/2017/09/25/its-official-marines-have-their-first-female-infantry-officer.html?ESRC=dod_170928.nl

Just goes to show a woman can do anything a man can do... like getting knocked on her butt😴

Nope right back at you. You better check yo sef before you wreck yo sef any further. I started this thread and not only did you not post the above cut paste before now, you still have not addressed my questions to you in my original post. Go to the top of the page and check it out. I made it pretty simple for you. I illustrated how the Doctrine of the Trinity could be understood. All you have to do is rebut it but you can't so you cut and paste away... You're right, I don't get to tell you how to answer but rules of debate do. I don't think you really know how to debate. I opened this thread with an illustration that 'A' is 'A' now, it's up to you to counter with why 'A' is not 'A'. You can cut and paste 'What ifs and How comes' all day long but those are not rebuttals, corrections or even answers; they're just noise... GH

I love Kelly's straight talk - great demeanor and explanation. Thanks Yota

Not in this thread you haven't. You said you'd love to debate the issue then added 'But'... Posting an anti-Trinity link is not an answer to my original post. I made the first move by explaining why the Trinity can be understood. Now, if you truly know how to debate you have to provide a counter point for each of my assertions. Please don't post any links or cut and paste any of the JW doctrine.

Angels don't create only God creates.

Well, now that the dust is settled let’s move on to a less vitriolic conversation. There’s no need for anybody to get upset and, no reason for this thread to be closed. I think it’s pretty obvious as to who is a Christian and who is a Jehovah Witness here. There are strong beliefs held on both sides; some are correct and others are not. What I know to be absolutely right and correct is that two positives don’t make a negative and two negatives’ don’t make a positive. In other words, two opposing views cannot both be correct in the same sense at the same time. One view will be correct but wishing and hoping it to be correct without understanding why it is and should be correct, leads to inflammatory and passionate pejoratives such as ‘Mocker’ and ‘Blasphemer.’ There’s no need for that language, who are we trying to convince, ourselves? God already knows who is who and what lies in their heart of hearts, soul of souls, mind of mind, flesh of flesh…oops, sorry, got carried away for a moment. Personally, I don’t believe the JW’s interpretation of the message of the Bible is correct in so many areas. That is why Botz, I’ve addressed most of my response to you. One thing that we can both agree upon is that our understanding of what a ‘soul’ is, is completely different one from another. No sense beating that horse any further . Another area where we hold different views is how we interpret scripture. In one instance with regard to St. John seeing and hearing martyred souls crying out for God’s Judgement for their murder here on earth, you claim it is symbolic. Yet, when Christ opens the 7th Seal, St. John states, “And I heard the number of those who were sealed; One hundred and forty-four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel were sealed.” In both instances St. John is in the same place observing a Holy Seal being opened and he hears a testimony as to who the 144,000 are. Can you explain why one event is different from the other? They could both be symbolic and they could both be literal but, they can’t be either/or. I believe they are literal events. Here is something else you might want to discipline yourself on; interjection. What I mean by that is, St. John said he heard the souls crying out and you retorted that what St. John saw was symbolic but you added the word ‘Screaming’ in place of crying out. St. John never said the souls were ‘screaming’. Here is another important example of the differences between Christianity and JW’s with regard to the Trinity. Christians as you know believe God the Father, Christ the Son and the Holy Spirit are one God; Jehovah You claim Jesus was created, a mere creature with supernatural powers. " He actually has convinced people that God´s son IS God...oh and that the holy spirit is God....Oh but they are not 3 but um, one. Which makes no sense no matter how you slice it." Let me give it a try: The basic doctrine of the Trinity is one nature and three persons. You may think Christians cheat at math by saying 1+1+1=1 when it is obvious it should be 3. That however, is not the foundation of the Trinity. One to the third power is more accurate 1X1X1=1. Still, I admit the Trinity is a mystery but can it be understood sufficiently. One thing the Doctrine of the Trinity is not, is Tritheism; the belief that are three gods in the godhead. The basic doctrine of the Trinity is best understood as one nature and three persons; God is tri-personal, infinite, indivisible, immutable, eternal, all-knowing, all-powerful, all-loving, and absolutely perfect and just. God is three persons in one nature. There is only one essence; “What” in God, but there are three persons; “Whos” in that one “What”. It is also known as a “Tri-unity”. Another way to look at it is as a triangle. There are three sides co-equal in dimension but distinct one from another; side ‘A’ cannot be Side ‘B’ and side ‘B’ cannot be side ‘C’ and side ‘C’ cannot be side ‘A’. Neither is one subordinate to the other but in totality reveal the ‘essence’ of a triangle. I can hear your Botz gears grinding even now as I type, so let’s go straight to the main argument that JW’s stand on with regard to Christ’s deity; Christ cannot be the second person of the Trinity because He is not equal in essence with the Father because He was created by the Father. If that were true the Doctrine of the Trinity would be absurd. But… Christ was not created but has co-existed with the Father and the Holy Spirit for all eternity as the Triune God. St. Paul states, “He created all things”(Colossians 1:16) and “has the fullness of the Godhead” (Colossians 2:9) and, “He is before all things.” (Colossians 1:17). You might want to consider Revelation 21:6-7, where Christ states “He said to me; ‘It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life. He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son.’” Clearly, Christ is saying He is the beginner and ender of all creation not that He was created at the beginning of the creation of all things. Another fair question is how can the Father be greater than the Son if Jesus is equal to God? The Father was greater than Jesus as a man but not greater than Christ as God because he too was God. Jesus was equal in essence but lower in nature. · JESUS AS GOD: o Unlimited in knowledge o No growth in knowledge o Knew time of His coming · JESUS AS MAN: o Limited in knowledge o Growth in knowledge o Did not know time of His coming The existence of the Holy Spirit is also where Christianity and JW’s disagree. JW’s believe the spirit of Jehovah is His Holy Spirit whereas Christians believe the Holy Spirit is a person and is equal in the Triune Godhead essence. His deity is evidenced by His possessing the names of God; having the attributes of God; performing the acts of God; and His association with God in benedictions and baptismal formulas. We can go and on and on but the reality is Christians believe two thousand years of orthodoxy whereas JW’s believe a new revelation occurred in 1799 when C.T. Russell proclaimed mankind was living in the last days and that Christ was going to return in 1874. The Watchtower Society grew from that moment never ceasing to adjust dates and prophecy to match their theology. That’s a lot of editing to have accomplished in 200 some years but I’m confident in their ability to keep pace with the changing times. Am I passionate about converting JW’s…? Not in the least, I believe a man will believe what he wants to believe regardless of anything I have to say. So Botz, since you never answered my question, “What is the purpose of the atonement?” I’ll assume it will be contrary to the Orthodox understanding and leave it at that. In the meantime know that if I erred in presenting a JW belief or position it was unintentional. GH

Well, brothers in Christ let us join together in a group hug of our eternal souls and give thanks and praise to the Lamb that was slain!

So because the Bible says that souls die....the bible ALSO has to say that souls are not immortal? My point is that you claim the Bible NEVER EVER says the soul is immortal. You are correct in that the phrase “The soul is immortal” does not appear in the Bible but that doesn’t mean the soul isn’t immortal. I suspect you are using the Hebrew term ‘Nephesh’ for the foundation of your understanding and belief that the soul (Nephesh) of the Old Testament has only one definition. You would be wrong. ‘Nephesh’ is used more than 780 times in the Old Testament with a variety of contextual meanings, some of which refer to the spiritual component of man. However, there are two Greek words in the New Testament used to define the word for soul: ‘Psychas’ and ‘Psuche’. ‘Psychas’ is more closely aligned with the Hebrew word ‘Nephesh’ to mean body, soul or mind. ‘Psuche', on the other hand, more accurately is defined as the human soul or self-identity and the base of affections and will. BTW the word ‘Psuche’ is used 104 times in the NT, should you care to research the context. HUH? Um, if they die, they are not immortal. Here we are back at the beginning; you say the human being is the soul and when the human being dies the soul dies and God’s spirit returns back to Him. You have it half right; God’s spirit does return back to him but the soul lives on and on and on… I’ll give some examples later in this post but first I want to get there by addressing your ‘thief in paradise’ thing. The thief in paradise thing....WAS Jesus in paradise THAT day? Jesus doesn´t lie does he? No he was not. (1)He laid dead for 3 days no? So he was not in paradise THAT day. (2)He was then resurrected to an earthly body and stayed around an additional 40 days on earth. Therefore when he told the thief today, you will be with me in paradise...(3)He was simply TELLING him that day that he was going to be in paradise in the future. Like if I say....I tell you today we will go to the movies. It COULD be that day or a week from now. Since they did not use commas back then, we truly do not know. (4)But since Jesus did NOT go to paradise THAT day and he said the thief would be WITH him in paraside we can assume it is talking about the future. You are correct, it is a commonly debated subject whether there should be a comma or not and since we do not absolutely know we have to form an opinion that best describes what the text more accurately and most likely means. It’s a perfect example of a balanced assumption derived from logical thinking without referring to a specific scripture to validate the assumption. However, the ‘comma thing’ is not why I provided the ‘thief on the cross thing’ as an example of the immortal soul. I’ll break it down for you as follows: 1. He laid dead for 3 days no? Jesus Christ was fully human. You claim the soul is a human being and when it dies, it’s deader than a mackerel and ceases to exist. How is it that Jesus Christ was only dead for three days? Didn’t His soul die when His body died? 2. He was then resurrected to an earthly body. How can that be? Did Jesus get a new soul or was he resurrected with his previous soul? Again, if, as you claim, the soul dies when the body dies how can Jesus have His earthly body without a soul? 3. He was simply TELLING him that day that he was going to be in paradise in the future. Ah yes, now were getting down to it, aren’t we? Jesus told the thief he would be with Jesus in paradise. If the thief died on the cross, and I’m pretty sure we can assume that he did, how is it the thief could be anywhere after his death other than in the earth as a dead human being and soul? 4. But since Jesus did NOT go to paradise THAT day and he said the thief would be WITH him in paraside we can assume it is talking about the future. So you do admit that Jesus went to paradise, right? So where is this paradise place anyway and, how is it Jesus and the thief can go there after their souls are dead? “Please take note; those souls are in Heaven and not only do they speak, they speak with a loud voice to express a desire for God to judge those who had killed them in order that their blood be avenged.” GH Um, how are they in heaven? WHERE does it show they are in heaven? Assumption there. No assumption; a conclusion. BTW, there is nothing wrong with a logical assumption that is more correct than not. I’m sure you have made many of those in the building of your faith. So you want to know WHERE (I’m assuming you mean in the Bible) does it show they (souls) are in Heaven. Well OK then, let’s trot on over to Revelation Chapter 4 verse 1 and check out what John the Revelator has to say, “After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter. Stay with me here grasshopper; St. John was invited to come through an open door in heaven where he was told things would be revealed to him. And what things they were, eh? A throne, a great and glorious throne where upon ONE sat. “And He who sat there was like a jasper and sardius stone in appearance, and there was a rainbow around the throne in appearance like an emerald.” Rev. 4:2-3. Pretty awesome huh? There’s more of course; 24 elders, lightening, and thundering, crowns of gold, and lamps of fire. You can read the next couple of verses yourself but take particular attention to verse 6; “Before the throne there was a sea of glass, like crystal. And in the midst of the throne and around the throne, were four living creatures…” Verse 8; “The four living creatures… do not rest day or night, saying: Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, Who was and is and is to come!” Verse 9; Whenever, the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before Him who sits on the throne and worship Him who lives forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying: “You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and by Your will they exist and were created.” St. John is observing the Lord God Almighty sitting on His throne in the midst of heaven, right? What happens next is key to understanding Chapter 6 verse 9. Rev 5:1-2, “And I saw in the right hand of Him who sat on the throne a scroll written inside and on the back, sealed with seven seals. Then I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and to loose its seals?” Rev 5: 6, “And I looked, and behold, in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elder, stood a Lamb as though it had been slain…” Rev 5:7, “Then He (the lamb) came and took the scroll out of the right hand of Him who sat on the throne..." . Rev 5:8, “Now when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb… (Verse 9) “And sang a new song, saying: “You are worthy to take the scroll, and to open its seals; for You were slain, and have redeemed us to God by Your blood…” You getting the picture? God is on His throne in heaven, a scroll must be opened and only the Lamb can open it. The Lamb of course, is Jesus Christ. How do we know this? Because the four living creatures and twenty-four elders acknowledge that, “…You were slain and have redeemed us to God by Your blood…” St. John then observes Christ open the fifth seal of seven seals; “When He opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls (Psychas) of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held. And they cried with a loud voice, saying, “How long O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” There’s those talking, complaining souls again, wanting revenge for their death. How can dead souls be anywhere much less speak? St. John goes on to say in Rev 20:4, “…Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God,… And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. Wow, these poor souls had their heads cut off and yet they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. How can that be? Now, consider St. John’s next statement, verse 5; “But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priest of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years.” Resurrection of the dead? Is there no end to the life of a soul? Why don’t they just stay dead? Deads dead, right? BTW, if the soul is dead for all eternity what was the purpose of the Atonement? It certainly wasn’t to reconcile God’s spirit back to Himself. Think about it… “I am afraid you misunderstood me. Human beings are not souls just as an egg is not the yoke. As I said before human beings are a unity of body and soul, possessing both a physical and spiritual dimension; they are a psychosomatic unity, blend of mind and matter.” GH No scripture details what you just said. I think I’ve provide sufficient scripture to illustrate otherwise.” GH You only provided two scriptures. None of which had to do with the soul. I provided much more proving that they die in fact. You need to re-read them; Christ’s own words and actions should be sufficient. I provided a simple explanation of those scriptures in this post. I look forward to your careful and considered response. However, if you think volume substantiates a truth claim you are free to research the context of the 780 occurrences with which Nephesh was used in the Old Testament but I don’t think you are going find any that refute Christ’s authority on the issue. GH PS. While you’re composing your response and explanation of the Atonement, I’d appreciate your thoughts on the purpose of Christ’s resurrection. Thanks in advance for your time.

Check out YouTube: Making fun of ANTIFA by Adam Calhoun. It's short and hilarious. It has a couple of bad words that probably isn't appropriate for the DV mods but will bring a smile to the twisted like of you all.

Well, if your soul was immortal like mine, you would know how to do it. We immortals have our little secrets and once you are truly born again you will have the authority and power to Bold Stuff.

Thanks Synopsis. I understand how Bot thought we were on the same page but, I may have confused him and others and I need to clarify. I muddied the waters when I said in my first post that human beings are souls and then in my second post said they were not souls. What I meant to say is the body is not the soul. In other words when the body (commonly understood to be a human being but in actuality is just flesh) dies, the soul returns to God and never dies. I hope that clears it up. GH

Thanks for the tee-up Bots George ya had me until the end... Souls that reject the atonement will spend all eternity from god. No. Souls are not immortal. You will have to explain why the atonement exists if souls are not immortal. Again I state...The Bible NEVER, EVER, says that souls are immortal but over a hundred times the Bible explicitly states that souls die (Ezek.18:4,20; 22:27; Job 36:14; Ps.56:13; 78:50; 116:8; Ac 3:23; Js 5:20; Num 23:10 etc.). You may be mincing words with regard to the Bible not providing the quotable statement, “Souls are immortal.” Sometimes God is direct and sometimes He implies by example and/or miracles and/or communion and/or prophecy. I’ll take your word that the Bible explicitly states over one hundred times that a soul dies. However, be mindful that the Bible also does not explicitly state that souls are not immortal. Every single soul that has ever lived until today has died. Every single one. Every single one, eh? Let’s go to the highest source on this issue, shall we? Christ said to the thief on the cross, “Today you will be with me in paradise.” (Luke 23:43) According to you, the thief is dead, kaput, no moss, pushing up daisies, worm food and yet, Christ promised the thief he would be in paradise on that very day, obviously, after he died. Although the Bible doesn’t explicitly state the thief died that day or any other day, I think the common understanding is that he did. But, if, as you say, the soul is a human being and is not immortal how could the thief exist with Christ in paradise? Christ doesn’t lie… or does He? Let’s broaden the numbers: Revelation 6:9. “And when the Lamb opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony they had upheld. And they cried out in a loud voice, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge those who live on the earth and avenge our blood?” Here we have a group of souls who had been killed for the word of God and for their testimony. Please take note; those souls are in Heaven and not only do they speak, they speak with a loud voice to express a desire for God to judge those who had killed them in order that their blood be avenged. Hmm… spoken thought, expectation, understanding and knowledge; those souls don’t seem to be very dead to me. In fact it appears they… well, you know what I was going to say don’t you? You just haven’t found a way to refute it yet. The foundation of human life: “The Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being” (Gen 2:7) At death, “The dust returns to the ground it came from, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.” (Eccl. 12.7) Now let’s individualize the issue: At death, “we are… away from the body and at home with the Lord” (2Cor.5:8) and, St. Paul wrote that it is better, “to depart from the body and be with Christ.” (Phil. 1:23) But man, you are correct about the other parts. Human beings ARE souls! I am afraid you misunderstood me. Human beings are not souls just as an egg is not the yoke. As I said before human beings are a unity of body and soul, possessing both a physical and spiritual dimension; they are a psychosomatic unity, blend of mind and matter. There is not an immortal part that lives on after our bodies die. I think I’ve provide sufficient scripture to illustrate otherwise. Thank you George! You get it. No, my friend, let me thank you for allowing me to set the record straight. I do get it and, I pray that you will also. GH

Well that sucks.

It might help to define the following: Body: Flesh, organs, dust/dirt, nothing more, simple. Spirit: Human beings have a spirit, but we are not spirits. However, in Scripture, only believers are said to be spiritually alive (1 Corinthians 2:11; Hebrews 4:12; James 2:26), while unbelievers are spiritually dead (Ephesians 2:1–5; Colossians 2:13). In Paul’s writing, the spiritual is pivotal to the life of the believer (1 Corinthians 2:14; 3:1; Ephesians 1:3; 5:19; Colossians 1:9; 3:16). The spirit is the element in humanity that gives us the ability to have an intimate relationship with God. Whenever the word spirit is used, it refers to the immaterial part of humanity that “connects” with God, who Himself is spirit (John 4:24). Soul: The soul can refer to both the immaterial and material aspects of humanity. Unlike human beings having a spirit, human beings are souls. In its most basic sense, the word soul means “life”; however, beyond this essential meaning, the Bible speaks of the soul in many contexts. One of these is in relation to humanity’s eagerness to sin (Luke 12:26). Human beings have a sinful nature, and our souls are tainted with sin. The soul, as the life essence of the body, is removed at the time of physical death (Genesis 35:18; Jeremiah 15:2). The soul, as with the spirit, is the center of many spiritual and emotional experiences (Job 30:25; Psalm 43:5; Jeremiah 13:17). The word soul can refer to the whole person, whether alive on earth or in the afterlife. Death: The result of Original Sin. All humanity is born spiritually dead; Ephesians 2:1 - "And you were dead in your trespasses and sins…" That reality is why humanity must be... wait for it... Born Again through Christ's atoning death, then and only then, can a man's spirit commune with God's spirit. Eternal Life: Mankind has both a soul and spirit. They are connected, but separable (Hebrews 4:12), and eternal. The phrase 'Eternal Life' does not mean eternal life with God. It means the soul and the spirit will exist for all eternity. Only the soul and spirit that have been born again will exist with God for all of eternity while the soul and spirit that rejected the atonement will spend eternity separate from God. GH

Good stuff - glad to see it.

People forget that America is comprised of United Sovereign States, each with it's own history, culture, Constitution and Government; similar to Europe but truly united with each vote sharing an equal value. Consider, that while the European Union doesn't have a President per se, if they did, Germany's 82 million people would always cancel out Malta's 400,000 popular votes. That's not a very good way for the people to hold other groups of power accountable, nor would they get fair representation. In a Democratic Republic, it's not just the number of votes that is important but the value of the vote as well. There are approximately 24 million people living in Southern California; that's just five counties out of the state's fifty eight total. Contrast that with the 1 million people that populate the whole state of Montana. In a pure democratic voting scenario, the people of Montana and its diverse culture would be held hostage by the 24 million people in Southern California. Mathematically, Montana's citizenry could never influence nor could they win a popular vote. So why vote at all? Just suck it up and live beneath the boot of the popular vote for ever? Doesn't smell like freedom to me. The popular vote system is not what makes America an immigrant magnet but a balanced vote with equal value does. GH

Great Photo's - thanks.

One thing I learned regarding artillery estimation was to default the tragectory 1/16 per mile for the earths curviture. Surveyors apply the same principle. Theroretically, abridge could be built perfectly flat but the mid span would be closer to the earths surface than the ends.

Some just can't handle the truth. I'd be more inclined to take the 'Kneelers' more serious if they produced a manifesto of factual grievances and each one signed their name. As it stands, a generalized statement of solidarity to speak for the "oppressed " who have no voice doesn't cut it and the American public see right through the political charade.

Thanks Jim, you beat me to it. Thanks, LGD, I know you are a good man too. I asked the simple question to illustrate that men of God can have differing views of non-essential issues outside the pale of Orthodoxy without it affecting a persons salvation. I believe the flat earth issue falls into that category; I know you are a Christian with heartfelt passion that the earth is flat. I also am a Christian with a passion for truth, logic and yes, science and I don't believe those tools are mutually exclusive apart from the "Great I Am", The Logos or, the Word that was made flesh and dwelt among us. Logic and science are tools that reveal God's truth. God is not illogical and science is simply a method by which events and material are examined and explained. The methodology of science, by its very nature, can never exclude another possibility. It can only illustrate what is known at the time of the examination. The science of DNA is a perfect example. You believe the earth is flat and has four corners, and is a foot stool for God. Is it a square, rectangle, trapezoid or a circle? And, why would a flat earth face upward to God in Heaven so He may put his feet down upon it? Are there directions in Heaven: up, down, sideways, left, right? You see LGD? I don't think the issue is a laughing matter, at the same time I didn't want to get into a long drawn out argument over a non-essential issue. I thought perhaps you had an explanation for the flat earth having an edge or edges that surely by now, a modern mariner would have either discovered or fallen off of. As for Malachi 3:16, God is speaking to the Israelites regarding their disobedience and disillusionment that God no longer cared about them. They became jealous of evildoers so Malachi used language people would understand because of the method of book keeping or 'Remembrances' the Kings of Persia utilized to reward those who performed faithful service to the King and in due time would be rewarded with jewels or other valuables. Malachi wanted to show the Israelites God had not forsaken them and they would be rewarded in due time. God, obviously, does not need a book to remember names or deeds, just as He doesn't need a footstool to rest His feet upon. Jesus told us to rejoice that your names are written in Heaven and that's good enough for me. GH