Thanks for the calculation leading to 8000 tonnes, I hadn't thought to do that. I just double checked your work and you are right on. If the account is true the U.S.A. has some gold plating in Fort Knox and not much more.

I looked up salt in the dictionary...fun exercise...it has so many meanings and uses. In this case it means to give the appearance of value as in someone "salted a mine" by spreading some nuggets about to give it the appearance of higher value. This could be done by shooting gold from a shotgun so that metal stuck to and conformed with the walls where it hit.

As regards praying for the sinner you can still feel good about hating what they have done. Don't beat yourself over that. Jesus loved righteousness but hated lawlessness; it is just that he hoped that wrongdoers would turn around and held that option open for them. He wouldn't wish they were dead with no further opportunity for change; but neither would he associate with them as friends.

Even the self-admitted criminal hung up next to him showed evidence of the ability to change. We will get to see whether he really does so when he is resurrected. There is no punctuation in the Greek language and translators because of their preconceived beliefs often err in the the way they placed the punctuation in that sentence.

Most have it as "Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise. That can't be correct. Jesus was in the grave/tomb for parts of three days even as he himself said citing the situation of Jonah. Even after God resurrected him, he didn't ascend to heaven for another forty days or so. The correct statement uses a common idiom of the time. "Truly I tell you today, you will be with me in paradise." Since the general ressurection of mankind has yet to take place, the evildoer has yet to prove his repentance by good works to support the faith he demonstrated.

"Truly I tell you today" would now be said something like this, "I promise you" with the understanding that the promise to perform something future is being made when spoken.

P.