Valletta said:

God hears everything, when you confess through a priest, Orthodox or Catholic, you can be assured that Jesus forgives all of your sins. Jesus gave the Apostles the power to forgive sins in His name.

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I imagine you are thinking of John 20:23, where Jesus says to the disciples:
“If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the [sins] of any, they are retained.” (Joh 20:23 NKJV)

The apostles seem to have understood this in in a declarative sense - because not once in the New Testament do we read of Christians being directed to confess their sins to an apostle. Indeed, the apostles are never referred to as priests, nor do we read of the church having priests. The Pharisees were correct when they said, "Who can forgive sins but God alone?" If Christians have access to God the Father in prayer and confession through Jesus Christ, there is no need to come through a priest.

Pommer said:

Ollie North is still kickin’ at 80 another generation’s rogue-agent.

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Ah yes of course. Good suggestion.

Pommer said:

He wouldn’t accept, maybe Clint Eastwood can talk to a chair?

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I don't get the reference.

Sabertooth said:

Must we wait for another Pasteur or Lister on these matters, or does Semmelweis give us enough evidence to act on?

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Sure, washing your hands, having specific place for toilet, cleaning your dishes or sending sick people outside of the camp is more hygiene, obviously. But it was not unique, even in their time. Such things are easy to observe and were practiced in various cultures, from Egypt to Rome to China.

Interesting thread. I've never seen

E.T.
any Indiana Jones movie
any Rambo movie
any Star Wars except the first one

prodromos said:

Interesting strawman.

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Why is a strawman?

Marilyn C said:

The 1,335 is the `blessed time.` (Dan. 12: 12)

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Here is what the verse says,

Daniel 12:12 Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days.

They will be blessed because they will reign and rule with Jesus for the next 1000 years after He returns.

Pommer said:

The rights for gay men and lesbian women to marry one another, that was decided in 2015.
SCOTUS could reverse itself (again) and in under a decade, too, [won’t that be a fun-sell “trust, us we’ll eventually decide ‘correctly’!”] *

I don’t see people in 2024 marching to have that rescinded, though.

*not an actual quote by anyone but the madman in Pommer’s brainpan.

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Why do you consider same-sex marriage and actual marriage to be the same?

Ana the Ist said:

I don't see anyone asking them to do more than follow the same rules as everyone else.

Nobody cares what they do on their own time.

Nice try though.

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Nope. You're not gonna Michael Corleone me.

-- A2SG, and I'm taking the cannoli...

Apple Sky said:

Is space hot or cold ?

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Yes.

Must one give an incantation for the initiation?

DavidTheGnome said:

Could it be I'm being stalked and terrorized by evil spirits?

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No.
You just have a strange obsession with the smell of your tyres.
I don't drive, but I have never, in my life, smelt a tyre; neither has anyone else that I know. The vast majority of people don't give it a second thought.

somebodysangel_88 said:

I am feeling so far down right now, it’s so bad that I don’t have any energy to go to work. I just want to stay in bed all day. I awoke to no paycheck (long story) and I am now feeling like a failure to my family to keep us going. I don’t know how to. I’m just wanting to hunker down and stay in my bed all day. No energy to work or clean or anything like that. I just can’t do this anymore.

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Praying now!

Lord God I lift up somebodysangel to You right now and I pray for Your intervention in her current situation and for complete healing and deliverance from all symptoms of mental illness, I take authority over any symtoms of depression and I command them to go right now in the name of Jesus! I pray for supernatural strength for somebodysangel to endure her current situation and I pray that You would deliver her from her situation! I also pray for supernatural strength and energy in her physical body! Than You God!

Bradskii said:

The equation solves for what is right. But what is right for you. So if the input determines that the output is 'steal the wallet' then that's the right output for the person making the choice. By definition. It's what he prefers to do. But we both would say that it's the wrong thing to do from a moral perspective.

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What's the standard that we judge these things by? The person stealing the wallet seems to have gotten a good result, at least from the perspective from them and those under their care. How are we to determine person x talking the wallet is worse than person y keeping the wallet?

Either way, all is perdetermined so the equations balanced itself so that both parties have the correct result. Without any interpretation of the outcome the act cannot be spoken as morally anything, it just is.

So where is this moral standard coming from if not from determinism itself? Or does determinism also produce this moral standard because how I feel/think/reason is just various caused reactions happening in my brain that allow me to accept something as desired or undesired. Such a system seems set up to against determinist results.

Zaha Torte said:

From what I have seen (and this is from hearing about things indirectly) they claim that Trump committed a crime for being a victim of blackmail and his lawyer at the time (who claimed that Trump did not know about the hush money payments, that he stole from Trump and that he was testifying to get revenge on Trump) misclassified the hush money payments.

If I am incorrect - please correct me.

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“Landlord” is not generally synonymous with “innocent lamb”; do you think Trump will be fine with him being portrayed as a well-meaning dupe who got took by a crooked lawyer?

If he couldn’t outsmart Cohen what happens with Putin?

He’ll disavow this argument but quick.

Guojing said:

At least complete the entire verse, you don't pick up serpents and drink poisonous thing, do you?

That will provide the clue that that particular promise in Mark 16,

1. is for the nation of Israel,
2. during Daniel's 70th week,
3. when the Antichrist will be persecuting them, and they will need to face serpents and drink poison as well.

Its not for you to claim as and when you feel like it today, but you exclude the parts that you don't like.

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It's not for the nation of israel, they were doing those things with the 'pagans' in the non jewish churches.

Zaha Torte said:

Oh ok.

So, you believe that "grooming" and "sexual deviancy" are similar to pledging allegiance to the US flag?

Can you explain why that is?

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I think we all grew up saying the Pledge of Allegiance (to the flag).
It’s a benign intrusion on freedom of thought, getting a core set of principles to adhere and cling to in times of crisis, we are all unified in our devotion to our land and the freedoms it safeguards for us, we, the people, and generally this is a “good thing”.

It can be a “less good thing” of the pledge is taken to mean that we ‘re already “good enough” without having to work things out, each, and every day.
We have a lot of work to do to rebuild our trust in our Institutions of governance, our Republic calls us, for help, are we to stand idly by, or make noise until the heat gets turned on?

stevevw said:

The point is why are their reactionaries in the first place. This is the result of identity politics. The same ideology as when people complain when a biological male beats females in sport like with Riley Gaines. Of course people are going to react to identity being used as a weapon against them.

It seems ideologues purposely make identity the issue and then wonder why people react. Thats not excusing some of the over reactions. But please don't pretend this is coming from one way traffic.

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It’s not the reactionaries fault because they were provoked?
Isn’t that the very definition of “reactionary”?

AlexB23 said:

Trump has said many times that he wants to dismantle the Constitution. If this isn't corruption of the highest degree, I do not know what is. Both Trump and Justice lack character in my opinion. In July 2023, Jim Justice said he would support Trump (a convicted felon since May 30, 2024). Goes to show how this Justice guy running for senate does not care for keeping our country together.

Trump wants to delete parts of Constitution: https://thehill.com/homenews/campai...ination-of-parts-of-constitution-in-december/
Justice supports Trump: https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4116532-jim-justice-endorses-trump/

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I’m not going to read that tonight but I could find myself in agreement with President Trump on this particular issue.
We need a 250 year “inspection” of the Constitution, soon, so like, do we really need the Third Amendment anymore, as weak as it is)?

Statues are by nature naturalistic. They depict and are unable to transcend the physical. Icons, on the other hand, are theology in colour, able to convey spiritual realities that are nigh on impossible with statues.

wing2000 said:

...and 6 months into the conflict, after Israel made this decision, we still don't know what progress the Israeli military has made in destroying the tunnel network. We do know the Israelis no longer have sufficient forces to take and hold territory as demonstrated by their need to return to the main hospital and root out hundreds of Hamas fighters last month (and in doing so, the hospital is completely non-functional). We also know that at least 30 thousands Palestinian lives have been lost, nearly 200 aid workers, etc. And thousands more face malnourshiment and starvation. It's hard for me to accept the military value gained (whatever that may be) is worth the human cost.

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In World War II the Japanese were not stopped for many years and ended up killing approximately 30 million people. Iran today has a greater population than did Japan, and then add in Hezbollah and Hamas and and all of the rest. The Japanese goal was to conquer and enslave, the terrorist goal is to first kill every Jew and then every Christian. The majority of civilians have been killed by the deliberate actions of Hamas. Israel's goal is not to occupy, but to defeat the terrorists and free the hostages. Many of us don't want to see the terrorists eclipse the death toll of the Japanese.

Are you saying that Lazurus was not a witness? Where does it say he is not?
Sorry. I am not sure how you have proved that he is not the author or the book of John. Maybe I am missing something.

Diamond7 said:

…34Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35For I was hungry and you gave Me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink, I was a stranger and you took Me in, 36I was naked and you clothed Me, I was sick and you looked after Me, I was in prison and you visited Me.

Can we expect to get into Heaven if we lock the door and do not allow people to enter into America? Maybe people can buy their way in with good works just like it cost $4000 now to have them open the door for you here in America.

I remember when gasoline was 32.9 cents and a visa to come to America was less than $300.

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One thing I notice in the verses is the word 'you' as in you did something. It doesn't seem to focus on a nation. Perhaps 'you' could do something about the cost and donate some money to someone.

Yes it is hard to go in certainty that God is directing you. I have found I start at the basics. God is good. So he is willing and wanting to help me. Now I have have faith in that, so I rely on that, and find His peace not mine. So I start small. Why, because I don't trust myself.

I ask God to show me something small to do and ask for direction and guidance from Holy Spirit. Knowing He is good and my fellowship with God is secure (Holy Spirit) I start to wait for an adventure to start. Knowing I will be shown. Kind of like when I was kid at Christmas morning knowing I was getting something but I didn't know which present wrapped was mine. Yet I knew it was coming.

I find once I establish that assurance of His spirit moving in and through me I can practice following His guidance. Allowing myself to be a disciple or like an apprentice so can succeed or make mistakes. I rest in that God knows my problem areas of focusing on my own abilities and understanding. He can override that problem. He can work with me in that problem. I can be effective while I am having problems and sometimes following my own guidance. Bible history is full of this yet God looks at our hearts desire to do His will and keeps with us as He promised He would do.

quibbler said:

Hello Christians!

I read the Bible often, not only in English but also in Greek and sometimes Hebrew. I've recently finished reading Romans with the assistance of commentaries by Cranfield and Bruce, and I'm now reading Paul R House's commentary on the beautiful book of Daniel. So far I've never got around to learning Aramaic, but I could reasonably be described as an expert on the Bible, in comparison with most people. I'm also aware that one of the things the Bible teaches is that my scholarly knowledge is nothing to be proud of!

I want to be a Christian. I try to live as a Christian. I pray, sometimes for hours and hours...

But the end result is always that I think: none of it is true, is it?

So I'm joining your forum as a sympathetic and knowledgeable atheist. I hope you don't mind.

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Allow me to test your knowledge… of scripture… because you have invested much time into it…

First Test: What source does one have to go through to re-establish the blood line of Jesus Christ, in comparison of New Testament lineages in Matthew and Luke, to find every name listed in the Old Testament bloodline?

Second test… Why do Matthew and Luke give a bloodline and what is the difference between the two lines?

Last… simple question… What does 1 John 2:27 mean?

The OPAL plant sounds like an upgraded version of the original nuclear power plant in Lucas Heights. It was opened way back in1958.

I don't think the US & USA trusted us with more potent plants which could produce weaponry.