Chris2004_11_28 said:

Thank you for welcoming me.

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Belk said:

My wife and I are approaching 3 million and we are both solidly middle class who were studious in our saving. Heck, to retire comfortably these days you need about 2 million if you are going by the 4% rule.

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Jamdoc said:

Revelation also didn't indicate that people being rich was an end time's sign.

Rich merchants have always existed.
their existence is not pointed out as a sign. It's the global government of Babylon that is run by merchants that is more of a sign, and even then it's not given as something that happened suddenly, but rather was already in existence before the beast rose up. In fact Babylon rode the beast initially, that is, Babylon controlled the beast. The 10 Kings hate the harlot and destroy her, and then give their power to the beast.
That's the significance, not rich merchants existing.

The statement that I mean by a short time is that Jesus said that the person who witnessed the beginning of the end times prophecies being fulfilled, that generation of people would not pass away before all of it was fulfilled, including the 2nd coming.
Short time as in, 1 person's lifespan.

That's the connotation that Jesus was getting across. It was refuting that this was something that'd be so long that it'd be in history books.

as to the 69th week, think about this. Jesus was said to be crucified on a Friday, and spend 3 days buried before resurrecting. He resurrected on Sunday.
if you use modern western reckoning of time Jesus did not spend 72 hours buried and then raise up. Even if He was crucified the moment the sun went down on Thursday evening which began Friday for them, 24 hours later begins Saturday, 24 hours later begins Sunday... 24 hours later..
well Jesus didn't resurrect on Monday did He? No
But He spent 3 days buried by Jewish reckoning, because they count the day they currently are on.
So Jesus Crucified Friday, was buried Friday, so that's day 1, day 2 was Saturday, He was buried all day Saturday that's day 2, and on Sunday Morning He rose, on the 3rd day. He was actually buried for well less than 72 hours, I don't even know if it was a full 48.
So when they say after the 69th week, they mean after the 69th week begins, not after it ends.

The destruction of the sanctuary isn't a goal, but it is something mentioned as happening after Messiah was cut off in the 69th week.

an additional week begins after Messiah is cut off and after the Sanctuary is destroyed. The syntax gives that the 70th week happens after 70AD. Giving the 70th week as 70AD or before, is breaking the syntax of the text.

To get a 70AD fulfillment of the 70th week, you'd need to hyperallegorize the 69th week, and say that Messiah being cut off was destroying the sanctuary, and the "end coming as a flood".. wait even that doesn't work because the verse says the city is also destroyed.

so yeah you have a syntax error if you don't have the 70th week start AFTER the city and the sanctuary being destroyed.

Sin still affects the world and the consequence of sin, death, still affects even the elect. Forgiven or not we still die.

Jesus returning means there's still prophecy to be fulfilled, meaning that one of the express purposes of the 70 weeks has not been fulfilled no matter how you look at it.

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FireDragon76 said:

I disagree with that opinion, which is based on crude physicalism. The image of God is the potential to live out lives of love as rational beings. It is not defaced by somebody's gender or sexual identity.

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A Warning from 2 Timothy 4:3 - The Gospel is not a Cafeteria

Hello folks. Today we will be discussing a warning from 2 Timothy 4:3, which relates to the modern world. Background: Some Christians (not all), especially modern churches, have gone so far from the Bible, that Cafeteria Christianity has become a thing in the past few decades, especially in...

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BNR32FAN said:

I don’t think the names should’ve ever been changed in the first place, they are both historical American figures. Both of these men earned their legacy in the Mexican American war before the Civil war.

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AV1611VET said:

Not to mention that old T9 keypad!

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Jeffrey Bowden said:

And so we will be with the Lordforever.

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Jeffrey Bowden said:

The words “you” and “those” are never used in Rev 3:10 to refer to just one group

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cradleGO said:

I clearly see how the good are rewarded and the evil punished, and how to avoid being wicked. I don't see a means to proactively work to avoid severe punishment. One can ask for God's mercy, certainly. And one can always make amends/atone for bad deeds with the one you hurt, if possible. Short of those things, I don't see a way to reduce the punishment, perhaps there isn't any.

Let me illustrate the bad I've seen and why there may not be so many mansions in Heaven - not as many as one might expect. These happened earlier than 'the last 15 years' I mentioned in the OP. And while none of these has happened again, plenty of bad has been demonstrated to me, personally or otherwise, since then.

1. was poisoned by a waitress - bad food poisoning
2. was poisoned by a waiter - bad food poisoning
3. was poisoned by a waiter - bad food poisoning
4. served soup over-salted
5. served menu item over-salted
6. served 'steak' that was almost totally fat and gristle
7. name taken, never seated
8. name taken, never seated
9. eggs under-cooked and not remedied even after complaint and re-serving
10. eggs under-cooked and not remedied even after complaint and re-serving

That is just food service. (And not all that occurred in that setting.) With the exception of 6 and 7, those were all within the previous 15 years to 30 years ago, roughly. Items 4, 6 and 10 happened at restaurants that subsequently closed - nothing of my doing.

In several instances, not only the wait staff but a cook had to be cooperative with the harm done. There is no possibility that any of these could make amends to me. So, they will ask for God's mercy, and take their chances. Some may do good deeds with others and severely regret what they did, but....?

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After blaming his 2020 loss on mail balloting, Trump tries to make GOP voters believe it’s OK now​

rambot said:

Since about 1750, the calculated amount is 1,500,000,000,000metric tonnes (1.5 trillion). And as I understand it, one kilogram of CO2 is the the volume equivalent of a 1mx1mx1m beach ball size

Of course there are absolutely miniscule fluctuations of the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere because, of course, that CO2 is constantly getting taken in by trees and plankton AND getting released from animals and decaying matter. But the due general natural cycle, the system can EASILY remain stable. The cyclical nature allows those miniscule fluctuations to be easily managed.

Now if you look throughout the history of the world, you will find that there were outrageously higher levels of co2 in our atmosphere.... like 15-20x what we see now. And for some, they take that as proof that "we'll be fine" (more on that later). However, it is important to note that the state of the world then was very, very different. Like, incomparably different. How so? Well, vegetation had not yet evolved on terrestrial earth and the only living things were all under water. A planet devoid of a HUGE mechanism for getting rid of CO2 is not an reasonable comparison to today's environment. What's interesting is that plants started to evolve on the surface but it still took millions of years for co2 levels to come CLOSE to what we know today.

But I want to address fluctuations and variations with a cycle. In addition to those high levels, we can find MASSIVE fluctuations in CO2 found in the atmosphere. These fluctuations have different sources but one thing that they tend to have in common (unless it was caused by a catastrophic event like an asteroid or something), is the length of time these changes occurred on. These changes and shifts occurred of tens of millions of years. To demonstrate these very very very LONG term changes, we can see the affect that cycles have in a short term.

Manu Lau is a very famous weather station stuck on top of a mountain in Hawaii far away from development. It has been tracking co2 in the atmosphere for the past few decades...what is interesting is what the co2 increase looks like:
View attachment 347967

Notice how the red line increases and decreases EVEN WHILE the trend line goes up. This is because of a fascinating quirk of our planet. You'd note (if you look at a map) that the VAST majority of our earth's terrestrial landscape is in the northern hemisphere. And of course, tied to that would be that massive amount of vegetation that would be able to take co2 out of the atmosphere and create o2. And so, when the north side of the planet is in summer, the co2 levels are low and, conversely, when the north is in winter there is less vegetable to remove co2. So you see that, even though there is variability, the planet's systems correct themselves: a beautiful balance. At least in a way.

Until you see our trend line. You can see that each year, the top arch of the red line is a TINY bit higher. It's ppm so those changes are quite small. But the important thing to note is that there IS an increase each year.


Still with me? Any questions? Anything you have a problem with?

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essentialsaltes said:

At least 9 GOP lawmakers are at Trump trial [Thursday in NYC], which could be a problem for Republicans​

That leaves Democrats with a several seat majority.

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civilwarbuff said:

I understand; can't answer the question without appearing like a hamas supporter.
Of course if hamas did not use people (that includes children in case you didn't know) as human shields maybe there would be far fewer dead gazans.

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Larniavc said:

Man of Wars.

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essentialsaltes said:

Trump’s legal troubles are drowning state Republicans in a financial flood of their own making​

When infighting in the Colorado Republican Party recently spilled out into the press, the conflict wasn’t over ideologies or values. It was an argument about money; or rather, the lack of it. Like other state Republican parties nationwide, Colorado’s GOP is feeling the pinch of the national party’s Trump-centric fundraising plan. Now those internal party cracks are becoming embarrassing public fractures.

A growing number of state Republican operations are either broke or perilously close to it. Last year, the Minnesota Republican Party reported having only $53 in the bank and over $330,000 in debt. In January, Michigan’s Republicans faced bankruptcy amid a brutal MAGA leadership fight. So much for being the party of fiscal responsibility.

Republican Party chairs know from Democrats’ past examples that starved state operations lead to electoral blowouts at the ballot box. But the Republican National Committee isn’t coming to the rescue

Republicans can thank Donald Trump for their current financial problems. Trump’s deal with the RNC requires the party to run its donations first through his Save America PAC

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Diamond7 said:

Caiphas was high priest and yet he betrayed Jesus.
Paul tells us he was concerned that he could lose his salvation after preaching to others on how to be saved.

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Diamond7 said:

Still we have the word: "Many". Are there really MANY that think they are saved but they are not? What are they doing wrong, what must they do to be saved. My post was on how many are lawless, they preach and teach that you do not have to follow the commandments of God. I wonder about people that work in fast food or convivence stores. Is it wrong that they are selling things that are harmful to people?

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Nithavela said:

Then I guess you will be doomed to post in this thread until the day you die.

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cradleGO said:

In part you are objecting now on precisely what you said we should agree to disagree on.

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