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  • CF has always been a site that welcomes people from different backgrounds and beliefs to participate in discussion and even debate. That is the nature of its ministry. In view of recent events emotions are running very high. We need to remind people of some basic principles in debating on this site. We need to be civil when we express differences in opinion. No personal attacks. Avoid you, your statements. Don't characterize an entire political party with comparisons to Fascism or Communism or other extreme movements that committed atrocities. CF is not the place for broad brush or blanket statements about groups and political parties. Put the broad brushes and blankets away when you come to CF, better yet, put them in the incinerator. Debate had no place for them. We need to remember that people that commit acts of violence represent themselves or a small extreme faction.

Suspect in DC Ambush of 2 National Guardsmen Is Afghan National Who Entered US During Biden Admin

Unfortunately criminals don't care about the law, especially laws regulating guns. If they want to get them, they will, and leave us unable to fight back. Indeed, the reason this Afghani was stopped from killing anyone else was because he was shot by someone with a gun.
My comment isn't about criminals but the mentally ill. Try to focus.
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The Venting Thread

Uggghll, I'm irritated. So, I quickly pop into the school to grab some books I need for lesson planning. On my way out, I close my classroom door. It automatically locks. The moment I hear the lock click, I remember that my classroom and car keys are still sitting on my desk!

On Monday morning, I can ask a janitor to let me in—but until then, I can't re-enter my classroom or use my car. Now I can't go to church tomorrow :( I would walk, but the temperatures are below freezing and we've gotten a few inches of snow this weekend. I also considered asking for a ride, but I don't have a phone number for anyone who attends my church. I don't have any friends or family in town to give me a lift either. Isolation makes things so difficult...

My church was cancelled today due to the weather, so don't feel guilty about missing church, it was possibly cancelled anyway
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Are there still Apostles today?

You would not know of either of them, nor are they of the Roman Catholic Faith -

You asked me and I responded.

Both called by Jesus of Nazareth (according to their own testimony) to a specific people group - both resulting in thousands upon thousands becoming believers (just like the Book of Acts), both with wonderful healings (like the Book of Acts), both with the result of churches being formed, (like the Book of Acts).
Ok... well... I am not Catholic and it seems if these people were called to be apostles and have accomplished what you said they accomplished ( like plant 32,000 churches) they would be very well known. So be it.
Thanks for sharing.
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Spending on Welfare is 'unchristian'

Kemi Badenoch, leader of the opposition in the UK Parliament, a 'cultural Christian' says spending money on benefits is unchristian.


Earlier this month, Badenoch quoted St Paul’s advice to Timothy in the Bible as she argued that the “responsibility and dignity of work” was a Christian imperative, the Times reports.
She said: “St Paul, we read, in the first Epistle to Timothy proclaims that ‘Anyone who does not provide for his own household … is worse than an unbeliever’.

“This is the Christian recognition that we all have duties … To ourselves, to our families and to the community we are part of. Conservatives believe in making work pay, in rewarding risk, in ensuring effort matches reward.”

She continued: “My message is let’s get people off welfare into work. Let us not leave debt for our children and grandchildren. That is the worst unfairness.”

When she was asked to elaborate on what she meant, Badenoch continued: “In early Christian times there was no state or welfare so I think that you can argue that, actually. The Christian tradition is about communities and families and charity, not about compulsory taxation in order to pay welfare.


Any thoughts?
In early christian times there was the patronage system of the roman empire, which very much was like welfare. Not to mention that of course there were states and taxes.
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Elijah Comes First

The Elijah to come isn’t a man like as the Tishbite or the Baptist. The Elijah to come is to restore all things. To restore means to bring back what is lost. The truth was lost and needs restored. Who is the originator of all truth ? Who is the giver of truth to man ? The truth can only be restored by the one who gave it. The truth was given to the church but over the years deception came and grew to the degree that truth was lost. This is one reason why there are so many churches with different beliefs. The Elijah to come is the Holy Spirit of GOD that is given to the people that GOD adds to HIS church, those HE calls and chooses, not men. All the descriptions given by the prophets, Jesus and the Apostles predict a great falling away from the truth that from the first century until today has greatly increased so that Paul says, “in the LAST DAYS perilous times will come“ , well people they are here, we are living in them now. Elijah is not yet done calling HIS elect . Remember, the true spirit and power of the Tishbite and the Baptist was not those men, it was GOD ALMIGHTY.
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To Hell or Not To Hell

None of my posts are me telling you what you need to believe. They are me giving you my perspective and the 'why' of that said perspective. This post will be different. This post is me still working out what it is I believe about Hell and the why of it. All based within the context of 'my' understanding of the Gospel. This is something I'm sure will continue to develop over time as I continue to discover more of God.

- I see in scripture two ages. The present age, and the age yet to come. The present age is understood as being only a temporary age. This is made evident by the fact that there is yet a second age to come.

- In this present, but temporary age, life is temporary. If life is temporary, then logically, death must also be temporary. Maybe this is why death is often referred to as sleep?

- The age to come is understood to be everlasting. If this age is everlasting then so must life be also. And if life is everlasting then, likewise, death must also be everlasting.

- At the end of the first age we will all be resurrected, believers and unbelievers alike. Now because I understand being created in the image of God to mean that we have three defining parts; body, soul, and spirit, I believe all three are essential for life. We cannot exist without all three. (With regards to spiritual death, I believe that our spirit has gone into a dormant state. It is not actually diseased) For this reason I am leaning towards the idea that both believers and unbelievers will receive new bodies at the time we are resurrected. And that these new bodies will be free of a sinful nature. Why?

- We will all stand before the full presence of God. Any corruption within us would likely be obliterated in the full presence of God. Just an assumption on my part. And this is only going to compound the coming judgment for an unbeliever.

- A new sinless body will most likely mean a clear understanding of one's purpose within creation. And it is for this very reason why I am coming to this particular conclusion of Hell, and what that may actually look like. (Again, this is still something I'm working out)

- Unbelievers will suddenly have full awareness of their purpose while at the same time recognizing where their rejection has led them. All the while standing in the full presence of God, the very purpose for their existence. At that moment nothing else will matter to them. All they will want and desire is standing right before them. But... with the knowledge they will never have it due to their former rejection.

- You will now have an unbeliever who's only desire is to worship and to be in the presence of God, but unable to carry it out. (there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth).

- I believe, that in the very beginning, man was created with physical death being a natural part of his existence. Hence the tree of life. As small a possibility as this may have been, a third option was always available: man could have not sinned, but also could have not eaten from the tree of life. Inevitably resulting in everlasting death. Extreme, I know, but hear me out.

- In the age to come, man again has access to the tree of life. So logically, death must still be possible, and dare I say, an option. However, highly unlikely a choice anyone would make after experiencing the full presence of God. Still, the option being there would align with God's character just as it would have in the beginning. And it's the reality of the possibility of death that now applies to unbelievers in this new age.

- If you were to stand in the full presence of God and then suddenly be taken out of His presence, any amount of time, out of His presence, would feel like hell to you.

- In the first part of Genesis, man lived upward of a thousand years. If we carry that over into the new age, you now have unbelievers with new bodies capable of living that same amount of time. This would be worse than any hell anyone could ever imagine. To an unbeliever, any amount of time is going to feel like an eternity. (the word 'Eternity' is often used as hyperbole in scripture since only God is truly eternal)

- An unbeliever will eventually face everlasting death. But not until after what felt like an eternity of hell for them. In this scenario, not only is God's justice served (experiencing time outside the presence of God is a sinless state where all you want is to be in His presence), but also His love and grace (He does not leave them there for the rest of eternity).

As I said, this understanding is something I am currently working out. So I do not hold dogmatically to it. If you do not agree but feel it necessary that I know you don't agree, then do me the respect of explaining why you don't agree, as it may help me in my understanding.

In the end does it matter if I/we understand what exactly Hell is? Not at all. But, everyone is different and being able to answer an unbelievers concerns or questions more confidently may be the defining point of whether they choose to believe or not.

A Biblical Marriage Relationship

Hate can mean different things depending on the context. We are to prefer God over our families but we are to love all people.
Fair enough point. I mainly share it because it's nonetheless something Jesus actually said, explicitly; and yet it hardly ever gets quoted whenever people discuss how husbands and wives should relate.
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Progressive government is the antithesis of a biblically based republic.

Most people want to have a continuing relationship with a loving partner and dislike the idea of cheating on that relationship. They want to form a household and raise children. They have been doing that all over the world for as long as there have been humans. The details vary from culture to culture but the basic principle is observed everywhere and will continue to be observed whether it is enforced legally or not.

If legality doesn't matter one way or another as you've stated, then you should have no issue supporting the criminalization of adultery.

But my point really was that women get to decide for themselves who they won't go to bed with and when. ;)

No U.S. law ever required a woman to have sex.

Sounds like you want a theocracy.

Indeed.
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Trump Says US Will Permanently Pause Migration From 'Third World Countries'

"Third world" is archaic Cold War language referring to nations not aligned with the US or the USSR. It is out of date by 1/3 of a century. Whatever meaning it had 40 years ago is gone. Use words that still have meaning.
Yeah no one cares about language policing anymore, sorry bud
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Progressive government is the antithesis of a biblically based republic.

That isn't science, it is delusion, and I dont' think even the world centers on my country. I, personally, am mostly interested in the current events and politics of my own country as it takes too much time to track everything everywhere. I have also some lesser focused interests in a few other countries, but Christians are oppressed in any of those either.

Moving the goalposts

Mass shooters have particularly disordered minds and their "manifestos" (when written and available) are messy jumbles of things from which it is difficult to find any organizing principle or motive.

So, again, why even ask the question if this was always your position

My original inquiry arose from Steve's claim that Christians were being murdered *for believing* and when I asked him to give an example, he did -- Charlie Kirk. (Steve is usually good about answering such inquiries, which is part of why I engage him in conversation.) I already stated my disagreement with the assessment that Kirk was killed for *his belief in God*, rather than for other things. You could engage with that disagreement if you like, instead you inject school shootings, most of which are perpetrated by current or former students.

You couldn't have possibly known he'd answer that way and even if you did it doesn't stop the fact that there are Christians being killed for being Christian so again another pointless interjection

Sure I did. I mistook this as a thread in American politics where I often post. I was not dissuaded from that notion as all posts above mine were full of references to US history and politics. [If you see the "path" at the top of the page you can use that to navigate the site. Clicking on the "Politics" will take you to the page containing all of the politics sub-fora (including this one and the US politics one). In the entry for each forum there is on the right side a link for the latest post in each forum. If you go up one more level you will see a single entry of all of politics (next to other links to the science forum, the current events forum, etc.) and the same entry for the most recent post in all of the politics section. I likely saw this thread there and clicked on it out of curiosity not realizing it was post to "general politics" rather than "US politics". It is the same way I end up in threads started by people on my "ignore list".

Irrelevant

I read nearly all threads in P&LS and reply to many of them.
Also irrelevant

And if you knew anything about the subject you would know that there is no such thing as a biological race in humans. It is all social construct.

Totally false given the fact that melanin is not a social construct, bone density is not a social construct, etc;

And you are but a youth. They key is to argue the points, not the man, or your perceptions of him based on a few simplistic labels.

I refuse to ignore the irony of using age to condescend to me while you repeatedly make typos. Do not fight this battle. The youth long for God, order, and structure. You are 55, the time for intellectual pretentiousness like this is over.

I mock the notion that the "sexual revolution" is an actual revolution. No governments were overthrown. It was a social movement.
More moving the goalposts to suit your argument. Awfully convenient for you to redefine this arbitrarily when you never mentioned it in the original reply


As I've written a few times, I was never discussing persecution of Christians outside the US. I am well aware that Islamic countries exist. I have been steady in limiting my discussion to the US (or more broadly "the West") where the notion of "Christian persecution" is laughable.
Again. Moving. Goalposts.
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WHAT DOES PAUL. SAID OF Eph 1 : 4. !!

# A And the apostle Paul is telling us that believers are CHOSEN // ELECTED , before Christ made the WORLD. and no their GOSPEL

Hey Dan.

I believe the the one important thing that is often overlooked in Ephesians 1:4 and context is that we are chosen "in Him", and always "In Christ". --Vs. 10 is speaking of the Spirit baptism which began at Pentecost (1 Cor. 12:13). Vs. 11 is speaking of true OT believers already declared righteous by OT faith (Romans 8:29) who came to faith in Jesus.

It is Jesus who was elect from the foundations of the world. Anyone who is placed 'in Him', becomes elect with Him. Thus, "In Him" we receive all these things spoken about in Ephesians 1. This has been God's plan from the [foundations of the world], thus the 'Lamb slain from the foundations of the world' is speaking about an eternal decree, but it still had to actually happen before it applied.

We are all placed into Christ with the NT indwelling, called the placing into, or, baptism with the Holy Spirit, that was made available to everyone after Christ was lifted up. Today, when someone believes and trusts in Christ Jesus in faith, Jesus places the Holy Spirit in us, making us one with Him (the baptism into the Body, into Christ), as a result, being born again and justified. This is all initiated by faith.

For your convenience, I quoted it.

1-14 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, To the saints who are in Ephesus, and faithful in Christ Jesus: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself,10 that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth--in Him. 11 In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined (Romans 8:29) according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory. In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.

Dave
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Today I learned...

I finished reading A Separate Peace today. While reading it, I learned about something called a "Section Eight discharge." Here's what the character in the book says about it:
A Section Eight discharge is for the nuts in the service, the psychos, the Funny Farm candidates. Now do you know what I'm talking about? They give you a Section Eight discharge, like a dishonorable discharge only worse. You can't get a job after that. Everybody wants to see your discharge, and when they see a Section Eight they look at you kind of funny—the kind of expression you've got on your face, like you were looking at someone with their nose blown off but don't want them to know you're disgusted—they look at you that way and then they say, 'Well, there doesn't seem to be an opening here at present.' You're screwed for life, that's what a Section Eight discharge means.

Sounds awful. Thankfully, it's no longer used. Here's some information from Wikipedia:
Section 8 was a category of military discharge employed by the United States Armed Forces which was used for service members judged mentally unfit for service. The term "Section 8" eventually came to mean any service member given such a discharge, or behaving as if deserving such a discharge, as in the expression, "he's a Section 8".

This type of discharge could be granted for a wide variety of perceived problems, including low intelligence, incompatibility with core military expectations or responsibilities, alcoholism or other chronic addictions, pathological lying, psychopathy, personality disorders, enuresis (then believed to be a mental disorder), psychosis, or antisocial behavior. A variety of sexual conduct could result in a Section 8 discharge, including cross-dressing, homosexuality, lesbianism, bisexuality and transgenderism; along with necrophilia, bestiality and pederasty.

Discharge under Section 8 is no longer practiced, as medical discharges for psychological or psychiatric reasons are now covered by a number of regulations. In the Army, such discharges are handled under the provisions of AR 635–200, Active Duty Enlisted Administrative Separations. Chapter 5, paragraph 13 governs the separation of personnel medically diagnosed with a personality disorder.

The Wikipedia page even mentions the character from A Separate Peace in its pop culture section:
In the 1959 war novel A Separate Peace, the character Elwin "Leper" Lepellier gets a Section 8 discharge from the ski troops because he was hallucinating due to sleep deprivation.
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Please pray for my father in law and my wifes family.

Praying for you and your wife and family.

My father had a stroke and passed away 10 years ago and I still miss him.

Im sorry to hear that. My grandfather had two strokes that crippled him and he was stuck in a nursing home for the rest of his life barely knowing who he wa s or what was going on. It was quite sad. When he passed it was quite sudden too. Closest I can come to what my wife is going through. Im trying to be there for her as much as I can.

So the funeral might be close to the end of this week. I might not be able to attend because ive got a nucala injection that my mom can take me to. I have eosinophilic (type 2) asthma and have been suffering for several months so I cant delay the injection for this its even been effecting my breathing at night so I need the injection ASAP. So... unfortunately I might not be able to go. We will see when her mom schedules the funeral for.
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B flat B♭

@David Lamb @Strong in Him @prodromos & to who ever it may concern.

It was really nice getting to know you guys, you are really all so great but I am really ill (+ no it's not dementia) so I've decided to quit this thread and the forum for a while.

I may be back if I get any better so bye for now :heart:

May God bless you all :praying:
Rest, and get well. Don't waste time on foolish pursuits.
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Elijah Comes First

I'm hoping on Elijah. I suspect the HURD has been complete in heaven for a long time, and the Liturgist will be delighted.

No, I’d be annoyed, because its complete enough for my purposes, and there are several other OSes presently incomplete I’d rather use, like Haiku…
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