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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.

There’s a Giant Flaw in Human History

I specifically offered, in this thread, to give you guidance on using AI to improve the concision and readability of your posts. I sent you a pm (personal message) on this forum to intitiate the process. That is what I am referring to. Click on your forum name at the top right of the screen, then on the envelope symbol on the dropdown and you should see that communication. In the meantime I'll overlook your discourteous response.
Ok thanks. how embarassing. I keep forgetting about the private messaging. I sometimes find year old messages lol. I am not good at social media. Don't like phones or texting.

I will have a look for you though lol as I appeciate the help. Sorry I forgot.
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Trump terminates orders signed by Autopen during Biden administration

Let’s see. One executive order signed by autopen that Biden didn’t even know about doesn’t PROVE that all executive orders signed by autopen were without his knowledge. Which ones signed by autopen were with his knowledge? With his consent? With his active intent as constitutional head of the executive branch as president? You can’t say “all of them” so which ones?
I don't know. I don't think anyone (incuding Biden) knows.

Besides that, who cares? Trump can just terminate any Biden executive order he likes and keep any he wants to keep, just like any president after Trump can do the same with Trump's EOs. That he just stresses the autopen part is nothing but a publicity stunt.
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The Mamdani Model: More Socialist Mayors to ComeBeware! The DSA will attempt to repeat Mamdani’s success in other Democrat strongholds.

It seems likely you'll experience it long before we in the US do.

Religion in Australia (2021 census)
  1. Christianity (43.9%)
  2. No religion (38.9%)
Let us know how it turns out.
Yeah I don't go by religious polls. I think theres more 'No religions in all western nations compared to past generations. Even many Christians profess a politicised religion that is not Christianity in the sense that Christians are not of this world but of Gods Kingdom.

Which is the exact opposite of what is happening in identity politics. You can be a religious groups as a political identity and be just as much a part of the world as no religions.

What your not considering is that Australia does not have the religious fundementalism as the US. Though we may have less Christians we also have less radicals. We are always around 2 to 5 years behind the US. Though its catching up pretty quickly.

I am talking more about the powers that govern and set the agenda and order for society based on their ideology. Progressive/Socialism as opposed to Conservative/Christian.

Despite the numbers it is the party which gets in that dictates the social order. The US is suppose to be a strong Christian nation. Yet they are coming out of a period that ushered in ant Christian social policies.

So Christians cannot do anything of they are not supported by a government that is open to their beliefs. Otherwise they like the pagan Romans will be subject to whatever ideology the holder of power determines.

I think primarily for all western nations we are seeing a divide and conflict between Left and Right. Conservatives and by extention Christians verses Progressives, liberals and socialists. A strange mix.

The divide will increase and it will be Christians and of course Jews as always who it will come down to as the enermy of the State power and the worldly ideology it will push.
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Trump dispenses with trials, orders military strike on alleged Venezuelan drug-trafficking boat (Now up to 2, 3, 4...)

A top Republican senator, Roger Wicker, has joined his Democratic counterpart in calling for "vigorous oversight to determine the facts" of allegations that the military intentionally killed survivors of a boat strike.

"The Committee has directed inquiries to the Department, and we will be conducting vigorous oversight to determine the facts related to these circumstances," said Sen. Wicker, R-Miss., chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and U.S. Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

In a post on X on Friday, Hegseth said the strikes were intended to be "lethal, kinetic strikes."

"Our current operations in the Caribbean are lawful under both U.S. and international law, with all actions in compliance with the law of armed conflict—and approved by the best military and civilian lawyers, up and down the chain of command," Hegseth said.
That's kind of a deflection from what Congress should really be doing right now.

Congress should be discussing whether their "War on Terror" resolutions cover Trump's actions in and around Venezuela as Trump claims they do.

By focusing on the more clear-cut issue of that "double tap" (which is something the Pentagon should be focused on), the Congress is, by default, subtly accepting Trump's claim that he's still operating within Congressional guidelines.
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Why we are not supposed to keep the Sabbath

Isaiah 66:23

mîd-dê-shabbāt bə-shabbāt
from Sabbath to Sabbath

שַׁבָּת shabbâth, shab-bawth'; intensive from H7673; intermission, i.e (specifically) the Sabbath:—(+ every) sabbath.

This is an idiomatic phrase meaning:

each Sabbath
every Sabbath
from Sabbath to the next Sabbath

It’s an interval not daily. If God meant daily, He would have said so.
It refers to a week from Saturday to Saturday.
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Are the Jews Israel, or is the church Israel? Or does it depend on the context of the passage?

The Church is seen as the new Israel in a spiritual and covenantal sense, not in an ethnic or national one. It is a multi-ethnic, multi-national community united by faith in Jesus Christ, fulfilling the prophetic vision of Israel becoming a blessing to all nations.

I see the New Covenant olive tree to be the Christian people of God, regardless of ethnicity or national boundaries. The first covenant (Old Covenant) was fulfilled (finished, made obsolete) by Jesus' sacrificial death on the cross.
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Why do some posters here totally misrepresent one's own thoughts and feelings

"Whether you think [...] [I used this to keep the message clean] people should or shouldn't exist, we are still called to love them.
The things you say and expect of society do not show them love."

"My real problem is the words you use and how you choose to deal with this. I see absolutely no agape for anyone in your posts here."

"I'm a christian and I fundamentally disagree with you and the, frankly, pretty ugly and unchristian things you say about [...] folks and anyone related t othe topic."

I have had the statements made against things I say by numerous posters here. They don't bother me that much because God knows and I myself know how I really feel in my heart. There is an old saying, "sometimes the truth hurts". The above posts are made as if the poster knows how another person is feeling or reacting to a topic. Posters go negative and post untrue things about another person, who they feel, is contradicting them. These posters claim they know how you feel and think and are as a person. Really?! Or are they there just to denigrate you because you have struck a truthful cord about a subject that that poster didn't like. You can disagree with what a person is saying but please don't try to think what other people are feeling. None of us know what another person is going through or has gone through.

As I said before, "sometimes the truth hurts".

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

How come the "healthy balance" for Conservative Christians 10 years ago was "we should be helping the poor" and now it's "sometimes we should be helping the poor not usually not"?
When things go too far on one direction, often a 'redirect' is necessary. When resistance prevents a redirect, more energy must be applied to the redirect.

...We are in a struggle.
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Street Preaching

I would have liked to have gone too a local gay pride parade & held up banner which said, ' Read Romans 1:27' I'm glad I didn't as a few of them were arrested.

Our town's street preacher does this each year at the town's pride festival. He picks I Corinthians 6:9-10 for his sign, but it's the same idea. In the US, this is protected speech, so he's legally allowed to be there with his sign as long as he's on public property and doesn't make the festival participants feel unsafe.
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So far, at least nine (now ~40) (now ~160) (now hundreds) judges, including Trump appointees, have ruled against Trump orders

More than 220 judges have now rejected the Trump admin’s mass detention policy

The number has skyrocketed in recent weeks and includes at least 20 judges appointed by Trump himself.

At least 225 judges have ruled in more than 700 cases that the administration’s new policy, which also deprives people of an opportunity to seek release from an immigration court, is a likely violation of law and the right to due process. Those judges were appointed by all modern presidents — including 23 by Trump himself — and hail from at least 35 states, according to a POLITICO analysis of thousands of recent cases. The number of judges opposing the administration’s position has more than doubled in less than a month.
  • Like
Reactions: Paulos23
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‘Go to Berkeley’: Ron DeSantis said students seeking ‘woke’ classes should study elsewhere

3 years later, the 'new' New College is a total failure | Opinion

Now that the Florida DOGE report is out, critics like me may have been too easy on New College.

[From that link] New College of Florida appears to be the most financially inefficient school in the university system, according to a study conducted by the state, with expenses per student and per degree far above average. The study was carried out by the Florida Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), and state education officials are expected to review it publicly at the University of South Florida on Nov. 6.

['The study' link is also useful; just look for the stylized N for New College, like in grants per FTE researcher:]

1764434183379.png


[OK, back (briefly) to the oped.]

Its spending has gone from $53 million in 2020-21 to $93 million – yet it has been plummeting in test scores, GPA, retention, graduation rates and first-time-in-college attendance.

Not only do the folks running New College not have what it takes to run a higher education institution, they don't trust the people who do know what they're doing.

For example, the school has created a Retention Committee to try to put the brakes on a historically high outflow of students. Yet that Retention Committee has no faculty members on it.
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Are there still Apostles today?

Well then, you'll be happy to know that as a student of Historiography, World History, Church History and The Philosophy of History, I don't have as big of a handicap in that area as you apparently assume I do.

So, you can stop you boasting and pomposity anytime, 'cuz I won't be patient with it any longer.
Another boaster about their claimed credentials. :doh:
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University of Minnesota on Whiteness Pandemic

Uhm.
Yes you should.
If you want to make claims about something, you better look at it.


LOL!

How is THAT a though?

"I shouldn't have to read what I'm complaining about!"
Of course, you're defending something you haven't read, so what does that say?
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Trump Says US Will Permanently Pause Migration From 'Third World Countries'

What's changed more recently is the nationalist anti-immigration tack. Foreigners coming to our shores (legally) were, once upon a time, "future Americans". Reagan spoke of America as a "beacon of hope". Now the light's been snuffed out.
Seems they've changed it to a "spotlight of fear" instead.
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University of Minnesota on Whiteness Pandemic

I shouldn't have to pour over the original manuscripts just to see where opposing viewpoints are analyzed. I
Uhm.
Yes you should.
If you want to make claims about something, you better look at it.


LOL!

How is THAT a though?

"I shouldn't have to read what I'm complaining about!"
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Grifts around 47: A running catelogue for this presidency

Know your customers.

Trump team caught marking up MAGA merch while touting Black Friday 'deals'

The campaign's Black Friday fundraising email hawks multiple items that appear to contain higher prices than what's listed on its website, according to Meidas Touch.
  • Informative
Reactions: Paulos23
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Are there still Apostles today?

Because historically, in connection to Christ and the Apostles, they're not in the same relation to Christ and we have no guarantee that they were indeed called by the Holy Spirit simply because some other church leaders 'think' that Joe Schmoe should be a leader.
So I guess you then reject John's appointment of Polycarp as Bishop of Smyrna.

To be ignorant of history is a huge handicap.
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$15 Billion And Climbing: Trump’s Tariffs Deliver Record High Revenue

Presenting facts is unlikely to change their minds. Many MAGA supporters who now favor tariffs previously voted for Reagan and his support of free market capitalism; they supported W. Bush and his free trade policies; they voted for John McCain’s deregulation and open market stance, as well as Mitt Romney’s “idea of capitalism. Suddenly, these same voters who once championed free market and free trade principles are now advocating for imposing tariffs.

Either these individuals did not believe in what they supported during the first forty years of their lives, or they do not genuinely support their current choices; however, as long as their vote opposes liberals, they remain committed.
Those facts were from his cite. ^_^ But yeah, some people will consider the facts and accept them in time while others will just double down.
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Why we are not supposed to keep the Sabbath

The Just vs the Wicked

wicked: evil or morally wrong.
just: based on or behaving according to what is morally right and fair.
According to which law?
✅ Wickedness
  • Evidenced by mingling with the daughters of men with the sons of God (Genesis 6:5).
  • The wickedness before the flood (Genesis 6:11-13).
  • The men of Sodom were called "wicked" and "sinners before the Lord exceedingly" (Genesis 13:13, Jude 1:7). If the men of Sodom were sinners then by what standard if not the Ten?
According to which law?
✅ Righteousness
  • Abel before he was murdered by his brother (Genesis 4:4).
  • The sons of God before they started mingling with the daughters of men (Genesis 6:5).
  • Enoch walked with God and pleased God (Genesis 5:24, Hebrews 11:5).
  • Noah was a just man, perfect, and walked with God (Genesis 6:9).
According to which law?
✅ The Wages of Sin/Death
  • The wages of sin is death (1 John 3:4).
  • Adam and Eve understood that death was a consequence of sin before the fall (Genesis 2:17).
  • Cain understood the consequences of murder before he murdered (Genesis 4:7).
Adam and Eve were given a command. They broke the command so sin entered the world. Which law did Adam and Eve follow afterwards? Which law told Cain that he did wrong?
The Ten

All Ten commandments are shown in scripture pre-Sinai. I'll list six of the Ten.

✅ Having Other Gods and Graven Images
  • Foreign gods that Jacob removed from his house (Genesis 35:2-4).
  • Laban's idols (Genesis 31:19, 30, 34).
  • Pre-flood and post-flood idolatry (Joshua 24:14).
Gen. 30, 31, 34, and 35 is Noahic law. Joshua uses the Mosaic law given at the time of Moses.
✅ Taking the Lord's Name in Vain
  • Cain's offering to God had no respect (Genesis 4:5-7).
Nope. You are making that up. Wrong interpretation.
✅ The Sabbath
  • The Sabbath was sanctified at creation (Genesis 2:1-3).
Which no one knew until Moses wrote Genesis.
  • The Sabbath was made for man at creation (Mark 2:27). Therefore, observance of the Sabbath started at creation.
Again, no law about the Sabbath until Moses.
  • It is because of the Sabbath being made for man that the Son of man is also Lord of the Sabbath (Mark 2:28).
Nope. Jesus is the Lord of the sabbath because He is now our rest.
  • The Sabbath is observed in the new heaven and the new earth (Isaiah 66:22-23), showing its perpetuity.
From sabbath to sabbath is a common expression denoting seven days (a week).
  • The breaking the Sabbath (Exodus 16:27–28).
Part of the Mosaic law and not applicable to Christians.
✅ Murder
  • Satan was a murderer from the beginning (John 8:44).
Yep.
  • As @BobRyan pointed out, Cain was cautioned against sin (Genesis 4:7). How can Cain know sin if there is no law? He can't. What sin was God cautioning him against? Murder.
Which law?
  • Cain murdered Abel, which was clearly against God (Genesis 4:8).
Which law?
  • Lamech murdered a man (Genesis 4:23).
Which law?
  • Violence before the flood (Genesis 6:11-13).
Which law?
  • Esau had planned to murder Jacob (Genesis 27:41).
Noahic law.
✅ Bearing False Witness
  • Lucifer accused God before the holy angels, evidenced in the fact that he caused a third of the angels to be cast out of heaven along with him (Revelation 12:4).
Yep. Nothing new here.
  • Lucifer deceived Adam and Eve with a lie (Genesis 3:4).
Yep. Nothing new here.
  • Satan's accusations of the brethren before God; lies (Job 1:9, Jude 1:9, Revelation 12:10).
Which law?
  • Satan is the father of lies (John 8:44).
Yep. Nothing new here.
  • Jacob deceiving his father into thinking he was Esau (Genesis 27:19).
Noahic law.
Conclusion
  • Scripture points to the Ten specifically concerning sin, whether it be pre-flood, pre-Sinai or post-Sinai.
It does not. You have to wretch scripture totally out of context cover your theory but you still can not give me a verse that shows the Mosaic law including the Ten Commandments bring given to anyone prior to Moses. You also can not give me a verse that shows anyone observing the sabbath commandment prior to Moses.
  • Sin has always been transgression of the law of God (lawlessness), as defined by the Ten.
Which law was given prior to Moses and to whom?
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