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Starting today August 7th, 2024, in order to post in the Married Couples, Courting Couples, or Singles forums, you will not be allowed to post if you have your Marital status designated as private. Announcements will be made in the respective forums as well but please note that if yours is currently listed as Private, you will need to submit a ticket in the Support Area to have yours changed.
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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.
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The sequence of events
- By JulieB67
- Eschatology - Endtimes & Prophecy Forum
- 7 Replies
Hello
I was raised in a church that taught a pretribulation rapture as well and it is not biblical. So it's good that you're questioning the teaching. Many of us have been down that same road.
I do know that both Christ and Paul give out strict warnings on not to be deceived about the Lord's return/our gathering back to him. So it's very important.
The disciples asks for signs of the end of the world/age and he lays them out. And Paul nails down the timing in 2nd Thes chapter 2. The Thessalonians were confused by most likely his first letter and he wrote the second one and tells us what must happen before our gathering back together.
II Thessalonians 2:1 "Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him,
II Thessalonians 2:2 "That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand."
II Thessalonians 2:3 "Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come , except there come a falling away (apostasy in the Greek) first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;"
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A long story with a somewhat embarrassing ending....
- By FaithT
- One Bread, One Body - Catholic
- 9 Replies
Ewww.First off, this missive deals with some touchy subjects, and while I have gone way out of my way to try to tone it all down, and make it as acceptable as possible, some folks here may take offense to it. It is not my desire or purpose to offend anybody, nor is it my purpose to break the forum rules. So, Moderators, if you feel this steps over any lines, please don't ban me, just delete this post with my blessings, okay? For the rest of you, if this remains open for viewing, it will give you sort of an idea of how my warped mind works.
I was doing some research on ancient Irish archaeological sites. There is a lake in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland, called Lough Erne. In the lake is an island, called White Island, on which are the ruins of a late 12th-century church, which was itself built upon the ruins of a much earlier monastery. The monastery was raided, sacked, and razed by the Vikings in 837 A.D.; what was left of the buildings were gradually covered over by dirt and grass and forgotten.
About 400 years later, a small Romanesque church was built on the site, and as construction was going on, eight stone carvings were discovered, buried in the ground---most likely, remnants of the old Viking raid. The figures were deemed to be of sacred nature, and therefore, the builders of the church decided to incorporate them into the structure of the new building. They were built into the inside south wall of the church, where they remain to this day:
View attachment 326132
Since no explanation has ever been found as to who or what these figures represent, there has been speculation for centuries about them. The church itself was abandoned and fell into ruin towards the tail end of the 12th century, so any records there might have been are long gone. Some of the figures are presumed to be St. Patrick, a monastic abbot, Christ, the biblical King David, and maybe an ancient Irish sub-king. But nobody knows exactly, for sure.
Here's where things start to get weird.
While researching all this, I discovered that many authorities believe the first carved figure (below) to be what's called a sheela-na-gig.
View attachment 326133
"What's a sheela-na-gig?" I hear you ask. My question precisely!
Okay; it gets weirder. So then, in the midst of this, I find out that the sheela-na-gig is similar to some figures found on Hindu temples in India and across south Asia, called yonis. Apparently, a yoni is a representation of the Hindu goddess Shakti, which deals, again, with birth and reproduction and female power and feminine prowess and so on. Evidently, the word yoni eventually became a common term for the human vulva/vagina. (I told you this was weird.) There are carvings on Indian temples of, again, females in childbirth positions, legs spread and the groin area exposed, somewhat similar to the sheela-na-gigs. Here are two examples, which I have toned down by blanking out the naughty bits:
View attachment 326135
Still with me? Onward we go, weirder and weirder yet. While investigating all of this, I came across something called a "yoni egg".This is literally a chunk of semi-precious stone (jade; amethyst; quartz; opal; jasper, etc.) that has been shaped into the form of a bird's egg, smoothed and polished to the consistency of a stone from a rock polisher. In some circles, apparently these objects are used by women for health or holistic purposes; they are inserted into the vaginal canal (yes, really) and are carried around while the woman performs what we would call Kegel exercises all day long to keep it in place. This, in turn, is supposed to tighten the muscles and walls of the cervix, etc., and result in better coitus, and, if you believe in all of the New-Agey "powers of the crystal"-type nonsense, some sort of spiritual benefits as well.
Here's where it gets embarrassing.
Guess what? Yep, you guessed it. The "ornament" that I picked up all those years ago is actually one of these yoni eggs:
View attachment 326136
Ooopsie. How was I supposed to know?I just thought it was a pretty stone egg. I had no idea what the thing was actually supposed to be used for. When I told my wife about this, she nearly died laughing. She said, "Well, dear, I guess we can safely say it was not meant for you!"
Thanks, honey.
The moral of the story: when you start researching something, be real careful, because it may lead you in directions that you wouldn't have gone anywhere near if you'd had any idea where you'd wind up when you started!
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