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Men now surpass women in church attendance, especially among Gen X, millennials: Barna

Did He not say from beginning to end to put His will first?
And it is clear in The Bible how to rule. The Instructions from the Creator are plain, and neither men nor women obey.
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Another look at the moon landing.

By your logic any program that is not directed at the poor is not scriptural. That’s why I responded nonsense.
Wrong. Do not assume things that have no evidence.

Rather - instructions for the well-to-do (rich): BE GENEROUS taking care of the poor, do not increase their suffering nor lower or forget their wages. Do not pay a few in excess of what they rightly earn, do not take from the poor to increase the rich.
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The Schumer Shutdown

Trump, “Nobody knew healthcare was so complicated.”

Well, maybe some people knew.. like almost everyone but the stable genius.
The great hoax ..... so complex that no one can grasp it, and it is impossible to change it for good.

Treating symptoms in order to increase problems is not helpful nor healing with almost no exceptions.

The methods of healing that were once known were made federal law illegal and difficult if not impossible for people to 'legally' be healed. On purpose, wicked sinful men designed the system for profit and for control.
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Catholics must respond to AI threat to authentic, human communication, Vatican says

Pope Leo XIV has put a spotlight on the risks of artificial intelligence in his choice of theme for next year’s World Day of Social Communications, as the Vatican emphasizes the important role of Catholics in media and AI literacy.

The pope’s choice of theme for the 60th World Day of Social Communications 2026, published Monday, is “Preserving Human Voices and Faces.” The day is celebrated every year on Jan. 24, the feast of St. Francis de Sales, patron saint of journalists and writers.

The Vatican’s explanatory note emphasizes the risks of AI, including that it “can generate engaging but misleading, manipulative, and harmful information, replicate biases and stereotypes from its training data, and amplify disinformation through simulation of human voices and faces.”

The theme of the World Day of Social Communications was released as the Vatican’s communication department is struggling to stem the tide of “deepfakes,” false images and videos of Pope Leo XIV saying and doing things he did not say or do.

Continued below.

These are legitimate concerns about abusive misuse of AI. Part of what I’m trying to do with my research is create an ethical approach to AI which is radically different from how most people presently use it, in response to the concerns raised by Pope Leo XIV. AI is only good if it is anti-humanizing, something which promotes rather than detracts from the sacredness of the imageo dei.
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Does reality pass the Turing test?

Would I let it vote? Only if Elon Musk selects the team who designs it

That said I’m not a huge fan of Grok 3 compared to its competitors from chatGPT - it was faster but had a number of limitations. However in all fairness I have not had a chance to evaluate Grok 4.
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10/7/23 Anniversary Hamas Attacked Israel

I think a moral critique of the US' actions in some cases is worthwhile. That said, I have a hard time comparing US actions in Japan (atom bombs not withstanding) with the Israeli military's actions, historically, in regard to Palestinians--and especially the current Gaza situation.

If US soldiers deliberately shot and killed Japanese children and unarmed combatants, and if they were ordered to do so by our leaders--then the appropriate redress would be having those responsible tried for war crimes in international court.

As a Christian it is unconscionable to use love of nation or national identity as a means of deflecting from the Christian moral obligation of respecting and honoring the Divine Image in every human being.

Do I think what the US did to Japan compares to what Israel is doing to Gaza? Not even remotely.
But if there is a fair comparison, then that means condemning US actions; not sanctioning Israel's actions.

-CryptoLutheran
You’re missing the point brother. The issue here is war. Hamas attacked Israel which premeditated the war. This is fact. Hamas did not return the hostages which extended the war. Hamas hid themselves and their weapons among the people which created casualties. The root cause of the death in Gaza is Hamas not Israel.

As far as the US war with Japan there are many parallels here. But what is not there is the media reports blaming the US for the destruction in Japan and inflaming the weak minded against the US. Many people in the US has drank the kool aid with regards to Hamas propaganda machine which includes quite a few of the liberal media outlets in the US. In many cases there is no independent source of casualties in Gaza other than the Health ministry controlled by Hamas. The liberal folks in the US have been caught on that lure.

I don’t think that, as a nation, Israel had much option in not attacking Hamas in Gaza just like the US did not have much option in attacking Japan in Japan. I think the condemnation of Israel is not warranted but perpetuated by those of the liberal persuasion that hate the conservative government of Netanyahu.
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The History of the “Two Laws” Theory in Romans 3:20

Heb 10:4-11 makes it very clear that the ceremonial law of "animal sacrifices and offerings" ended at the cross. It then contrasts it to the "once for all" atonement of Christ saying "He takes away the first, to establish the second" Heb 10:9.

(So much for the -- no mention of two distinct forms of Law--suggestion

1. Context: What is the “first” and the “second”?​

Hebrews 10:9 says:

“He takes away the first, that He may establish the second.”
To understand what is being taken away, we need to read the argument that begins in Hebrews 8 and continues through Hebrews 10. The author is contrasting two covenants, not two laws.

  • Hebrews 8:7 — “For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for the second.”
  • Hebrews 8:13 — “In that He says, ‘A new covenant,’ He has made the first obsolete.”
The “first” and “second” in Hebrews 10:9 echo that same theme — the old covenant system of priesthood and sacrifices is being replaced by the new covenant established by Christ’s blood (see Heb 9:11–15).

So, the contrast is not between two laws of God, but between two covenants or systems of worship — the old, symbolic, shadow-based one, and the new, real, and eternal one.

2. The “law” in this passage refers to the sacrificial system, not the moral law​

Hebrews 10:1 begins:

“For the law, having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices... make the comers thereunto perfect.”
This “law” refers specifically to the sacrificial regulations that governed the tabernacle worship (see Heb 9:1–10). It is not saying that the Ten Commandments were a shadow — those moral precepts were never a “shadow” but expressions of God’s own character (Romans 7:12–14).

Paul confirms this distinction in Galatians 3:19 — the law “added because of transgressions, until the Seed should come” — clearly referring to the ceremonial/sacrificial law that pointed to Christ’s sacrifice, not to the eternal moral law that defines sin (Romans 3:20; 7:7).

Thus, Hebrews 10 shows that the sacrificial aspect of the law was temporary and typological — not that there were two coequal “laws” of God.

3. Christ did not abolish the moral function of the law — He fulfilled it​

Jesus Himself said:

“Think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.” (Matthew 5:17)
Christ’s perfect obedience upheld the moral function of the law’s authority even as His death brought the ceremonial types to their fulfillment. The sacrificial system ended because its purpose was completed, not because the moral law was abolished.

So when Hebrews says, “He takes away the first to establish the second,” the “first” refers to the old covenant with its priesthood and sacrifices, and the “second” refers to the new covenant grounded in Christ’s once-for-all offering(Hebrews 10:10).

Hebrews 10 does not teach two laws of God — it teaches two covenants, one temporary and symbolic, the other eternal and real. The ceremonial sacrifices ended at the cross; the moral function of the law remains, now written on the heart under the new covenant (Heb 8:10).
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A perspective on Baptism and the plan of salvation that I have not heard before

Even the Orthodox who I believe deny the immaculate conception due to disagreements with doctrine on original sin, recognize that the term Kecharitomene means Mary has been kept free from sin

To be more precise, we do not believe our glorious lady Theotokos and Ever Virgin Mary is guilty of voluntary sin. And our understanding of original sin is not that you are forensically guilty of Adam’s transgression, but rather that the fallen state of humanity is like a hereditary illness which results in most of us sinning with every thought, but through the grace of God, we can not only be forgiven for sin but given the ability to overcome the sinful passions, as St. Anthony the Great was able to do through great struggle in the desert, in the face of repeated onslaughts of different kinds of diabolical temptations and demonic attacks.

All Christians should pay attention to the Life of Anthony, because St. Athanasius, who wrote it, is also responsible for our 27 book New Testament Canon and also defended the faith against Arianism, the denial that Jesus Christ is God Incarnate, in His divinity of one essence with the Father and the Holy Spirit, and likewise consubstantial with us in His humanity (St. Athanasius in particular insisted on the term “of one essence”).

At any rate, regarding the Theotokos, she was able to resist sin because with foreknowledge that she would consent to give birth to Him in the person of the Son and Logos, God specially graced her, as indicated by St. Gabriel when he addresses her as “Kecharitomene,” which was not a title used for St. Stephen the Illustrious Protomartyr, who was the first Christian to win a crown of martyrdom and is greatly venerable, but the Theotokos who carried God in her womb is uniquely venerable.

I don’t understand what motivates people to try to deny or downplay the holiness of the Theotokos. The word “Holy” means something set aside and consecrated, and the the Blessed Virgin Mary was consecrated as the Holy Theotokos, the immaculate* vessel by which Christ our True God was carried, who gave birth to Him and raised Him as His only biological parent.

I also don’t understand why people would attack the doctrine of the perpetual virginity, a doctrine accepted and commended not just by all Early Church Fathers but also by Martin Luther, John Calvin, Thomas Cranmer and John Wesley, and a doctrine which is plainly indicated by the same scripture its opponents use to try to attack it - many of these same people are opposed to the idea of holy celibacy and a monastic vocation despite the fact that St. Paul praised virginity and celibacy as being superior even to marriage, a theme echoed elsewhere in the New Testament. Now marriage is not wrong, but the idea that holy celibacy is wrong is unscriptural.

Perhaps our Lutheran friends @MarkRohfrietsch @ViaCrucis or @Ain't Zwinglian might have insights, or our Catholic friends @Michie @RileyG @Xeno.of.athens and @chevyontheriver or our Orthodox friends @prodromos @jas3 and @FenderTL5 , because I myself am utterly bewildered by this phenomenon.

It is not new however; antidicomarianism was documented by St. Epiphanios of Cyprus in the late fourth century, and was also a motivating factor behind the dreadful schism caused by the Christological error of Nestorius, who abused his position as the Patriarch of Constantinople to use force to try to suppress the veneration of Our Lady as Theotokos, and to justify this opposition to her veneration, developed a distorted Christology by manipulating certain speculations of Theodore of Mopsuestia into a radical Christology of separation and division between the divinity and humanity of Christ, one which compromises the idea of the Incarnation by leaning towards the idea of the Divine Logos and the man Jesus being two separate beings united by a single divine will (itself another Christological error, Monothelitism).
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The Schumer Shutdown

Trump, “Nobody knew healthcare was so complicated.”

Well, maybe some people knew.. like almost everyone but the stable genius.
Is there something in the US Constitution that prevents joint partnerships between the Feds and States? Australia runs our government owned and operated health system in the following way - designed to maximise efficiency and NOT take advantage of a government 'blank cheque' that the more right-wing friends here might worry about.

While states are responsible for running hospitals, the federal government shares responsibility for paying for them. The federal government also has the primary responsibility for keeping people out of hospital – through the primary care system, which includes general practice...​
... (some irrelevant history)...​

...Hospitals are paid for each procedure​

Since 2011, the federal contribution to public hospitals has been based on the number and type of patients treated. This is known as activity-based funding.​
All states and territories measure hospital activity by case “type”, weighted to reflect the complexity of a hospital’s activity. A lung transplant, for example, has a higher value than resolving an ingrown toenail.​
The idea of measuring hospital activity and even using this as a basis for funding is not new. What was new in 2011 was using activity-based funding to determine the federal contribution.​
Since 2011, the federal government pays 45% of the growth in the cost of delivering hospital services each year. This means the federal government’s annual increase in contribution can reflect both additional costs and activity.​
State and territory governments are responsible for the remaining costs.​
Since 2017-18, the growth in federal government expenditure has been limited to 6.5% each year. So even if a hospital performs many more procedures than the previous year, the federal government caps its annual expenditure growth at 6.5% more than the previous year.​

Funding also encourages efficiency​

Activity is one component of hospital funding, the other is the price paid for each unit of activity. The basis for this is the “nationally efficient price”.​
The Independent Hospital Pricing Authority determines this price, based on its analysis of actual costs and assessment of unavoidable and legitimate variations in costs. For example, the 2022-23 efficient price for a hip replacement was deemed to be A$19,798.​
This means the price is the same across Australia. Adjustments are made for patients from rural and remote areas, and for Indigenous patients. Sicker patients or those with multiple underlying conditions will fall into a different case type, with a higher price.​
This provides a benchmark for comparing hospital efficiency as well as the level of funding the hospital will receive.​

The goal is to treat more patients but keep costs constrained​

The hospital funding system is designed to address efficiency by providing incentives to increase output, while constraining the growth in costs.​
Since 2011, we’ve seen a substantial reduction in the rate of increase in costs, with an overall growth rate of 2.1%.​
Annual growth in costs (per national weighted activity unit):
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Not coping, I need a response.

Yes I think I actually can find a person to talk to who may even know the guy although it's not a deal breaker if they don't. You are correct in that limerence has taken a toll. It was so difficult today that I couldn't get myself to fix the hamburgers that I had set up for dinner when I got home.
Hopefully the person you find helps! May God lead you to the right person :praying:
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Are there demons who are partly human?

Yes, I should have mentioned, it is clear from the bible that when angels appear to people, they assume human form, but even so they are still spiritual beings.
And I believe you already have known all along, they cannot reproduce at all.
Just as humans cannot reproduce with things that are not human.
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Pope Leo says faith and love for migrants are connected

"The Church, like a mother, accompanies those who are walking," Leo wrote in the document released by the Vatican on Thursday....

These are some of the thoughts of Saint Thomas Aquinas on the matter of immigration based on biblical principles. It is clear that immigration must have two things in mind: the first is the Nation’s Unity; and the second is the Common Good.

Immigration should have as its goal integration, not disintegration or segregation. The immigrant should not only desire to assume the benefits but the responsibilities of joining into the full fellowship of the nation. By becoming a citizen, a person becomes part of a broad family over the long term and not a shareholder in a joint stock company seeking only short-term self-interest.

Secondly, Saint Thomas teaches that immigration must have in mind the common good; it cannot destroy or overwhelm a nation.

This explains why so many Americans experience uneasiness caused by massive and disproportional immigration. Such policy artificially introduces a situation that destroys common points of unity and overwhelms the ability of a society to absorb new elements organically into a unified culture. The common good is no longer considered.

A proportional immigration has always been a healthy development in a society since it injects new life and qualities into a social body. But when it loses that proportion and undermines the purpose of the State, it threatens the well-being of the nation.

<Read the full article>
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Are there demons who are partly human?

I don't accept either The Book of Enoch or The Book of Adam and Eve to be divinely inspired by God.
I stick to the Bible.
Those fables that fallen men might read and accept are Not only not inspired, not divinely inspired, but all totally wrong - totally opposed to Scripture and all that God has revealed through and in and by Jesus.
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Sept 23rd Rapture

Joshua speaks again and now, is trying to come up with the excuse that maybe it's a different calendar!! While still saying, "Days from now He will rapture His church".... uh, its been WEEKS lol but okay... you also claimed that it was the Julian calendar!! and said God told you that too!! Cognitive Dissonance is real people...

JOSHPOST.jpg
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