May God have mercy upon these men!

Imagine if they mocked Islam.

Hypocrites!

To me this is a Pharisee type article. It assumes that MAGA is the biblical way, when to me, it is clearly not. The reality is that many things that MAGA is doing is in some cases harming the witness of the church.

Consider the SNAP disbursements. Under a Court Order Trump was seen as refusing the poor while he himself was building a ballroom. Is that cultural Christianity that attracts?

The budget is still in shambles, the shut down a new record, the tariffs likely unconstututional, the lawfare against enemies, the concern of the rich over the poor, and many more.

In the name of religion some have come to support Trump. Yes, there is some fruit there, but it is pure relativism. Why? Because many support Trump because it is supposed to be better than Harris.

So while progressivism may have attached itself to some of the church, there are other authoritarian, right wing, and even progressive policies that MAGA is indulging in. I am bold to say that the MAGA way, is not the gospel way in many respects. I empathize with those that follow MAGA sincerely, but there are some at the top that abuse it and use it for their own gain. The good news is that by seeing this side of extremism fail, true Christians will humble themselves and find the heart and mind of God for their own lives and nation. As I have said before, no nation in the bible turns to God without humility first. So we are not even close. (myself included).

Nithavela said:

Putting the phobia back into islamophobia in this thread.

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No. No. No. No.

Being critical of Islam is not “Islamophobia.”

Trump had given the order earlier this summer.

President Donald Trump agreed. On July 3, he ordered Secretary of Interior Doug Burgum to increase fees on foreign tourists seeking to enter national parks and federal recreation areas.

...and fyi


“The Economics of Awe” study released on June 26 by the Bozeman-based think tank estimates that charging foreign visitors $100 apiece to enter Yellowstone would raise about $55 million a year, while only discouraging about 57,000 of the average 660,000 internationals who come to see to America’s first national park. PERC estimates that would cover Yellowstone’s $43 million annual maintenance outlay, with enough left over to get rid of the abandoned Old Faithful wastewater system ($6 million) and rebuild the Midway Geyser Basin ($5 million).

.....

More than half that amount would be raised through the $100 foreigner surcharge in Yellowstone Park alone, PERC’s study calculates. However, a 2017 Interior proposal to increase entrance fees at 17 major national parks from $30 to $70 per vehicle was estimated to bring in just $70 million in additional revenue per year. The plan was floated by then-Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, who is now Montana’s 1st district congressman. It was withdrawn after intense public opposition.


Eh, the public will always be opposed to higher fees. IMO, the $70 per vehicle should have been implemented in 2017.

The Liturgist said:

We’re unable to do that.

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You seem to have missed the part about how, under my proposal, no one would be forced to adopt the Gregorian paschalion.

Hentenza said:

Matt. 22:40. He nailed ALL of the law to the cross. You are not addressing my post but merely trying to talk over me.

”We” did not read the definition of sin. First, where in Rom. 3:20 does it teach that Paul is referring to the sacrificial laws? The deeds of the law is doing the ”works” of the law whether is sacrifices, ceremonial, etc. So no one will ever be justified by the works of the law. Paul makes this super plain in the next chapter when he explains that Abraham was not justified by his works but by his faith. The sacrificial laws never removed sin nor did it give a way to repentance. Now, why do you think Paul states that now there is no condemnation to those in Christ in Rom. 8:1?

I’m going to post a response that I just posted to another poster in another thread that made a similar argument.


Several passages of Scripture clearly establish that the coming of Christ has brought an end to the Mosaic Law.

Romans 10:4, “Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.”

Christ fulfilled the Ten Commandments by living a perfect and sinless life and so when man trusts in Christ as his Savior, Christ’s righteousness is imputed to that individual so we have justification (Romans 4) resulting in the fact that the Law can’t condemn us (Romans 4:4-8; 5:1, 7:1-6, 8:1).

Christ fulfilled the ceremonial ordinances, the shadows and types of His person and work, by dying on the cross for us and in our place.

Christ also fulfilled the Social Law, but now He replaces it with a new way of life fitting to our new salvation.

The believer now is under God’s new law, the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:2-4).

Therefore, the doctrine of justification by means of faith in Jesus Christ upholds the Law for three reasons:

(1) Jesus Christ’s death on the Cross satisfied the demands of God’s Law that required that human sin be judged (Romans 3:26).

(2) Jesus Christ’s death on the Cross establishes the Law by fulfilling the purpose of the Law in driving men to Jesus Christ as their Savior (Galatians 3:24).

(3) Jesus Christ’s death on the Cross establishes the Law by providing believers the capacity to obey the Law through the ministry of the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:3-4).

This is why I have stated in the past that the Holy Spirit gives us the knowledge of sin and the way to repentance since the law is not able to. This is why there is no longer condemnation for those in Christ (Rom. 8:1).

At some point you should begin to question your biblical interpretation when it puts Jesus and the epistles in tension with what you are arguing. It’s about hermeneutics not about verse mining.

My light bulb is on.

Why do you think Paul would make such a statement? You post the verse but make no exegesis or commentary. I bet that I have a difference understanding of this verse.

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If you are following all of the writing of Paul, then you will find out that you are following Jesus, and if you are truly following Jesus then you are following the law of God. Paul says in (Rom. 7:7,12) (v.7) What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, THOU SHALT NOT COVET.

Paul asked a question, is the law sin? He said God forbid, he said the only way that he knew what sin was, was by the law.

(v.12) Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good. Why in the world would a Christian want to do away with something that God said is holy.

Paul says in (Rom. 4:15) Because the law worketh wrath: for where no law is, there is no transgression. If there is no law there is no sin.

People we must realize everybody has laws by which we must operate by, the governments have laws, your job have laws, your card games have laws, even the boy scouts have laws. But now you are going to try and convince yourselves that the creator of the world has no laws by which we must live.

Also Paul says in (Rom. 5:13) (For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law. If there is no law, there is no sin! When the bible speaks of laws we no longer have to keep, it is speaking of the animal sacrificial laws and Priesthood laws. These animal sacrificial laws were a school master pointing us to the fact that Jesus would be sacrificed for our sins. Since Jesus died we are no longer under a school master, (required to offer up bulls and goats for our sins).

Now we must believe (have faith) Jesus died for us (Hebrews 10:4,9-10) 4 For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. 9 then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second. 10 By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

This doesn't mean we don't have to obey God's moral laws of conduct. That would be like a man getting paroled from prison and then ignoring the same laws that sent him to prison in the first place. Jesus only died once, so if we willingly break God's law, after accepting Jesus, our reward will be eternal damnation (Hebrews 10:26-27) 26 For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, 27 but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. 11 And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: 12 but this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; 13 from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. 14 For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.

The point that is not understood is that we all have sin, but until Jesus came, there was no way of getting out from under your sins. So God institute a Priesthood and laws that went with the priesthood to control the sinning, and so the Lord use animal Sacrificial laws, even though it could not remove sins.

When Jesus died on the cross that was the end of the first covenant, which consisted of the blood of animals and the keeping of God’s commandments. And his death also brought in the second covenant, which consist of the blood of Jesus and the keeping of God’s commandments.

Let us avoid this at all costs, seeking a better reward. Jesus will return real soon And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be. (Revelation 22:12).

Vambram said:

We are seeing real consequences of very good decisions made by the President when the far left responds with violence.

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You think it was worth these two lives just to have the Guard out picking up trash? Because that’s all of what they’ve been doing. That’s what you’re saying when you call this a good decision. They’re not cracking down on crime because that would be illegal. Clearly their presence hasn’t reduced crime or this wouldn’t have happened but look how quick you went to blame the entire left. You’re not even blaming the shooter for their actions anymore, which takes me right back to the point I made at the beginning that this is exactly what this administration has been itching for. Conflict in our streets to justify the occupation.

A Devil's Advocate said:

The goal of Christianity is to know God. This is something you could spend ten lifetimes in pursuit of and still have barely scratched the surface of everything there is to know about God.

It amazes me the amount of wasted time and energy people put towards this goal of sinning less and ultimately, not sinning at all. Does anyone read the bible for what it actually says, or does everyone read it for what they've been told it says?

If I was to ask you; do you identify as your sinful nature, or do you identify as the good you want to do but struggle with a sinful nature, which would best describe you? Most likely it will be the later of the two. You are the good you want to do but struggle with a sinful nature. Which would align you with what Paul talked about in Rom 7:14-20.
Now say by the power of grey skull, I snap my fingers and suddenly you no longer have a sinful nature. Will you continue to do the evil you do not want to do, or will you only do the good you so desire to do? Obviously, the good you desire to do is all that you are going to do.
Okay then, in your pursuit to stop sinning, what is it you are trying so hard to improve on? The good you already desire to do, or the sinful nature?

The good you desire to do clearly needs no improvement since it already desires to do good. The sinful nature, on the other hand, cannot be improved on. Scripture is vividly clear on this. If it could be improved on, then Paul would not have wrote what he wrote in Rom 7, and the Gospel wouldn't have been necessary.

Before you try and tell me Paul is speaking of before he was saved... this is the real world, not some fantasy. At what point, before you were saved, did you ever struggle between doing the good that God desires you to do and doing evil? The truth is you didn't. You simply did whatever felt good to you in the moment.

Before salvation we are spiritually dead, separated from God. Without spiritual life, there is no desire to do the will of God. Without spiritual life, the desires of the flesh are what rules us. We have no desire, what so ever, to do the will of God. After receiving new life (spiritual life), that is when we are suddenly presented with a dilemma. To now do the will of God.
This new dilemma is the very struggle Paul talks about. And the reason Paul talks about it is to make it clear to his readers that the very idea that we can stop sinning is ridiculous. He states very clearly that sin resides in the flesh. Unless you live in the fantasy world I mentioned earlier, until the day you die, you will remain in the flesh. The flesh is corrupt as a result of sin. And until our corrupted flesh is destroyed, and we are given new non corrupted bodies, this struggle will remain.

The time and energy put towards the goal of sinning less and ultimately not sinning at all, is misplaced, misleading, and ultimately leads us back into the bondage of sin. That time and energy should be put towards getting to know more of God. The logic is simple, if you are doing what you are supposed to be doing, you wont be doing what you aren't to be doing. The more of God you know, the more of God is revealed through you, and naturally, the less you will sin. No effort, no fuss, no worries.

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Be careful taking Paul in Romans 7 as being in the present tense and not the present historic tense. He was probably 12 when he learned about coveting. There are lots of excellent reasons why this battle description Paul was having would be written to the Romans in the present historic tense. Romans 8 is the solution.

Let me ask you: Have you ever been around a group of mostly new Christians, who if they show the slightest weakness including lusting, not doing what Christ would do and even think what Christ would not think, in every situation risked being seen by some very sneaky fellows who will tell some really bad guys you are not fully committed and those really bad guys will come and beat you maybe to death, to try and make you their slaves.

I can give you my personal story of God seeing to my humiliation, for I thought I was a Spiritual giant in the Kingdom, had done about every good thing you could and knew it all.



My single one-day awakening happened this way:

For many years, I experienced and believed Christianity had no real down side. It was a happy, easy and rewarding life, everyone should jump in. It was a fun easy life for me and I had a great resume and wanted to add prison Bible teaching.

I use to teach “we (Christians) all sin lots of times especially lusting and cannot keep from it, but we are constantly being washed by the blood of Christ, so we are without sin in that case.” That was before I met a group of Christians that risked death for themselves and others by sinning, just any sign of not doing what Christ would be doing in that moment could result in being beaten to death. Here is what happened:

I got thrown into (volunteered to substitute teach) with the youth (13-21 age) prisoners program teaching Bible (one hour on Sunday morning to a group of 14 with three other Christians teaching groups of 14) and I was teaching three groups of “Christians”. The first group were guys (“going to school”, it is called), they start out causing trouble and getting thrown in the tank. Then they start increasingly attending the Bible services, carrying their Bible, being nice, eventually being baptized and saying they are Christian. By the time the parole board meets, they have this glowing report showing continued improvement tied to their increased spirituality and are released. These guys still carry weapons, are members of a gang, and every prisoner knows they just “went to school” to get out. The second group were converted before they went to prison (granny conversions), but on their first day they are seen watching raunchy TV, hanging with a loss group, laughing at off colored jokes, they were not always talking about Jesus and were not trying to convert others. On their first day in prison the snitches see this, the snitches talk to the Bulls who then approach these “Christians” saying: “you are not a Christian” (doing everything Christ would do) and make them a slave (often sexual) or at best a gang member. They still come to Bible study on Sunday, so they can tell Granny (who visits them Sunday afternoon) what they learned, but they are slaves (sometimes sexually) to some bull. The third group is fanatical, they stick close to each other, they: study, pray, witness to everyone, and avoid even a hint of insincerity that the snitches could see. They carry no weapons, but step between those that are being beaten especially persecuted. This group had grown over the last 3 years from just a couple of guys to now 42, but it came at a high price. Each convert had on the day he was baptized, given up the protection of his gang membership, turned over his weapons along with all his possessions (the gang owns everything including them), they were beaten if not by the gang they left, then by other gangs looking for payback and then they were watched constantly looking for any sign the snitches might interpret as weakness (anything less than what Christ would do in the situation, would result in a beating and it could lead to death). There is absolutely no privacy and these Christians never wanted to be found alone. They slept in barracks where at least one stayed awake all night praying over the others, so they could sleep without the fear of being smashed in the head in the middle of the night. These guys believed and counted on power from the Holy Spirit, I did not know existed. They come battered and bruised each week hungry for some real meaningful Christ like lesson that goes beyond their group study of 40+hours that week on the same subject, which I could not provide. They mostly helped me with my poor example of Christianity and lack of knowledge and lack of wisdom. They mentored me even though they were only Christian for a few months, but I was a poor disciple and could not keep up with them. I don’t know if I could go through what they went through.

I had many hard nights praying and crying over those young men. I Loved them and empathetically to some degree suffered with them.

They really did not talk about “not sinning”, but what better things they could be doing each and every minute of the day and night. If they did sin, even with their thoughts, they confessed immediately to everyone (all around so the snitches could hear it also), asking for help, prays and ideas on doing better, yet this was not a daily action for everyone.

It is not so much not wanting to sin, but wanting to be a Christ like Christian (witness). This was not done to please the guards because the guards did not like them witnessing to them and the fact others might beat on them caused the guards added work to break up the beatings.

Maybe we do not see the Spirit working in us because we quench Him or are not in situations of really needing Him. Severe persecution brings out the Spirit in those who have the Spirit.

One example of what I learned from them was: “You do not even try to keep from sinning (be on the defensive), but try to be involved in the next minute, in doing something really good (constantly on the offensive) then the Holy Spirit can be involved with you and you keep doing good stuff all day and night and pick it up the next day”. You just do not have time to be involved in any sinning.

At my first time teaching, a non-Christian at the end of my shameful lesson asked me a question I could not answer and a young new convert jumped in and answered for me but first said: “Don’t bother him, he is a newbie” (yet I had been a Christian for 10 years and he had been a Christian less than a few months, yet he was right and I was the babe.)

Apple Sky said:

Tesla was right but Tesla was eventually undone by what he called “ignorant, unimaginative people, consumed by self-interest”— powerful men that sought to protect the immensely profitable, low-tech industries they had spent a lifetime building.

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Tesla affectionately known as Tessy to his friends was a poor judge of character.

Key Derogatory Remarks Tesla Made About Einstein

• Poem “Fragments of Olympian Gossip” (1930s):

Tesla mocked Einstein directly, writing: “Now a long haired crank, Einstein by name, puts on your high teaching all the blame.” This was a satirical jab at Einstein’s reputation and theories.

• 1935 New York Times Interview:

Tesla dismissed relativity as:
“The theory wraps all these errors and fallacies and clothes them in magnificent mathematical garb which fascinates, dazzles and makes people blind to the underlying errors. The theory is like a beggar clothed in purple whom ignorant people take for a king.”
He accused Einstein and his supporters of being “metaphysicists rather than scientists.”

Apple Sky said:

​

The Nikola Tesla Interview That Was Hidden For 116 Years Will Blow Your Mind​

The Nikola Tesla Interview That Was Hidden For 116 Years Will Blow Your Mind - The Srpska Times

In 1899, Nikola Tesla did an interview with a journalist named John Smith, and the ideas expressed by Tesla in that interview were so revolutionary, that the contents of it were covered up and hidden away for over 100 years. During the interview, the scientist and inventor explained how...

thesrpskatimes.com

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Where in that interview does it refute what I've stated?

GoldenBoy89 said:

You’re mixing things up.

It’s ICE that is using the gestapo tactics. It’s the courts that said these deployments in major cities without need or request that are illegal, though I’m not sure if that applies to the special case of DC. The National Guard there were so useless they were just standing around and picking up trash. Why these two were targeted and shot I have no idea but there has been no logical or legal reason given for any of these deployments beside the administration wanting theater appearance that something was being done and now we are seeing the very real consequences of these bad decisions from the president.

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We are seeing real consequences of very good decisions made by the President when the far left responds with violence.

Vambram said:

Your remarks are unbelievable.

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We are living in unbelievable times.

Keep the 2 soldiers in your prayers. They ain't dead but they are in critical condition.

BPPLEE said:

When you tell people that the NG is deployed illegally and that they are the equivalent of troopers that were in Germany during WW 2 (the rules exclude me from naming them)
Some people believe it and act on it.

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You’re mixing things up.

It’s ICE that is using the gestapo tactics. It’s the courts that said these deployments in major cities without need or request that are illegal, though I’m not sure if that applies to the special case of DC. The National Guard there were so useless they were just standing around and picking up trash. Why these two were targeted and shot I have no idea but there has been no logical or legal reason given for any of these deployments beside the administration wanting theater appearance that something was being done and now we are seeing the very real consequences of these bad decisions from the president.

HAPPY tHANKSGIVING, EVERTONE. I fell 2x last week; thankful for no broken bones. I'm thankful for Stouffers roast turkey dinner.

Hentenza said:

Who do you think are those who are now dead?

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I quoted from the CSB. The word “now” is not present in the Greek and was added by the CSB translators to align with their theological beliefs. You can also find it in some other translations of the same ilk, like the NIV and NLT.

"Those who are dead" are clearly those who were dead when Christ went to preach the Gospel in the Spirit Prison.

Updated reporting says that those 2 soldiers are still alive and in critical condition.

GoldenBoy89 said:

Looks like this administration finally got what they’ve been looking for. These two Virginia servicemen would still be alive were they not needlessly deployed for Trump’s DC crime fighting theatre.

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Your remarks are unbelievable.

Mark Quayle said:

"Robotic" is a poor designator for the result of Creation's pervasive cause-and-effect.

If you can explain how God causes self-contradictory things to happen, be my guest. Don't just assert that it is so. We do not produce anything 'ex-nihilo'. Nothing happens in a void, expect by First Cause himself.

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A "robot" is an excellent analogy of a being without free will.
God can be the source of an infinite number of "first causes" and is not limited to some previous first cause.
All I am adding is God's Love and power allows God to create beings who can be a little like God in that they too can have very limited "first cause" ability to be able to Love like God Loves and not "love" out of instinctive robotic ability.