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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.
How the ‘Miracle of the Sun’ in Fátima helped to end an atheist regime
- By Michie
- One Bread, One Body - Catholic
- 0 Replies
Oct. 13, 1917, marked the last Marian apparition in Fátima and the day on which thousands of people bore witness to the miracle of the dancing sun — a miracle that shattered the prevalent belief at the time that God was no longer relevant.
Marco Daniel Duarte, a theologian and director of the Fátima Shrine museums, shared with CNA the impact that the miracle of the sun made during those days in Portugal.
If one were to open philosophy books during that period, he or she would likely read something akin to the concept conceived by German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, who boldly asserted in the late 1800s that “God is dead.”
Also, in 1917 Portugal, the majority of the world was embroiled in war. As World War I raged throughout Europe, Portugal found itself unable to maintain its initial neutrality and joined forces with the Allies. More than 220,000 Portuguese civilians died during the war, thousands due to food shortages and thousands more from the Spanish flu.
Continued below.
www.catholicnewsagency.com
Marco Daniel Duarte, a theologian and director of the Fátima Shrine museums, shared with CNA the impact that the miracle of the sun made during those days in Portugal.
If one were to open philosophy books during that period, he or she would likely read something akin to the concept conceived by German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, who boldly asserted in the late 1800s that “God is dead.”
Also, in 1917 Portugal, the majority of the world was embroiled in war. As World War I raged throughout Europe, Portugal found itself unable to maintain its initial neutrality and joined forces with the Allies. More than 220,000 Portuguese civilians died during the war, thousands due to food shortages and thousands more from the Spanish flu.
Continued below.
How the ‘Miracle of the Sun’ in Fátima helped end an atheist regime
Oct. 13, 1917, marked the last Marian apparition in Fátima, a day on which thousands of people bore witness to the Miracle of the Sun.
www.catholicnewsagency.com
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Jordan says ICE agents ‘doing the Lord’s work’
- By FAITH-IN-HIM
- American Politics
- 18 Replies
The DHS announcement is not a law. Unless Congress has changed immigration law to allow unlawful presence to be waived, the announcement has no effect.Please no personal attacks.
“If you are here illegally, use the CBP Home App to take control of your departure and receive financial support to return home,” said Secretary Kristi Noem. “If you don’t, you will be subjected to fines, arrest, deportation and will never be allowed to return. If you are in this country illegally, self-deport NOW and preserve your opportunity to potentially return the legal, right way.”
DHS Announces It Will Forgive Failure to Depart Fines for Illegal Aliens who Self-Deport Through the CBP Home App | Homeland Security
DHS announced illegal aliens who self-deport through the CBP Home App will receive forgiveness of any civil fines or penalties for failing to depart the United States (U.S.).www.dhs.gov
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Why you can't debate unbelievers into the Kingdom of God
- By 2PhiloVoid
- Christian Philosophy & Ethics
- 2 Replies
A great piece on how we go about conducting ourselves as Christians.
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In an age addicted to argument, Christians have become remarkably good at talking — and remarkably poor at listening. Scroll through social media or walk past a campus debate table, and you’ll see believers armed with microphones, cameras, and carefully memorized rebuttals. The object is not conversion but conquest. The applause line has replaced the altar call.
Somewhere along the way, we began to confuse winning debates with winning souls. Yet Scripture presents a very different picture of how truth changes hearts. The Gospel was never designed to be wielded like a sword in a duel of intellects; it was meant to be offered like bread to the hungry.
The problem with the debate mindset
Apologetics has its place. Reasoned defense of the faith can clarify misunderstandings and expose falsehoods. But when the believer’s primary instinct is to defeat rather than to disciple, something sacred is lost. Too many of today’s “discussions” look more like verbal brawls—complete with highlight reels and hashtags — than like Gospel witness.
Paul warned Timothy, “Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies; you know that they breed quarrels. And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness” (2 Tim. 2:23–25). Those words are as necessary in the digital age as they were in the first century. Debate can inform minds, but only the Spirit can transform hearts.
Why argument alone fails
Continued below.
Why you can't debate unbelievers into the Kingdom of God
In an age addicted to argument, Christians have become remarkably good at talkingwww.christianpost.com
I've never tried to argue a non-believer "into the Kingdom" with apologetics. But I will defend my beliefs to a certain degree as we're encouraged by Scripture to do (ala 1 Peter 3:15) in line with my main intention of encouraging other people, no matter who they are, to find Christ as their Lord and Savior.
Moreover, existentially speaking, and as a critical Philosophy, I'm not going to put up with ridiculous misrepresentations of the Christian faith or with ill-reasoned evaluations of my own Christian understanding, no matter what quadrant of humanity they may come from.
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How Should Catholics Understand the Rogue Exorcist in Mark 9?
- By Michie
- One Bread, One Body - Catholic
- 0 Replies
In Mark 9, we hear about a man unaffiliated with the disciples who casts out demons in Jesus’s name:
This same episode is also recorded in Luke 9:49-50, while St. Matthew’s Gospel includes a variation on the warning Jesus delivers to His disciples: “He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters” (Matt 12:30).
For Catholic readers of the Gospels, the exorcist passage raises some interesting questions. Is Jesus saying that obedience to the apostles and their successors is unimportant? Is He implying that all branches of Christianity are equally valid? And if not, then what exactly is He trying to teach us in this passage?
The Necessity of Following Jesus
Continued below.
stpaulcenter.com
This same episode is also recorded in Luke 9:49-50, while St. Matthew’s Gospel includes a variation on the warning Jesus delivers to His disciples: “He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters” (Matt 12:30).
For Catholic readers of the Gospels, the exorcist passage raises some interesting questions. Is Jesus saying that obedience to the apostles and their successors is unimportant? Is He implying that all branches of Christianity are equally valid? And if not, then what exactly is He trying to teach us in this passage?
The Necessity of Following Jesus
Continued below.
How Should Catholics Understand the Rogue Exorcist in Mark 9? - St. Paul Center
In Mark 9, we hear about a man unaffiliated with the disciples who casts out demons in Jesus’s name: John said to him, “Teacher, we saw a man casting out demons in your name, and we forbade him, because he was not following us.” But Jesus said, “Do not forbid him; for no one who does a mighty...
Trump sends troops to the 'warzone' of Portland...
- By Larniavc
- News & Current Events (Articles Required)
- 195 Replies
There you go
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Pope Hails Glimmers of Hope for Peace in Holy Land and Prays for Ukraine
- By Michie
- OBOB General Politics Forum
- 0 Replies
Following the Mass for the Jubilee of Marian Spirituality, Pope Leo XIV turns his thoughts and prayers to the suffering people of the Holy Land, of Ukraine, and of Peru, where political turmoil has brought instability to the nation.
At the conclusion of the Mass for the Jubilee of Marian Spirituality in St Peter’s Square, Pope Leo XIV turned his thoughts to those suffering the consequences of conflict, political instability, and other forms of injustice around the world.
“Two years of conflict have left death and destruction everywhere,” the Pope said. “Especially in the hearts of those who have brutally lost their children, their parents, their friends - everything.”
Continued below.
www.vaticannews.va
At the conclusion of the Mass for the Jubilee of Marian Spirituality in St Peter’s Square, Pope Leo XIV turned his thoughts to those suffering the consequences of conflict, political instability, and other forms of injustice around the world.
Peace in the Holy Land
His thoughts and prayers, first, turned to the Holy Land, and especially to the human cost of the violence.“Two years of conflict have left death and destruction everywhere,” the Pope said. “Especially in the hearts of those who have brutally lost their children, their parents, their friends - everything.”
Continued below.
Pope hails glimmers of hope for peace in Holy Land and prays for Ukraine - Vatican News
Following the Mass for the Jubilee of Marian Spirituality, Pope Leo XIV turns his thoughts and prayers to the suffering people of the Holy Land, of ...
www.vaticannews.va
