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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.

SO HOW DO YOU KNOW YOU ARE SAVED ??

I am begotten by God. I did not do any work to be saved.

That means you believe salvation/eternal life, is by faith alone, without works.

Then I replied to BelieveItOarKnot of his comment that Jesus will reward those who give a cup of water to His brethren. The reward for blessing Jesus' brethren is the Matthew 25 judgment which corresponds to the Revelation white throne judgment. That judgment is for those who have blessed Jesus' brethren. None of us who are born of, adopted by, God will be judged at the white throne. Those of us who are born of God will live in heaven and have spiritual bodies. Those who enter eternal life from the white throne judgment will live on the new earth, not be allowed entry into heaven and still be flesh and blood. Yes, their work of blessing Jesus' brethren earned them a place on the new earth.

So to you, what differentiate your salvation from those who face the white throne judgement?

How come you could eternal life without works, but they had to bless Jesus's brethren to enter eternal life?
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Our Long National Nightmare Is Over

It seems the USA is in recent times elevating white hegemony. So that this trend in politics and policy might also explain why there is a drop in rap seems at least plausible.

Per my previous post, I think it's more of a "Swifties Hegemony" happening lol.

It's sort of a more modern version of when Michael Jackson released Thriller, and almost every song from that album occupied a top 40 spot.
(as a more recent example, one of Drake's albums had the same deal... 21 tracks... all placed in the top 100 simultaneously)
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Do the Ten Commandments still apply under the new covenant today?

Christ asks us to keep his Commandments and to believe in him and to also nurture our first passions for the faith in Revelations 2 for me I would say try and do the will of God in my life. Works can vary on capability of what you can do there was the lady with the two coins and the lazy servant. They will decide alone and we can do our best to follow them and what they say.

Alright, glad you clarified.
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The Mandami effect

American people from important issues by focusing on Mandami the socialist, they may find themselves surprised after the November elections. next year
I agree. If Congress doesn't get back to work and start focusing on bringing costs down they will lose out. Its typical though for the party in power to lose the mid terms. So even if they do lose the house it honestly should be expected.

But they need to show some progress if they want to at least minimize the losses. The media and democrats are going to hammer on tge fact that there is inflation even thougj its better than the Biden years. T h e Republicans have been able to do anything to bring costs down except for gas prices.
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God's Divine Protection Of The Church During The Tribulation

The prophecy in Dan 9 and the Olivet Discourse of Jesus were focused upon the time of Jesus' earthly ministry, leading to his being "cut off." Both prophecies spoke of the fall of Jerusalem and the fall of the Temple following Israel's apostasy and rejection of Christ.

The Mark of the Beast was spoken of by John after the fall of Jerusalem in 70 AD and refers to the prophecy in Dan 7, where the "Little Horn," aka the Antichrist, will reign for 3.5 years, unmolested on earth and raining terror down upon the saints, ie the Church. And so, we are talking about two separate prophecies, one focusing upon Israel and the other focusing upon the entire Church at the end of the age.

So, when you claim that "The very thing described in Matthew and Mark as the AoD Luke identifies as the Roman Army of Jesus' time", it is actually your own interpretation and not what Luke identified.

There is nothing in Luke that linked the Olivet Discourse to the Roman Army.
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What's on your mind?

Today I was looking at a picture hanging in the wall & making a story out of the scene in it.
I'd ask 'In the days of technology, do people still do that?' But when I was growing up, not many seemed to.
We s/n need 'moving pictures.' We can do it in our mind.

Why is it always a peanut butter and jelly sandwich? Why couldn't it be a jelly and peanut butter sandwich? :scratch:
Ha ha my niece was saying the same thing today.
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Am I Weird, Or Is He Weird?

I enjoy hanging out with him when I do, but ultimately I only want the relationship of priest and parishioner. When I said in the OP that John and I were not friends but friendly, that was the best way I could think of to describe it. I've played basketball with him, had lunch with him, had a few long deep talks with him, but he's a family man, and not like one of my actual friends that I'd call up and say "hey, you wanna go do such and such".
After reading all that you've shared, I can better understand why you're now questioning John's recent peculiar response regarding the ballgame. While not close personal friends, you two do definitely appear to have a relationship on some level, and some good history. To approach him with your concerns about this matter sounds very wise to me.

Relationships can so easily fall apart over things like this incident. I guess I haven't wanted to see that happen in this instance, so that's why I've taken the time to respond. You appear to have 'a good thing' going for you in your church. (Such a hard thing that is to find nowadays!) Not to get too spiritual on you, but it's not hard for me to imagine that the 'enemy' (aka 'the great divider'!) might like very much to fracture your relationship with John. Good that you care enough not to let that happen.

God bless! :blush:
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Appointed to Eternal Life - Acts 13:48

Chosen in Him

Being Chosen in Him = God's will for us: "According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love. Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will."

God chose us, but it is our free will to choose Him.

Our Free Will

Having Free Will = Either Doing His will or not doing His will: If we are doing His will then we should be holy and without blame before Him in love. If we are not doing His will, then we are not being holy, are not without blame before Him in love.

One can reasonably conclude that it is when we choose Him and do His will that our names are written in the book of life, and that the phrase "book of life from the foundation of the world" refers to the book itself existing before creation, and that it is part of the overall plan of salvation, which includes "...the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world" and "According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love."
But what I don't see in your explanation is an exegetical argument from Scripture, or a rebuttal of what I have already offered to the contrary. Respectfully, the ability to describe a point of view is no indication on its own that it is actually what the biblical authors intended to communicate. The latter is what must concern us.

The structure of Paul's argument in Eph. 1 simply does not allow for human choice to precede or condition divine election. Notice the order of clauses:

καθὼς ἐξελέξατο ἡμᾶς ἐν αὐτῷ πρὸ καταβολῆς κόσμου, ἵνα ἦμεν ἅγιοι καὶ ἄμωμοι...​

God chose (ἐξελέξατο) before the foundation of the world in order that (ἵνα) we might be holy and blameless. Holiness isn't the basis of being chosen; it is the intended outcome. Likewise, verse 5 grounds predestination "according to the good pleasure of His will" (κατὰ τὴν εὐδοκίαν τοῦ θελήματος αὐτοῦ), not ours.

Human faith and obedience are therefore the fruit of election, not its cause. To invert that order is to ignore what Paul wrote.

As for the Book of Life, Scripture never describes anyone's name being newly written because of faith; it speaks of those whose names "were written from the foundation of the world" (Rev. 13:8; 17:8). The "foundation of the world" modifier applies to the writing, not the book. That means God's saving decree precedes both creation and human response.

So yes, believers truly choose Christ and obey Him. But they do so because God first chose them in Christ. Election isn't God's response to human decision, nor does it erase human decision; rather, it is the divine cause behind it.
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The Final Experiment (Flat Earth Bites The Dust)

What else would the light source have been if it couldn't have been the sun

Yes, the light source is the sun, the following image shows an approximation of what they experienced and why there is always light at that time of year in that spot.

1000000935.png

The little gray dot is an approximation of where they are and the orange shows the path of the sun, at different times of year that path widens and moves, thus different parts of the land get different amounts of light.

My drawing is not a perfect representation, and from looking at the videos more closely now, in the 360 view on my phone, the path is more directly over them than what I drew, from what we can see in the videos the sun looks to be pretty much over them the whole time, it really does not look like it is millions of miles away, but rather circling directly above them. For some reason the path of the sun gets close to that spot at certain times of year, then moves back and expands at other times of the year.
The correction my image needs is for the path to be over the grey dot.
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Newsome pushed back against Democracy to achieve his political goals

He is also aggressively seeking 1.2 million dollars from a California church . Over covid violations. Will that help his national profile? Voters open your eyes!
Will you now please correct your post? I'm sure that you wouldn't want to be associated with what someone told you now knowing that it's a lie.
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Is AI making the human race dumber?

I'm not encouraged by the idea of machines thinking for us. But I think it could be handled.

The trick is to not use AI to think for us, but to think with us, symbiotically, as a tool and force multiplier, not a substitute.
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The Thing Most Sabbath Keepers Do not Talk About.

Sorry but you didn't respond to my question...

How can obeying the Spirit possibly violate the intent of the Law ?
I did. You just don't seem to like the answer the Scriptures tell us plainly. I know it sounds good to think we are abiding in His Spirit without obeying His laws, but the Scriptures clearly says something different.

That's about all I can do post the Scripture, so I will just agree to disagree and it will get sorted out in God's time.

Be well.
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The auto-pen scandal is going to be massive

That's an equivalent of $400 million in TODAY'S dollars.
He didn't receive but about a fourth of that.
So get your calculator out again
Yeah, today's dollars to today's dollars. It's just 17.5x. Mine is significantly better than that. And making money was all he was trying to do.
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Kansas AG files charges against newly reelected mayor for voting as non-US citizen


Attorney General Kris Kobach said Jose Ceballos, 54, is a Mexican citizen with legal permanent residency in the United States but is not a citizen. Ceballos was re-elected as mayor this week by residents of Coldwater, a community of 687 people in southwestern Kansas.

Skip Herd, Coldwater city attorney, told Wichita's KWCH-TV that Ceballos, who he said holds a green card, drew "red flags" by applying for permanent citizenship.

“He’s been a registered voter since 1990," Herd told the news station. "He applied for citizenship in February of this year, and through that, raised the issue of whether he was a legal citizen,” Herd said.

A guest opinion : Trump Is Pushing Us Toward a Crash. It Could Be 1929 All Over Again.

I used to almost say I would be sorry when the American economy crashes, but now I am just honest and will be happy to get back to the reality of the monster that exists in the financial markets, U.S. government budget, and social security shortcomings. Why the lack of concern? Because these monsters are unsustainable and the longer we weight the worse it will be. Spiritually, too the love of money seems quite elevated. So a humbling economy is likely God's will. This does not mean all believers must suffer but we have to check ourselves concerning the use and abuse of money. I know I still lacking in this area.
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