The nonsense perpetrated by @stevevw there is no evidence of the ancient Egyptians using conventional tools particularly during the Old Kingdom is refuted by the following table.

keras said:

Plenty of times! I'm only human.
But when I present what the Lords Prophets have said and people reject it, then they are 'throwing the baby out with the bathwater'.

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That's because you don't understand, or won't accept, that you are posting your interpretation. Also, you have decided to apply various Scriptures to today.
Who says that a certain country will have nuclear bombs - not Zechariah, that's for sure. YOU have said that this is what Zechariah is saying in Zec 5 - a highly debateable conclusion.
And when people disagree with you - even your Pastor and those you refer to as "so called theologians"; instead of having the humility to say "maybe I need to look at this again", you adopt a martyr complex and say, "that's fine, they persecuted the prophets."

If you really were bringing some kind of message from God, I don't believe you'd be wrong. If there was something the Lord needed us all to know, he'd tell us, clearly, and his word would, I believe, be confirmed by others. John said we should test the spirits.

keras said:

Surely we can all see that some kind of dramatic event must come soon; to finally resolve the worlds problems. We Christians know the Return of Jesus will do that.

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Yes - but that's a long way from saying, "this will happen, then this - as mentioned by some OT prophets".

Jesus said that the Son of Man would come when people least expect him.
You seem to be saying that when X, Y and Z have taken place, then he will return and you give it 15-20 years.
I'm sticking with Jesus.

Ripheus27 said:

It's what the doctrine of imputation is. Christ's works are imputed to us. That by itself means said to be ours. Logic leads me to understand that this makes imputation out to be salvation by our own works regardless of what the doctrine hereof was made up to explain. As for where in TPP, it's in the dialogue with Ignorance or in the second book, when the children are being catechized (IIRC).

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Imputation is actually salvation by Christs works and righteousness given freely by grace to Gods elect.

Dave... said:

It means that It was only a promise until it actually happened. Physical Israel is a OT type of spiritual Israel. Esau is physical Israel. Jacob is spiritual Israel. Spiritual Israel is elect "in Christ" only. All those in spiritual Israel are "in Christ" as a result of faith and then they become elect with Jesus. Jesus is the One elect. We become elect when we are placed in Him, per Eph. 1:1-14. We are placed in Him when we receive the Holy Spirit indwelling as a result of faith always (Eph. 1:13-14). With the Holy Spirit indwelling we are In Christ, without the indwelling we are not in Christ (Romans 8:9-10). Paul said "we" are the first fruits of the Spirit, meaning the firstfruits of the indwelling (Romans 8:23), the baptism with the Holy Spirit Jesus promised when He, Jesus was lifted up, the promise of the Father, the Holy Spirit, which is part of the promises that those in Hebrews died having not received. OT believers were not in Christ, thus they were not elect except by promise until Pentecost, when they were placed into Christ. All they had was a promise that was to come. They were all still in Adam, yet God knew them already. All that the Father gives me I shall not lose one of them. The Sheep. This is who Romans 8:29 is speaking of. These were already known by God, He predestined them to be conformed to the image of His Son (starts when places in Him), those He called with the Gospel message.... None had yet ascended until the cross because they were not yet "in Christ" and born again (John 3:1-14).

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AND BORN AGAIN. , REALLY. !!

Let's see what John. 3:5 is saying ??

# 1. Jesus /////////. IESOUS//////. is in. the NOMINATIVE CASE. in. the SINGULAR

# 2. ANSWERED//////APOKINOMAI /////. in. the AORIST TENSE in. the. MIDDLE VOICE. in. the INDICATIVE MOOD. in. the SINGULAR

# 3 VERILY. ///////. AMEN //////. INDECLINABLE

# 4 I SAY ////// LEGO. in. the PRESENT TENSE. in. the ACTIVE VOICE in. the INDICATIVE MOOD in. the SINGULAR

# 5. UNTO THEE. ////// SOI. is a PERSONAL POSSESSEIVE PRONOUN. in. the DATIVE CASE

# 6 EXCEPT. //////. ME. is a DISJUNCATIVE PARTICLE NEGATIVE

# 7 A MAN ////// TIS. is a INDEFINITE PRONOUN. in. the NOMINATIVE CASE in. the SINGULAR

# 8 BE BORN /////. GENNAO. in. the AORIST TENSE in. the SUBJUNATIVE. in. the SINGULAR

# 9 OF ///// EK. is a PREPOSITION

# 10 WATER ///// HYDOR. is in the GENITIVE CASE in. the SINGULAR in. the HEUTER

# 11. AND ///// KAI. is a CONJUNCATION

# 12 THE SPIRIT. /////. PNEUMA is in. the GENITIVE CASE in. the SINGULAR in. the NEUTER

# 13 HE CANNOT ////. DYANNAI. in. the PRESENT TENSE in the MIDDLE VOICE in. the INDICATIVE MOOD. which means you

better believe it

# 14 ENTER //// EISERCHOMAI. in. the AORIST TENSE. in. the ACTIVE VOICE

# 15. THE KINGDOM. ////. BASILEIA. in. the. ACCUSATIVE C ASE in. the SINGULAR

# 16 OF GOD. /////. THEOS. in. the GENITIVE CASE. in. the SINGULAR

# A. Explain how you. are BORN. of WATER and the SPIRIT. ??

# B. EXPLAINE why Paul never says the word BORN OF WATER ?

# C. Is John writing to US ??

# D And did not PAUL write 13 EPISTLES to the BODY. OF CHRIST and also write HEBREWS.

# E. SO. how are we saved TODAY ??

# F. And what KINGDOM WILL YOU BE IN. ??

# G WHERE will . you be if you were to die TOMORROW. ??

dan p

For all those Christ died His death exclusively for them acquired:

Deliverance from the works of the devil 1 Jn 3:8

8 He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.

Did Shem's Dad have a Boat?

CoreyD said:

I did. However, you said nothing in response to it.
I showed that you are asserting that

• Scriptures such as Psalm 22:18; Psalm 78:1, 2; Psalm 91:11, 12; Isaiah 6:8-10; Isaiah 9:1, 2 are not prophetic of the Messiah, which makes Jesus and his followers out to be liars, since they all said, these prophetic utterances were fulfilled in the Messiah. John 19:23-24; Matthew 13:34-35; Matthew 4:6; Luke 4:10, 11; Matthew 13:14-15; Matthew 4:12-16; Matthew 2:15, 16... as well as his people. Romans 9:25; 1 Corinthians 15:55 (Hosea13:14); Mark 7:6; Luke 3:3-6; John 1:23 (Isaiah 40:1-5);
• Where the Greek scriptures quote the Hebrew scriptures, these were interpretations of the Jews, applying texts to someone they felt was the Messiah, and therefore the Greek scriptures are a farce, since Jesus did not really fulfill these prophecies... In fact they were not even prophesies. So...
• Jesus is a liar, and he lied when he said I told you that everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and in the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Luke 24:27, 44 “You search the Scriptures because you think they give you eternal life. But the Scriptures point to me! If you had believed Moses, you would believe Me, because he wrote about Me." John 5:39, 46
• Luke 22:37 For the time has come for this prophecy about me to be fulfilled: ‘He was counted among the rebels.’ Yes, everything written about me by the prophets will come true.” is not true. This is referring to Jerusalem - Zion.

I showed you that all these texts including Jesus words speak of the words of the Prophets being fulfilled at present, or future, in the Messiah or his people.


Why did you say 'original'?
Matthew said Hosea's words were fulfilled upon the Messiah, when Joseph was told to take Jesus out of Egypt.
The fact is, when God put those words on Hosea's tongue, God is the one who had in mind the application, and for us to decide and make the claim that God meant them only for Israel in Egypt, we would have to ignore what God inspired Matthew to write, and exalt ourselves above a level of a human.
I humbly accept that God inspired Matthew to apply Hosea's words to the Messiah, because God was uttering a Messianic prophecy.

The fact is, the text in the Gospels, and the apostles writings say that the words of the prophets are fulfilled there and then, either towards the Messiah, or his people?

What you are in fact saying is that God does not use two fold prophecies, nor does he insert Messianic prophesies in the Hebrew texts, written in the Prophets and Psalms....
Did Moses really write about Jesus. Or what was that a Jewish interpretation, put as Jesus' words? John 5:39, 46

Paul quoted Hosea 13:14, as having fulfilment in the future. “Where, O Death, is your victory? Where, O Death, is your sting?” 1 Corinthians 15:55
Was that a Jewish interpretation?

I leave you to what you want to do here as well.
As they say in Jamaica, "I dun wid dat."

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You spammed a whole lot of nothing. Where in Mathew 2:15-16 does it say anything about the original meaning being about Jesus?

There's a difference between the original meaning of a passage, and the fulfillment of that passage. Come on C, I'm sure you can figure this one out.

A passage being “fulfilled” in Jesus does not mean that it was originally about Jesus, and the New Testament authors never claim otherwise. When Matthew, John, Paul, or others cite the Old Testament, they are not erasing the original meaning or asserting that the prophets consciously predicted Christ; rather, they treat Israel’s history, experiences, and themes as patterns that reach their fullest expression in Jesus. Texts like Hosea 11:1, Psalm 22, Isaiah 7:14, and Isaiah 40:3 all had clear, concrete meanings for their original audiences, and the NT writers never say those meanings are replaced or superseded. Instead, they view Jesus as the culmination or climax of those patterns, not the original referent. In other words, a passage can be fulfilled in Jesus without originally being about Jesus, which preserves both the integrity of the Old Testament’s context and the theological claims of the New Testament.

Bobthebomb said:

Looks like I am lost.
I have been searching for a while subconsciously, which is how I found my way here.
Tonight was too much, I asked God and Jesus into my life.

Nothing. I feel more alone than ever.

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Do you have a Bible?

Is that recursive?

BCP1928 said:

You don't give our Constitution enough credit.

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If the land that is now the US had been attained via conquest by Muslims instead of Christians & Deists, do you think such a document would've ever been drafted (with concepts like separation of church and state, and checks and balances), or would it have followed the pattern of other Muslim conquest, where after the "convert or die" phase of the process is over, the first thing to be done is establish a cleric who will rule with an iron fist and harshly punish those who step out of line based on a religious code that also acts as a legal code?

Y'all gotta check Against Heresies by Irenaeus of Lyons

Here's a budget option from a Public Domain Translation & collects all 5 books into 1
Against Heresies

Alternatively if you want a modern translation the team at Paulist Press has the best one albeit quite expensive & the books are sold individually with the exception of Books 4 & 5 which are sold together as 1 book

Book 1
55. St. Irenaeus of Lyons - Rev Walter J. Burghardt SJP, Dominic J. Unger : PaulistPress
Book 2
65. St. Irenaeus of Lyons - John J. Dillon, PhD, Dominic J. Unger : PaulistPress
Book 3
64. St. Irenaeus of Lyons - Matthew C. Steenberg : PaulistPress
Books 4 & 5
72. St. Irenaeus of Lyons - John J. Dillon, PhD, Scott D Moringiello : PaulistPress

I highly recommend reading as it provides context about the early church before the 1st council of Nicaea.

Hvizsgyak said:

Which shouldn't be a problem, right? I feel we should debate secular society with our Christian ethics and morality. It might not influence the secular person who posted the trolling topic but it gives the third parties reading the posts something to think about. Possibly they may find that Christians and Christianity's ethics and morality (which come from God) have alot to offer the world. I follow alot of your posts and I feel God is influencing me through some of those posts. I appreciate that alot (don't mind the word "alot" being misspelled, it's one of those Mandela effects - I swear it was spelled that way in another parallel universe ).

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I’m with you—polite, public debate is worth it, not to win the troll but to leave bread-crumbs for the silent third-parties who later DM, “I never knew Christians thought like that.”
If grace stays on the keyboard, the Spirit can use even our push-backs to chip away at someone’s never-considered-that wall.
Keep planting those breadcrumbs—you never know which lurker will pick one up and hunger for more.

And hey, I reckon NZ is that parallel universe—down there we glue our vowels together like “alot,” “sweet-as,” and “yeah-nah.”
So if ‘alot’ ever looked right to you, it’s just the Kiwi-spell-checker you may have come across once. Keeps things real for sure.

Actor Jonathan Roumie, who stars as Jesus Christ on the acclaimed series “The Chosen,” returned to “The View” Dec. 1, where he discussed meeting Pope Leo, Hallow’s 25-day Advent prayer challenge, and the impact “The Chosen” has had on others and himself.

“I don’t think it would have the same kind of authenticity,” Roumie said in response to cohost Ana Navarro, who asked if Roumie would be able to play Jesus if he weren’t as “spiritual and religious” as he is.

“I think what I bring to the role is my relationship to Christ, is my relationship to Jesus, my love for him,” said Roumie. “And so by taking on his love for humanity and trying to recreate that, it’s made me a better person. It’s made me want to love people.”

Continued below.

King

timf said:

The Irish prisoners starved to death around 40 days +.
You will die sooner without water.
The only thing I found useful about fasting is that it acts like a timer reminding yourself that you had intended to pray about something.

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Mozambique pastor dies attempting 40-day Jesus fast Here is a sad story of a pastor dying without water because he tried to fast like Jesus.

I do know a pastor and some in his church that fast 21 days, and a few of them 40 of no food. I have heard a sermon from them on how to do this practically using a little bit of prune juice, and vitamin supplements. I think too that one does not start off on 40 days. I would try 3, then work it up a bit.

I personally like Kenneth Hagin's short book entitled"Commonsense Guide to fasting" https://gthinkers.org/spiritual_books/Kenneth E. Hagin A common sense guide to fasting..pdf.pdf
Basically, he talks of biblical examples in fasting and how very few are called beyond 3 days at a time. If that were to occur then the Holy Spirit would lead just as they did Jesus.

Michie said:

AI overview:

While the lily is more commonly associated with Mary in Christianity, the lotus flower can represent her as well, symbolizing purity and divine beauty, much like the lily. Both flowers represent purity and are often found in artwork and churches dedicated to the Virgin Mary.

Similar symbolism

• Purity: Both the lily and the lotus are used to symbolize purity because of their ability to rise from muddy water or dark places unstained and pristine.
• Divine beauty: The lotus is seen as a symbol of divine beauty and grace, qualities also attributed to Mary.
• Church art: The lotus is depicted in some ancient churches dedicated to Mary, according to Oxford Academic.

More common association with Mary

• The Lily: The lily, especially the white lily, is the more prominent flower linked to Mary. It was carried by the Archangel Gabriel during the Annunciation and is often used in art to represent her.
• Other flowers: Other flowers, such as roses, violets, and bluebells, also have specific connections to Mary in Christian tradition.

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That makes me feel better about my doubts about having a lotus flower box, not that I was all that concerned about it anymore anyway.

During a rapid-fire portion of the “Room for Nuance” podcast, 9Marks President Jonathan Leeman was asked to share a belief from the last five years that he no longer holds.

Leeman was named 9Marks’ new president in April. He explained that in 2018—while speaking alongside now-President Emeritus Mark Dever at a 9Marks-at-9 event during the SBC annual meeting—he publicly allowed for the possibility that Christians could, in some circumstances, vote for a pro-choice political candidate. He said, “I think that was wrong.”

“I think it was 2018, at the SBC, we did a 9Marks-at-9, in which Mark and I on stage talked about the freedom to vote for pro-choice or pro-life candidates,” Leeman explained. “Not because we believed in pro-choice, we are both vigorously opposed to it, but we recognized or we believed that there was still space for Christians to [vote for a pro-choice candidate].” Leeman said, “There’s multiple rocks on the scale.”

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Michie said:

What a reaction!

What A Reaction

Kid gets statue of the Virgin Mary for Christmas ✝️ pic.twitter.com/SLjWGD2Wfi — Catholic Quotes (@CatholicQuote12) December 1, 2025

spiritdaily.org

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That’s so sweet!

Michie said:

Welcome!

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¡Gracias!

BelieveItOarKnot said:

unless you believe you are spiritually protected.

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I do believe the Lord will protect His own, those who 'Call upon the Name of the Lord, shall be saved. Acts 2:21

Zechariah 9:15-16 The Lord of hosts will protect His people...On that Day, He will save them, like a flock, for they are precious to Him. Isaiah 61:10

Psalms 37:18-19 The Lord watches over the righteous, when times are bad, they will not be distressed.

Job 22:30 He will deliver the innocent, because their hands are pure.

Psalms 91:1-16 ...He will rescue you, you will not fear the terrors abroad.

Psalms 121:1-8 Our help comes from the Lord, He will guard your life.

Psalms 109:31 The Lord stands at the right hand of the poor and saves them from trials.

Isaiah 51:16 I keep you covered under the shelter of My hand.

Psalms 97:10-12 He keeps His loyal servants safe and rescues them from the wicked.

Jeremiah 17:7-8 Blessed is anyone who trusts in the Lord, they will be like trees by a stream, when the heat comes it has nothing to fear.

Nahum 1:7 The Lord is a sure protection in times of trouble and cares for all those who make Him their refuge.

Psalms 60:4-5 To those who fear the Lord, He will show the way to escape from trouble.

Psalms 37:9 For evildoers will be destroyed, those who trust in the Lord will prosper in the Land.

Isaiah 26:20 On that Day, I will come to your aid.

Daniel 12:1 There will be a time of anguish, but at that time, Your people will be delivered, all those whose names are written in the Book of Life.

2 Thessalonians 1:7 ...to give you relief when the Lord Jesus comes in blazing fire.

Joel 3:16 The Lord roars from Zion, the heavens and the earth shudder, but He is a refuge for His people and a defence for Israel.

Ecclesiasticus 34:13-17 Those who fear the Lord will live, for their trust in Him can keep them safe. The Lord keeps watch over those who love Him, He is their shield and support, a shelter from the scorching wind and the heat of the sun. He raises their spirits and gives healing, life and blessings. Apoc.

Hello, welcome. There is an area here on CF that might be able to help you more, The Ancient Way - Eastern Orthodox .

Podcaster Joe Rogan recently revealed more about his ongoing journey toward Christianity, explaining he has been moved by the kindness of Christians he knows at church and that he has grown convinced the Bible is not entirely mythical.

"I think they're relaying a truth," Rogan said of Christians during a Nov. 30 episode of the "American Alchemy" podcast.

“I don't think it's myth. I don't think the whole thing is myth, but I don't think it's entirely accurate either," he said.

Rogan went on to note that he was recently discussing the Book of Revelation with his daughter, and that he told her nobody knows how the prophecies in that book will play out.

He went on to say he finds the Bible fascinating, even though he remains unsure how much of it is literally true. He also said he has taken note at how kind the Christians have been at the church he has been regularly attending, which is reportedly a non-denominational church in Austin, Texas.

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mourningdove~ said:

I'm not going to attempt to analyze your situation, but I will share that thru the years I've heard numerous successful comedians talk about this very same thing ... how they can make us all laugh ... and be the funniest person in the room ... but inside they are feeling the things that you've described. IRL, they personally deal with depression, loneliness, etc.

(Some that easily come to mind are former Saturday Nite Live cast members.)

I don't know what it all means, but I share this just to say that I don't think your experience is unique to just you.

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I’ve heard and read about comedians who’ve said the same thing.

Mockingbird0 said:

Nor do I know of any reliable evidence that Matthew preached in Parthia, Pontus, or Ethiopia.

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It’s in the Orthodox Synaxaria. Can’t get much more reliable than that.

Mockingbird0 said:

Further I know of no reliable evidence that the Apostle Matthew is the same as the Evangelist Matthew.

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I know of no reliable evidence that they were different people, nor is the idea even popular (in contrast to the idea, popular among liberal mainline Christians, that St. John the Apostle, St. John the Evangelist, and St. John the Divine were three separate persons).