• 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.

  • 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.

The Saving results of the Death of Christ !

... The grammar itself provides it. They hear and learn because God has made them such. He has rendered them "God-taught."
Ok, but that is still not answering why He rendered them "God taught". For an example, was it because they were humble?
Upvote 0

Average consumer now carries $6,329 in credit card debt. 'People are stretched,' expert says

Aside from the fact that the price has been artificially suppressed, I don't know how in the world you came to that conclusion, even prima facie.

Let's see your source on that. I'd be glad to debunk it for you.
I was hoping you'd say that! Behold:
15503.jpg


Listed by decade and totals at the bottom. While the average just edges out inflation due to the outlier of the 1970s, the median (a better indicator) shows that Gold lagged inflation. It also had a fraction of the returns of both the S&P 500 and small caps.
Upvote 0

Hell doesn't exist and there is no eternal suffering, instead bad peolle just cease to exist

Not sure what board to post this in. Please feel free to move to another area of the board if it works better there.

So, I saw a post today that interested me and searched it up and found lots of similar results from other people. Apparantly hell isn't a real place and instead is a mistranslation. Apparantly awful people don't get eternal suffering and instead just cease to exist (similar to how life was for them before being born)

Here's the full post and explanation. It was reassuring to hear this as I worry about peolle I know going to hell and hate to imagine them being tortured. So it's nice to know such a place doesn't exist


perhaps you could start by realizing just how ridiculous the entire idea is and how it really isn't even supported by the scriptures.

This concept of “Hell” as a place of ‘eternal suffering in a lake of fire’ that Christians so often try to scare people with is all made up by humans and doesn't even exist in the 'old testament' and is not well supported by the 'new testament' either...

every single 'old testament' reference to "hell" is a mistranslations of the Jewish concept of "Sheol" which is distinctly different from what most people today refer to as "Hell".

  • 1: Sheol is temporary - not 'eternal'. you are only there until 'judgment day'.
  • 2: everyone goes to Sheol to await judgment day. (good or bad, believer or not).
  • 3: everyone in Sheol atones for their misdeeds in life. everyone, regardless of whether they "have faith" or not. You don't escape punishment for your misdeeds in life just because you 'have faith'. THAT was an invention (apparently of Paul).
  • 4: after judgment: the 'truly wicked' are annihilated: They 'cease to exist'. They are not "punished for the rest of eternity. (That view is not supported by anything in the bible outside of 'revelation' (and even that is pretty thin)
  • 5: after judgment: everyone else goes to "Olam Ha'Bah" (aka "the world to come"; "gan eden" or "the Garden of Eden). - This did NOT require belief in or worship of "YHWH" it was based on whether you were a decent person in life; not "blind faith".
outside of 'revelation" The "New Testament" does not refer to this concept of 'eternal punishment' at all. not once, not anywhere. It is ONLY mentioned in the "Book of Revelation" (aka "The Apocalypse of John") and even those references are pretty flimsy evidence.

every "New Testament" reference to "Hell" in modern translations are mistranslating one of three words. “Hades” (which means “the grave” and does not imply torment); "Tartarus" (which appears only one time in 2 Peter 2:4) and "Gehenna".

  • Tartarus is a specific reference to the pagan concept of the 'lowest level of hades'; The word “Tartarus” is arguably the closest word used to this concept of eternal torment but this word is only used in one specific verse: 2 Peter 2:4 which is talking about a place where "fallen angels" are sent and is never mentioned as a destination for humans. - Also note that this same verse clearly limits the time spent in that place to "until judgment".
  • Gehenna is an actual physical place in Jerusalem, it was (in the first century CE) possibly a trash dump, garbage we know dead bodies were taken there and burned in a 'eternal fire' (a constantly burning fire that was always burning garbage). it was considered a "cursed place" due to legends about people sacrificing children there. It was mentioned in a lot of parables; often 'jesus' talking about wealthy people ending up in Gehenna (just like all the poor people). essentially saying that all their wealth doesn't save them from eventually dying and being thrown into the trash heap. - The parables did seem to imply that “Gehenna” was some undesirable place but it’s very dishonest to claim that the word literally translates to the common concept called “Hell”.
The words translated into “Eternal Punishment” in Matthew 25:46 (for instance) is also a mistranslation. The word they translate as “eternal” there is “αἰώνῐος” which is more correctly translated as “lasting for an age”. If you note the same exact word is mistranslated to ‘eternal’ in modern translations of Jude 1:7 where Sodom and Gomorrah are supposedly destroyed by “eternal fire” - Those fires are clearly not burning today as we’ve never found any such remnants anywhere on earth of this supposedly never ending fire. The other part of that phrase for “Punishment” is also a poor translation of “kolasis” which was an agricultural term basically meaning “cut off” or “prune” - possibly suggesting the concept where you “prune away part of a plant and the rest of the plant gets stronger”. It could possibly refer to “punitive correction” as opposed to some eternal torment or possibly it refers to being ‘cut off from paradise/eternal life’ which is effectively what happens when you cease to exist. - you aren’t suffering but you are denied eternal life and entry to paradise ‘for eternity’ since you no longer exist.

Outside of Revelation the most common


Outside of Revelation the most common thing people tend to bring up to support this 'eternal suffering in a lake of fire' nonsense is the story from Luke 16:19-31 of "lazarus and rich man". That parable however does not suggest "eternal suffering" at all.

  • 1: Abraham, Lazarus and "Rich Man" are all in the same place. - That already sounds a lot more like "Sheol" than "Hell". the claim that all of them talking to each other is clearly not a reference to one being "in heaven" and the other "in hell" since these places are always depicted as separate.
  • 2: "Rich Man" is suffering but... he's complaining about "being thirsty".... if he were burning in a lake of fire I think he'd have bigger problems than 'parched lips'.
  • 3: Nothing about that story says anything to suggest that the suffering is eternal; it only implies that "Rich Man" is suffering currently, not what his fate would be down the road.


Then we have the claims from "Revelation":

  • 1: the "Second Death" is mentioned 4 times in this book; and described as the "Death of the soul"
  • 2: Revelation 20:6 states that only people named in the "book of life" (those "on the right") receive "eternal life" - this gift of eternal life is ONLY for the righteous people that pass into paradise.
  • 3: Revelation 20:10 states that the 'beast', the 'false prophet' (aka the antichrist) and 'satan' are cast into the lake of fire where they will "suffer for ever and ever" - note that none of these entities are 'human'.
  • 4: then in Revelation 20:15 - the people who's name did not appear in the 'book of life' (those "on the left") are also cast into the same lake of fire where they "suffer the second death". - Note the different language... it does not say "suffer for ever and ever" but instead states that they "suffer the second death" - this suggests that their soul dies.. which is "Annihilation" not "eternal suffering". How can there be "eternal suffering" for people that do not have "eternal life"? - (see note 2 above).


Nothing about "eternal suffering" is consistent with anything in the bible. "Eternal suffering" is sadistic cruelty without any purpose or benefit. - It makes no rational sense if they are also trying to claim that 'god' is benevolent, loving, merciful etc. - Totally logically inconsistent with this view.





In the early days of the christian church there were several competing views of the afterlife that are a lot more consistent with the rest of the bible:

  • Annihilation" is the belief that "after judgment" the "truly wicked" are annihilated; they 'cease to exist' and that's it... no further suffering; they are gone. end of story. This is exactly what the Jewish traditional view of Sheol mentioned above taught and is logically consistent with the 'old testament'.
  • "universal salvation" or "universalism" is the belief that eventually everyone is saved. - This view treats suffering/punishment in the afterlife as reformative/corrective/judicial - meant to correct the recipient and is finite in duration - once you have atoned for your sins you get to move on to paradise with all the other people that ever lived. These were both pretty popular views in the early christian sects prior to ~425 CE;
The early christian sects disagreed considerably about which of these three views was 'correct'. “Basil the Great” specifically commented in ~370CE that the dominant view (of the time) was a belief in a limited purgatory, and others (such as Clement of Alexandria, Origen, Gregory of Nyssa, Didymus the blind, Diodore of Tarsus and Theodore of Mopsuestia wrote extensively about Universalism. There were some (mostly in Northern Africa around the coast of modern day Tunisia/Algeria) that were advocating the view of “Eternal Torment” but it wasn't until 425CE that the church unified on this 'eternal suffering' doctrine (largely through the writings of Augustine of Hippo – who came to Rome from a city near what is now Annaba Tunisia). This became the official version the church went with and the other views were deemed "heretical" and banned along with any early christian scriptures that supported those opposing views (such as the "Apocalypse of Peter").
Well, everlasting life is a gift from GOD , if we already have it how is it a gift ? GOD promises us everlasting life, why promise us something that we already have ? Is there anything about a human being that makes them immortal ? Paul said, this mortal must put on immortality in the resurrection When Jesus returns. Until the resurrection we are dead, the dead in Christ if we have died before his return. Receiving immortality is dependent upon our being successful in our Christian lives by submitting to GODS working in us with HIS love that changes our old sinful nature to be the divine nature. Then at the return of Christ be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye from mortal to immortal.
Upvote 0

"The Meaning of Foreknew in Romans 8:29"

And I see that you. are quoting some good verses but the TARES and WHEAT. is still speaking STILL. about ISRAL. and the

BODY of CHRIST begins with SAUL in Acts 9:5 and the BACK. up PROOF is. in. 1 TIM 1:16 as SAUL was the

FIRST ONE. //. P[ROTOS. that in ME. /. join. the Greek EMPHATIC , meaning. ONLY ME and no one ELSE. , PERIOD

Where many make mistakes are in ROM chapter 11. !!

dan p
Hey Dan.

The wheat and the chafe was just an expression that I borrowed from Scripture to make a distinction. People of the OT, believers, thought that they were saved because they were physical Israel. That's who Peter is speaking to in Acts. Physical Israel has wheat and chafe. Spiritual Israel only has wheat. In Acts 2:36, 41 Peter is calling physical Israel to Spiritual Israel by faith in Jesus. Jesus is the the Body of Christ. Only those placed into Him were part of that Spiritual church. That began at Pentecost when the Agent of that placing into was given, the Holy Spirit. Saul died having not received that Promise.

1 Tim 1:16? Did you quote the wrong verse?

Romans 9:6-13 Not all Israel is Israel.
Upvote 0

Ellen White on the mark of the beast for those that worship on Sunday

.


I find it so amazing that you can not grasp this simple truth that is revealed on the very first sentence of your AI generated post.
Wow just wow. The ignorance just amazes me. I’m done with you. You have no credibility here and are a false witness. Do not reply to my posts again.
Upvote 0

Do Your Actions Speaks Louder then your knowledge?

I agree, but Grace is nothing more than a free gift. And that free gift is our access back to the tree of life (Jesus) which Adam caused us to lose by disobeying God. Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: (Romans 5: 12) But to maintain your grace you must keep the law. (1John 3:4) Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law. Now we have just read the biblical definition of sin, the transgression (breaking) of the law (commandments.) It doesn’t matter what you or I think sin is, it’s what God says sin is that counts.

”Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”

Keeping or not keeping commandments has nothing to do with if you are in the kingdom or not.
Upvote 0

Not Yours To Own

Go, lay your life down.
It’s not yours to own.
It’s bought with a price,
With blood, shed, atoned.

Our Lord paid the price
So we could be free
From slavery to sin,
His servants to be.

We now die to sin,
And obey our Lord,
And walk in His love,
All in one accord.

Sin must not control
How we are to live,
For we now serve Christ,
Our lives to Him give.

We go where He says,
And speak His commands.
We follow His lead.
On Him we depend.

He now rules our lives,
Not flesh and not self,
For by his good grace
We put self on the shelf.

So living for Him
Is now what we do,
For our sinful lives
He came to undo.

All praises to Him.
From God comes His grace,
So we can now run
And win in the race.

An Original Work / December 10, 2025
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

WHO'S GOSPEL IS TO BE PREACHED TODAY. ??

And GLAD to see you AND I LOVE when all would give a verse for your belief. and always GLAD to exchange

anyone. POSOITIONS. and as you know that I always GIVE. with the GREEK WORD and tying to explain what the TENSE
CASES so that everyone will see that I have NOT ADDED or . TALKEN AWAY. from. any verse and any one will. see that OLD

COVEMNANT has been TAKEN AWAY. and Heb 9:18. says that the blood of ANIMAL does not take AWAY TAKE. AWAY
SIN. and that ONLY the JESUS BLOOD. can take away sin. to be SAVED and remember EPH 1:3 CHOSEN

IN. him. BEFORE // PRO the OVER THROW. of the WORLD. !!

And. if. the NEW COVENANT for today , no one has yet explained how anyone is saved by the NEW COVENANT. !!

dan p
-
Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life.
Upvote 0

RFK Adjusts Hepatitis B Vaccine Recommendations; Democrats Lose Their Minds

Did you see the increase in number of VAERS repots during COVID? Even though there were clearly fake reports, exactly how many reports do you think constitutes a "significant trend"? There's no doubt there's "noise" in this data, but there's also some very real "trends"that warranted further investigation. That didn't stop the government and public health from telling everyone to get vaccinated multiple times per year. Their booster recommendations during the Biden administration resulted in the top two vaccine regulators at the FDA resigning in protest.

The bottom line is, what you're saying sounds great. If VAERS were used in the way you explain, it would be a wonderful system to identify risks and pivot accordingly. But that's not what happens in practice. In practice, people pretend like the fact that there were over 1,000,000 VAERS reports in a single year when the previous high was around 60K is all just "noise" worthy of being ignored.

View attachment 374261

I'm by no means an expert on VAERS, but health care professionals didn't ignore the VAERS reports on the COVID vaccine, as you are claiming they did. They go out and collect more data and determine if the reports are legitimate. The vast majority of those reports were no doubt determined to be not related to the vaccine. And this determination was made by health care professionals who go out and look at actual evidence.

Also - COVID was a highly politicized pandemic. It was also the most widespread pandemic to take place in the age of the internet - an age where false information spreads very rapidly. With those factors in mind, it is very much believable that we would see a spike in false/inaccurate reports in the VAERS system like had never been seem before. It was a global event unlike anything we have seen in recent history.
  • Informative
Reactions: LizaMarie
Upvote 0

‘Joseph Didn’t Make It’—Chicago-Area Church Updates Already Controversial Nativity Scene

So are political messages the norm in USA churches?

No, but sometimes issues of ethics intersect with issues of faith, and issues of public policy can in turn intersect with issues of ethics. The church shouldn't be saying "elect Joe Smith for Senate", but the church might be called to say "this government policy is unjust". It's not always an easy line to draw.
  • Informative
Reactions: RamiC
Upvote 0

ICE Nativity scenes: Churches reimagine Christmas story amid deportations

The pastor is not mistaken or confused, but your knowledge of Roman law seems limited.
It has been a long time since I practiced law in the castra at Vetera. I might be a bit rusty.
Although Egypt and Judea were both Roman provinces when Jesus was born,
Were they? That is 90% of my point/criticism. According to Matthew they were fleeing to Egypt from Harod the Great. Harod was a client king and his kingdom was not "occupied" (as the pastor claimed) and certainly not a province.
only Roman citizens could travel freely between them without permission. Mary and Joseph were not Roman citizens or entrepreneurs, so they would have needed authorization from Roman authorities to travel legally from Judea to Egypt. Since they were fleeing King Herod, they likely lacked such permission to enter or reside in Egypt, nor did they have documents to work there. In other words, they were comparable to undocumented immigrants in the USA.
Luke is even a bigger problem for the pastors claim. In his version, Harod is dead for about 10 years and there is not massacre and no flight. (Though at least Bethlehem was in Roman Judea, a province like Egypt. Nazareth was not, so there was no jurisdiction of Quirinius over Joseph to count him in census at Bethlehem or elsewhere.)
Upvote 0

Trump says U.S. seized an oil tanker off Venezuela’s coast


We can't let Venezuela ship oil to Russia or any other country with an international ban.
Glad to see them doing it without killing anyone.
Upvote 0

Salvation is in your hands, Jesus did his part

The reference point for Christians is the Bible, the revelation of God to mankind and source book for God's commands to us, known as the divine Law. God's laws are holy and the commandment holy, and just, and good. (Romans:7:12). They are the instructions for the way we should conduct our lives. Yet throughout history we see people trying to side-step the laws of God. Even today many Christian churches do not place as much emphasis on observing God's law as they do on ‘love’. But the fact is, we need both!

Jesus the Lawgiver

The apostle John, (1John: 4:20) If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? As we can see, God condemns those who claim to love Him while they hate their brothers. Again in, (1John:3:14) it states We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. We need to seriously take this to heart especially in these days when we see communities dividing into factions.

Concerning the observance of the Law we find the following, (1John: 2:4) He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. How can anyone claim to know God yet teach that it is not necessary to obey His laws?
Upvote 0

It's not just the Epstein files, now...

Trump Personally Intervenes to Block Release of January 6 Documents​

Donald Trump is blocking access in a lawsuit brought by police officers injured in the January 6 riot.​

The Department of Justice has confirmed that President Donald Trump blocked the release of more than 4,100 documents related to the deadly riot on January 6.

In a court filing Monday night, lawyers for the DOJ revealed that Trump had stepped in to prevent the release of some material requested as part of a lawsuit brought by police officers injured by violent rioters at the U.S. Capitol. The materials were originally subpoenaed from the National Archives and Records Administration in February.

Is the first amendment under attack?

Trump's 'Absolutely Crazed' Threat To Those Who Question His Health Sparks Outrage

Donald Trump flipped out in a post on his Truth Social platform on Tuesday as he issued an ominous warning to anyone who questions his health, suggesting “it’s seditious, perhaps even treasonous” and libelous.

[The whole rant is worth skimming, but here's the heart.]

View attachment 374309
I think he's jumped the shark!
Upvote 0

Human/chimp genomic similarity drops to ~85%: for real this time?

Two different ways of measuring two slightly different things, thus producing differing numbers. One uses single-nucleotide variants which produces a genetic difference measurement of 1-2% and one uses nucleotide gaps which produced a genetic difference measurement of 13-16%.

The nucleotide gaps method that produces the "85%" genomic similarity between chimpanzees and humans - which the paper actually calculates as a difference of between 13.3% and 14.9% - also produces the following:

A genetic diversity of 8.8% within chimpanzees (ie chimps are only 93% similar to each other)
A genetic diversity of 13.8% within gorillas (ie gorillas are only 86% similar to each other)
A better than 15% genetic diversity between chimpanzees and gorillas (ie chimpazees and gorillas are more genetically distant than chimpanzees and humans)

The low-end calculation of a 13.3% genetic difference between chimpanzees and humans means that the chimpanzee-human genetic variability is would be lower than the 13.8% intra-species variation within gorillas.

(Data from here: Human and Chimpanzee: 15% or 1% Genetic Difference? How Creationism Misleads the Public)

BTW, Luskin got publically dragged over the coals by evolutionary biologists and professional geneticists about his presentation, argumentation, conclusions and selective "simplification" of this data earlier in the year.

Gutsick Gibbon recap of the whole kerfuffle: Login to view embedded media If you don't have a spare 3 1/2 hours, Dr Dan Cardinale did a 9 minute summary: Login to view embedded media
  • Like
Reactions: Hans Blaster
Upvote 0

what is Calvinism answer to how God works?

I'm going to disagree with this a bit....

My anchor is Jesus, not scripture. Without His shed blood, we have nothing, so yes, He is our anchor in all things pertaining to this new Spiritual life we now have inside.
I agree. But I refer to scripture as the anchor concerning doctrine, and the results of doctrine. He does not "reveal", anything new separate or not in accordance with Scripture. We can check what he "reveals" by Scripture. He does definitely comfort, lead and cause, quite apart from our reading.
My understanding of scripture comes from the daily inner revelation of The Holy Spirit inside of me.
I agree with that. Intellectual facts give us only feelings of condemnation (or a false sense of apathy) when not walking with God, which walking and understanding is a gift of God, not of the intellect. But he uses the intellect too, both to get in one's way and blind the presumptuous, and to learn truth.
I depend upon GOD that way because I want the direct source of the truth I read on those pages, I want His understanding being given to me, so that I'm not misunderstanding passages, and thereby being deceived, as I've mentioned about so many folks on here over the years.
Any of us can be deceived, and, I think, all of us are, to some degree, deceived by our mere human presumptuousness, our notions of reality, as opposed to what God will show us when we finally see him as he is. That is to say, what we think we understand still has a lot to be built upon what is true, and a lot to be removed and cleaned that results from our assumptions.
Scripture is a certainly a foundation in our Christian lives that we need, but we can't truly know GOD by just reading the pages about Him, hence why I advocate a day to day relationship with Him through prayer and worship.
Of course.
Upvote 0

EASY MONEY: What the Federal Reserve did Today Besides Lower their Overnight Rate.

Most might know the Federal Reserve lowered their overnight lending rate to banks to be in the 3.5 to 3.75% range. But what surprised me was that the Federal Reserve did not stop there. "Notably, the Fed announced it start buying short-term bonds, expanding its balance sheet. Short-term Treasury yields moved lower as a result."
Source: https://www.cnbc.com/2025/12/09/stock-market-today-live-updates.html

So where does the Federal Reserve get those billions that it uses to buy back debt of the U.S. Government? I creates the money. So now the USA is not just lowering interest rates, it is back to basically printing money through their good friend the Federal Reserve. Now if done at the rate of growth, it may go unnoticed, but if it is starting to be 40 billion a week, then these buybacks from the Federal Reserve are likely to cause inflation. (Some theorists say this is not true, others suggest a direct link with a bit of a time lag.)

Currently the Federal Reserve has 7.4 trillion dollars of government debt on its books. As recently as a couple of months ago, they were retiring their their holdings of U.S. debt with the additional debt being financed by others. Thus, the amount of debt is not being lowered as the USA is spending 1.30 for every dollar it collects. So to avoid pain and borrow at market rates, the USA is back to EASY MONEY. The U.S. Fed suggests they will do the bond buybacks for several months, but during covid it was for years, not months and it contributed to the 9 plus percent inflation in 2022. In 2019, the assets created from money printing stood at 3.8 trillion. In 2021 they peaked at 8.8 trillion. So by this money printing both Trump and Biden were on baord and both responsible for inflation. I say this because the serious money printed started under Trump and continued until 2022.

Since june of 2022, the Federal Reserve was tightening and retiring some bonds until a couple of months ago. So Biden should get credit too for reducing inflation because the policies that reduced it were started in the middle of his term. The Fed Reserve over this three year period, got their balance sheet back to 7.4 trillion this year. If they create 40 billion a week in dollars, that pace is two trillion a year SO HERE WE GO AGAIN!.

Such money printing not only paid for your covid rebates for Americans but cash infusions are highly correlated to stock market gains. "Academic studies confirm a long-term positive relationship between the Fed's balance sheet size and future market performance. One analysis suggests an R² (a measure of correlation) of 0.8832 since 2009, indicating a strong long-term association." Source google ai.

My point in all of this is to suggest that the renewal of essentially printing money during a time when inflation is already running around 2.9 percent could create more persistent and elevated inflation. So while you are being taxed on the tariffs you also are taxed by the higher prices due in part, to excessive money printing. I will say too that Trump is going to install his own Chairman and some new Governors that will be even more dovish at lowering interest rates and printing money. IF you notice too that while the Fed lowers rates to their banking members, the mortgage rates actually climbed. A solution that worked during covid was to have the Federal Reserve buy back mortgages. So I suppose they could do that again to artificially lower mortgage rates but the markets are not setting interest rates at all when this occurs and yes such intervention causes distortions that can be harmful.

You should realize too that when inflation is 3% and your only getting 2.5% interest on your money from loaning it to the government or member banks, you are losing money while at the same time paying tax on the 2.5% gain. The USA is not there yet but she may soon be back to negative interest rates on short-term government debt and on longer debt when inflation reignites.

If you study nations that expand the money supply even more significantly, the value in some cases has gone down to nothing. For the U.S. "By Consumer Goods (CPI): According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics data, what cost $1 in 1913 required approximately $96 to $100 to purchase in recent years. This reflects a loss in value of about 96% to 97.5%."

So is there anyone that even cares in the U.S. government? I mean giving it more than just lip service. Saying they want interest rates at 2% but failing to make that happen since 2001. That is deception, not true concern. So I asked google AI. This is where AI currently has issues with discerning intent and motivation. The Fed says they want 2% inflation, but they won't take the action to make even that occur. In questioning google ai I asked for names, and it gave me former congressman Ron Paul. I pressed him about Senator Rand Paul and it answered. "High Stringency on Fiscal and Monetary Policy: Senator Paul has a reputation as one of the toughest votes in the U.S. Senate on spending issues. He has voted against major budget deals and debt ceiling increases because, in his view, they do not cut enough spending or address the underlying fiscal imbalance. His consistent reintroduction of legislation like the Federal Reserve Transparency Act makes him a leading figure in the push for stricter monetary discipline." Google ai.

I am not trying to make this too political, yet it is a serious economic and political issue. Inflation is theft too, and the framers were quite aware of it.

"George Washington: He observed the consequences of paper money in Rhode Island, stating in a 1787 letter that paper money "has had the effect in your State that it ever will have, to ruin commerce – oppress the honest, and open a door to every species of fraud and injustice". Google ai.

On the banking system - "Thomas Jefferson & James Madison: They vehemently opposed Alexander Hamilton's plan for a national bank. Their primary concerns were that such an institution would centralize power in the federal government, favor wealthy commercial elites and financiers over common farmers, and undermine state banks. Jefferson feared a financial monopoly that could adopt policies contrary to the public good. He believed the bank was unconstitutional, as the power to create a corporation was not explicitly listed in the Constitution."

So there you have it. A new round of money printing that is going world wide. The system will hold only as long as investors see value in buying government debt. Even the USA Federal Reserve cannot buy all the debt to target interest rates for loans at all intervals from 1 month to 30 years.

As always we can be dismal for a nation, yet as individuals we can prosper if we hold dear to God's principles on giving the use of money and His grace. May each of us be stay free from the love of money and fix our eyes on Jesus as the wrold's economic system is thrashing in these times. Goid bless!
  • Informative
Reactions: Vambram

Filter

Forum statistics

Threads
5,879,545
Messages
65,435,525
Members
276,447
Latest member
ShannyKnight