DaveHTexas said:

I have been unemployed for a long time now (19 months) due to the AI dessimation of the IT job market. Honestly nobody really saw that coming nor prepared for it. But not the point I need to make.

To make ends meet I am driving ride share, doesn't matter which one, but I am hustling my tail off, working 12 hour days to make less than 1/4 of what I was earning before just so I don't have to end up on the streets.

I know I should tithe, but on what amount?

Let's assume I earned $5,000.00 in fares, and tips last month. That number is high, but let's go with it anyway.
Now let's assume that I spend $250.00 each week on gas and toll road tolls to do this, so my net is $4,000.00, and the weekly spend on fuel and tolls is likely LOW...
Now assume further in doing this I needed $3,000.00 in vehicle repairs to keep my car SAFE to operate for myself and my riders. Now my net is $1,000.00

Do I tithe on the $5,000.00 GROSS, or the $1,000.00 NET?

For anyone paying attention, that is 288 hours to get $1,000.00 net income and a car with an added 10K miles on it. That works out to $3.47 per hour.

If you rideshare and don't tip. You may want to look at those numbers again. Would you work for $3.47 / hour and wear out a valuable asset like a car?

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In the Eastern Orthodox Church tithing is not required, nor is it required by most traditional liturgical churches in the US such as the various Anglican churches, and its fairly obvious you are not in a position to give alms.

The system of tithes, church taxes and in the UK certain landowners having maintenance responsibilities for the local parish, imposed in Western Europe was and is used used by established churches like the Church of England, the Roman Catholic Church, the Presbyterian Church of Scotland, the various Lutheran churches of Germany, the Lutheran churches of Scandinavia, the Continental Reformed churches in Prussia, the Netherlands and so on, and these churches historically provided much of what is now provided by the welfare state in those countries, and in some cases still acts as an agent of it, for example with state-funded parochial schools paid for by a church tax in countries like Germany.

By the way, in the IT industry there is strong demand for skilled cloud, AI and security professionals; the main hit has been on software development and certain types of traditional systems administration and engineering. If you can develop your skillset towards these areas you might well be able to regain employment. Also freelancers in various IT related specialties ranging from web development to systems programming can leverage AI to greatly improve productivity.

I do understand this is not the main topic of your thread, but I would be very happy to provide some specific reccommendations for professional development in another thread or privately via a conversation.

I would also be very happy to pray for you.

God bless you!

A snakebite hurts but it is the venom that kills.

This is from the Old Testament, but the New Testament writings teach the same truths. To come to God and to put our faith in Jesus Christ, who is the second person of our triune God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – it requires that, by God-gifted and God-persuaded faith in the Lord Jesus, we forsake our sinful practices and that we now follow our Lord in walks of obedience to his commands, in surrender to his will and to his purpose for our lives.

For God’s grace is not just forgiveness of sins and the promise of eternal life with God based on a profession of faith in Jesus Christ only. God’s grace, which is bringing us salvation, is training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives while we wait for our Lord’s return (see Titus 2:11-14). And his grace sent Jesus to the cross to put our sins to death with him so that, by faith in him, we will die to sin and now walk in obedience to our Lord in surrender to his will.

For Jesus Christ taught that to come to him we must deny self, take up our cross daily (die daily to sin), and follow (obey) him. For if we hold on to living in sin and for self, we will lose our lives for eternity. But if we deny self, die daily to sin, by the Spirit, and we walk in obedience to our Lord and to his commands, in his power, then we have eternal life with God. For not everyone who calls him “Lord” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one DOING (obeying) the will of God (see Luke 9:23-26; Matthew 7:21-23).

For by God-gifted faith in Jesus Christ, which is not of our own doing, we are crucified with Christ in death to sin and raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, no longer to live as slaves to sin but as slaves to righteousness in walks of obedience to God’s commands. We are no longer to permit sin to reign in our mortal bodies to make us obey its desires. For if sin is what we obey, it results in death. But if obedience to God is what we obey, it results in sanctification, and its end is eternal life with God (see Romans 6:1-23).

So, faith in Jesus Christ is not lip service only. It is not just a verbal confession of Jesus Christ as Lord and of his bodily resurrection. It is not just words we say in a prayer to “receive Christ,” either. And it is not a one-time event which takes place in our lives which secures us heaven for eternity, but regardless of how we live. For how we live determines whether or not our faith is of the flesh or if it is of God, and if it aligns with the biblical gospel, or if it does not. And that determines our eternal destiny.

For we learn in 1 John 1-3 that if we claim that we have fellowship with God, but yet we walk in darkness (sin), we are liars. If we claim that we know God, but we do not obey his commandments, in practice, we are liars. For it is not the one who claims he is “in Christ” who is “in Christ,” but it is the one who has denied self, died with Christ to sin, and who is now walking in obedience to our Lord and to his commands, in practice, and no longer in sin. We have the hope and the promise of eternal life with God in heaven.

For our thoughts are not the same as God’s thoughts, and our ways are not the same as his ways. But God’s ways are higher than our ways, and his thoughts are higher than our thoughts. So we do not get to define faith and salvation and forgiveness of sins and eternal life with God according to our own fleshly thinking, according to our own will and purpose. But we need to define all of that according to the teachings of the Scriptures, but taught in their correct biblical context, and not out of context.

For many charlatans and wolves in sheep’s clothing dwell among us who are distorting the truth of the Scriptures by teaching them out of their correct biblical context in order to make them say what they want them to say. So it is important that we are students of the Scriptures who read and interpret them according to their correct biblical context. Both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament we are taught that biblical faith involves us dying to sin and walking in obedience to our Lord’s commands. Know the truth!

[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 1:18-32; Romans 2:5-10; Romans 3:23; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-13; Hebrews 10:19-39; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:3-6; 1 John 3:4-10; Revelation 2:1-29; Revelation 3:1-22]

Seek the Lord

Based off Isaiah 55
An Original Work / July 20, 2012
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love
Musical Instrumentation by Mark Bradley

“Come to Me all you who thirst; come to waters.
Listen to Me, and eat what’s good today,
And your soul will delight in richest of fare.
Give ear to Me, and you will live.
I have made an eternal covenant with you.
Wash in the blood of the Lamb.”

Seek the Lord while He may be found; call on Him.
Let the wicked forsake his way, in truth.
Let him turn to the Lord, and he will receive mercy.
Freely, God pardons him.
“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways,”
declares the Lord, our God.

“My word that goes out of My mouth is truthful.
It will not return to Me unfulfilled.
My word will accomplish all that I desire,
And achieve the goal I intend.
You will go in joy and be led forth in peace.
The mountains will burst into song… before you,
And all of the trees clap their hands.”

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God’s Ways are Higher Than Ours
An Original Work / October 6, 2025
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

God loves you. Jesus loves you. God has not forgot you. Even though you may be all alone. And think your days are over .Or that nobody remember you. GOD DOES. He wants you to take new steps with him full of joy. Trust him, and he will pave the road. No matter how hard now, He will create a new way. There is a plan and destiny for you too. It does not matter age. looks. jobs. money. He will. do. it. Today, know you have God on your side.

BPPLEE said:

Federal agents shoot woman they say 'boxed in' authorities on Chicago's Southwest Side

Authorities were on patrol when they were "rammed by 10 cars," according to a statement from the Department of Homeland Security. The woman who was shot "was armed with a semi-automatic weapon," prompting officers to open fire, DHS said. She was taken in fair condition to Mount Sinai Hospital.

www.wbez.org

Chicago police records shared with the Sun-Times show that a Border Patrol agent had called for assistance, reporting that roughly 30 agents had been “surrounded by a large crowd of people.” But police officials weren’t sent to help, the records show.

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When the police need police protection, somethings’s up, let’s hope that that isn’t “time”!

essentialsaltes said:

I would not enjoy being zip-tied naked in the middle of the night.

NTTAWWT.

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I'm not going to kink shame if that's a thing for him.

rambot said:

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That’s just one State, though, the millions are elsewhere, probably, but undetectable because of corrupt elections officials!
Or something

Daniel Martinovich said:

Revelation 6-19 contain two parallel prophesies of the same events with different details. I'll be listing them appropriately.​

Revelation chapter 6:1-8's first four seals and four horseman are the four empires spoken about in the second paragraph of this article.​

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I can already guess where this is going, I have seen it 1000s of time, I will play along but lets just say this looks like the old RCC is the Boggy Man thread.

The Seals are NOTHING, and also nothing that happens after Rev. 2 and 3 (The Church Age) can be a part of anything other than the 70th week. What do I mean by the Seals are NOTHING? Well, they were never meant to be understood as Judgments, but instead to show unto the world/church that God has all of the Judgments SEALED UP until His Wrath falls, but that only starts in Rev. 8, that is why the 7th Seal is in Rev 8 and not in Rev. 6. Look at it like this.

It must flow, Rev. 2 and 3 is the Church Age (THE THINGS WHICH ARE) and everything after Rev. 4:1 is the 70th week HEREAFTER (The Thins which will be Hereafter) And as we can see the Pre Trib. Raptured Church is in heaven in Rev. 4, 5 and 7, BEFORE the Seals are ever opened. But how is it that the Seals are not Wrath, how do we explain Seals 1-5 and Seal #6 then? The Seals are Jesus FORETELLING the Church in Heaven what is about to befall the earth via his Wrath, and the Anti-Christ is a part of God's Wrath as Isaiah 10:4-6 says. Thus Jesus/Angels tells the Church to COME AND SEE, COME AND SEE (it is a vision of the future). In Seals 1-5 We are shown the 42 months of the Anti-Christs life, he will 1.) conquer 2.) Bring Wars 3.) Which will bring Famine 4.) And his 42 months of rule will bring Sickness, Death and the Grave/Hades. Finally he will kill the Gentile Converts, he can not get at the Jewish Converts, God protects them in the Petra/Bozrah region for 1260 days. Then the church in heaven are FORETOLD about God's soon to fall Wrath, which will do what? Turn the Sun & Moon Dark and the Moon will look blood red. Well, isn't that what Trump #4 does? The Seals SEAL UP God's Wrath, just lie a Letter from a King Sealed with Three Wax Signet Seals could not be read by anyone unless they first broke those seals, ALL THREE........Thus ALL SEVEN Seals must be broken before God's Wrath can fall. So, why is the 7th Seal over in Rev.8 ? Because Rev. 7 is a CODE for All Israel who repents, its not 144,000, jut like Christendom is not only 10 Female "Virgin" Brides. God uses numbers, 10 = Completion, 12 = Fulness so 10 x 10 x 12 x 12 x 12 if God SHOUTING this s ALL Israel who repents, and thus they are not all Male Virgins either, that just means they have repented, they are Male because Israel was called first !! God also saved Himself 7000 men remember? 7 = Divine Completion, thus we have 7 x 10 x 10 x 10 or Israel whom God had saved, whom He then displaced the world over until the end times, where He regathered them in 1948, but without Breath in them (not saved).

Reread Rev. 7 what does it say? HOLD BACK the four winds (Wrath/Judgment) and HURT NOT the Earth, Sea nor Trees until the 144,000 are SEALED (Saved). Well, what hurts the Earth, Sea and Trees? The Rev. 8 Wrath of God which sees an Asteroid Impact in Trumps 1-4 its one event in four phases. You looking back in history just tells me you do not understand the book of Revelation brother.

Daniel Martinovich said:

The reason this is evident is that this prophecy in Rev. chapters 6-11 is repeated in Rev. chapters 13-18. with the same seven judgments as Rev. chapters 6-11. Only instead of four horsemen.

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No it is not.

Rev. 2&3 is the Church Age

Everything after Rev. 4:1 (the Pre Trib. Rapture) is the HEREAFTER or after the Church Age, the 70th week.

Rev. 4 and 5 is the Church in Heaven praising God and Jesus

Rev. 6 is Jesu opening the Seals which looses the Wrath of God in Rev. 8

Rev. 7 is the Jews who repented being Sealed by the Holy Spirit and God says HOLD UP EVERYTHING until I have them saved and protected.

Rev. 8 starts God's Wrath. The 30 minutes of Silence is the Heavens/Angels saying we take no joy in this judgment, just like it repented God when He had to flood the whole earth. Trumps 1-4 are one Asteroid.

Rev. 9 is still in perfect Chronological Order, only after this chapter did God on purpose jumble it up. The First Two Woes come in Rev. 9 telling us Rev. 11 MUST BE a Parenthetical Citation Chapter.

Rev. 16 is the final Wrath Chapter(really 15&16 go together just as Rev. 8 had the Angels readying the Trumps to Sound THEN Sounding them later, in Rev. 15 we see the Angels readying the Vials to be poured out THEN pouring them out in Rev. 16 only) The 3rd Woe is all 7 Vials, which emit from the 7th Trump.

The Parenthetical Chapters

Everything else are Parenthetical Citation Chapters, meaning they all happen during the 42 months of Wrath we see in Revelation chapters 8, 9 and 16. Now, if we are observant we can see how almost everyone of these chapters can be seen in a 1260 day bracket, and Rev. 8, 9 and 16 last 1260 days (God's Wrath equals a Time, Times and half time or 1260 days or 42 months_

Rev. 10 is now no longer a mystery, the 7 THUNDERS are simply the 7 Trumps, God Wrath all lies in only 7 Trumps, the 7 Vials emit from the 7th Trump and are the 3rd Woe. Why was the little book sweet in the mouth but bitter in the stomach? Because just like the 30 minutes of silence, only Judgment could bring John into the eternal Godhead, that was sweet but then John saw the billions of humans who ad to be judged and killed, and that was bitter unto him !! When the 7th Thunder Sounds (7th Trump) time will be no more [as we have known it under Satan, Babylon falls, Jesus will no rule].

Rev. 11 is a tad different it starts 1335 days before the 2nd Coming, the 2 Witnesses are the 1335 Blessing. They die BEFORE THE BEAST right? At the 2nd Woe vs. him dying at the 7th Vial, so their timelines can not be the same can it? But both have 1260 day Offices as appointed or Ordained by God. So, since the die first, they have to show up first, thus each number in Dan. 12 is a set number of days until the 2nd Coming ENDS ALL OF THESE WONDERS (Dan. 11:36-45). Thus the 2 Witnesses show up to turn Israel back unto God both Malachi 4:5 and Zechariah 13:8-9 and Zech. 14:1 says so, then the False Prophet (a Jewish High Priest) will FORBID Jesus Worship by those 1/3 (5 million Jews) who repented in "HIS" Temple, and e will then place an IMAGE of the E.U. President up in the temple (the AoD). That AoD sign gives those Jews 30 days to Flee Judea. Then the Anti-Christ comes on the scene as "The Beast" 30 days later, and 75 days after the 2 Witnesses show up. So, Rev. 11 lasts for 1335 days in full, but it only tells about what the 7th Trump will bring, VICTORY, we only get the details in Rev. 16.

Rev. 12 is Israel fleeing for.............1260 days.

Rev. 13 is the Beast ruling for...........1260 days

Rev. 14 is The Harvest Chapter, we see the VERY END where Jesus shows up and the 144,000 (5 million Jews) are awaiting, but they are really in the Petra area, its just symbolic of "The Harvest" of Israel. Likewise in Rev. 14:17-20 we see the Harvest of the Wicked Grapes (Tares) who grow together with the Wheat (Israel) until the end, then the are Harvested into the Gave to be judged 1000 years later. So, who does Jesus Harvest in Rev. 14:14 ? Well, he harvest us the Church from upon a cloud, it is the Pre Trib. Rapture shown to John in the old Cinematic Flashback style. Thus this chapter covers 7 full years like Rev. 19.

Rev. 17 is the Beast and his kings killing of the Harlot (False Religion) this lasts for only 42 months of course.

Rev. 18 is the Whole World (Babylon) being Judged by God and that Wrath lasts for 1260 days.

Rev. 19 shows the Church in Heaven before we get our White Robes or Marries the Lamb. Then we are seen returning with Jesus to the Marriage Supper (Armageddon) thus this chapter covers 7 years also.

rjs330 said:

Uea becauae those systems were not the US system. Its not not the US tax system or givernment system.

Yeah Im not sure.

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Yet, in every single system doing that, no matter how different they are, those are the results. Come on, the excuse that "USA is different" holds no water, all the other systems are different from each other as well.

Quinoa.

ralliann said:

Trump just wants the destruction of Israel out if the Middle East.

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Please clarify this prose, thanks!

ralliann said:

That is what has caused all this mess from the beginning.

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Why’s it “our mess”, though?

ralliann said:

If this ends less than peaceful, it is because of people that won't accept peace at all costs.

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How dare people fight for a land with a neighbor who strangles them economically?
The ingrates!

Colo Millz said:

Perhaps the next part of the passage I quoted would be of interest:

And yet Ivan’s argument still cannot be set aside, for a number of reasons: because it is in fact a genuinely moral pathos to which it gives expression, which means that it is haunted by the declaration in Christ of God’s perfect goodness; and because it is precisely the finite Euclidean mind that is meant to be transfigured by God’s love and awakened to God’s mercy, and so the restlessness of the unquiet heart must not be treated as mere foolish unfaithfulness; and because, simply said, the suffering of children remains real and horrible and unjust, and it is obscene to seek to mitigate the scandal of such suffering by allowing hope to degenerate into banal confidence in “God’s great plan.”

Hart, David Bentley. The Doors of the Sea: Where Was God in the Tsunami? (pp. 69-70). Eerdmans. Kindle Edition.

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Mr Hart writes with flowery language, and I see that he wants to treat the moral conflict in the teodicé-problem as something to deal with seriously. However, but by using the Euclidean mind as the foil against to fence mr Hart is solving/commenting on it from very narrow perspective.

And this passage doesn't do anything for my first objection, or the sentence before it either. It only acknowledges that even within the frame mr Hart has chosen to paint his argument both sides are worthy of respect.

Gossip should not get spread.

Gregory Thompson said:

So is the government still shut down?

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I once made one-thousand pounds of dough in 12 hours to replenish my pizza shop’s stores after the walk-in cooler malfunctioned one night after closing. (It was close to 90° and the 52 sheets of dough proofed their way outta their bags and plopped onto the floor!), anyway…my neighborhood was nice, in the daytime, nights were more sketchy, and as I lay there on my bed I remembered not locking the door.

It was unlocked when I got up 4 hours later.

I ain’t checkin’ to see if we (once again) have a non-functioning government.

Godcrazy said:

The bible say if they don`t listen to you, bring another, if they do not listen still bring it to the elders. And if they do not listen then, have nothing to do with them. Could you use something similar. Have you tried to talk to your elders pastor?
Or at least another or third christian.
Just stating what is ungodly and warn is not unbiblical it is biblical. I mean you were not rude or anything. If they don`t follow the bible ... they are not christian no matter what they say
I recently watched a video warning about video games even minecraft, how the competitions and games introduce occultism slowly. How it is hidden in most games. I suggest be aware of that. As well many are very young playing.

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I have recently come across christians that expose those games and how they create occult activites and messages about it. I have personally witnessed from ungodly ones how they have changed behaviour by playing it.

Hentenza said:

Yes because he was saved by his faith not by his works(Rom. 4:1-3).

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That passage was talking about Genesis 15, which was before Genesis 17.

So how would you understand what God said in Genesis 17:14.

He was joking there?

To me the concern isn't as much how big the age gap is, but how young the youngest person is.

28 year old with 40 year old would make me more cautious than a 38 year old with a 50 year old. At 28 the brain is fully developed, but there is a discrepancy in wisdom and life experience that can only be gained by time and age.

I don't think it's wrong, and I think it is definitely much better than a 20 year old with someone more than 10 years older. You are correct that maturity will play a huge role in how successful and healthy the relationship is, and that goes for both people in the relationship.

I would just proceed cautiously. Don't isolate with the person. Communicate a lot.

Hasan Chokr threatened children and their parents at a daycare center at a Jewish synagogue in Dearborn Michagan. This happened in 2022. After threatening people at the synagogue and spewing antisemitic slurs, he went to a gun shop and handled several weapons. He decided to buy a rifle, a shotgun and a pistol but a background check blocked the purchase. Chokr had been convicted of theft in 2017 and had a pending assault charge against him. He was out on bail.

Chokr has now been sentenced to 34 months in prison on Federal charges.
This is one case where background checks worked, they did what they are supposed to do. I do wish the sentence had been longer.

Sources
Dearborn Man Sentenced for Illegally Possessing Firearms after Antisemitic Tirade Against Parents and Preschoolers at Local Synagogue

https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/man-plotted-mass-shooting-at-jewish-preschool-in-michigan-says-us-prosecutors/

https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/antisemitism/article-868642

FredVB said:

If voting is ever mandatory writing in one's separate choice should be our right anyway. Others to choose are preselected, and should not be who we have to choose between. There is reason to not keep trusting government and those in it. Government never gets better, it never has. Worse people get into it, and it would get worse, as it will. Only revolution ever changes anything for that, and still with further government afterward any betterment will not last. Democracy may be better than other ways but it does not stop this, while people still trust in their voting.

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I’m fairly cynical, but this is just depressing.