public hermit said:

What is the relation between belief and moral culpability? Is it wrong to believe/not-believe certain things?

Is it wrong to believe X if a more thorough investigation would show that X is false? In other words, do we have a moral obligation to do as thorough an investigation as possible before accepting the truth/falsity of X? If so, how would we know when our investigation is sufficiently thorough?

I assume the answer may differ depending on the belief in question. Beliefs that lead to right/wrong actions will clearly have a moral component. But what about beliefs regarding evolution or that the earth is flat/spherical?

Do we have a moral obligation to seek the truth? I'm not sure that we do. Is it wrong to believe what is false?

Please avoid theological subjects such as whether one is morally culpable for belief/non-belief in God since such subjects are not allowed in this forum. I know that's a big ask, but I believe we can do it! Maybe I'm wrong in so believing, i.e., such a belief is false, but is it morally wrong for me to so believe?

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When I was a child, I assumed people chose what they believed. Then I grew up.

Here is the problem:

1. Our senses are not entirely accurate. Our eyes, ears, etc., don't always work the way they should and there are many things that exist for which we have no ability to sense.

2. Our perception is not completely reliable either. Perception is the ability to properly interpret sensory data. Even if our bodies are functioning as designed we make mistakes. Optical illusions are well known, as are hallucinations, and these things are far more common than people want to think. Do you realize just how common it is for people to not quite hear a word, and insert the wrong word into the blank spot?

3. Contrary to popular thinking, human beings are incredibly irrational creatures. We have inherited biologically ingrained cognition errors that literally block us from reaching accurate conclusions: confirmation bias, primacy effect, projection, need for closure, illusion of control.... I could probably list 30 different cognitive distortions that keep us from the truth.

IMHO, it's a miracle that human beings can function as well as we do.

Do I think we have a moral imperative to try to find the truth? Yes. But I would say we have just as strong a moral imperative to humbly realize just how fallible we are, and to extend grace to those who are "wrong," because after all, that wrong person could be us.

I am not Christian, and quite frankly I find the Christian notion that God will eternally reward or eternally torture someone due solely to their honest errors seems morally outrageous to me. It would be the worst sort of injustice to punish a person for something that is beyond their control. And folks, that's just not the God I love and serve.

PinkPearl said:

Her near-death experiences seems to align with what was written in the bible though, especially since she saw a one-world government which was predicted in the bible. And she also saw wars on a large scale, which was one of the stuffs predicted in the bible as well

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Anyone can have some knowledge of The Bible and come up with any kind of supposed future events

Always in His Presence said:

There is only one that cannot be forgiven

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Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit…

“The house of the Lord” today is not a physical building built by human hands. So when you go into a building which they call “church,” you are not entering into the house of the Lord. And you are not standing on holy ground when you enter into what they call the church sanctuary, or worship center, as I was taught in my youth. A building is just a building regardless of what name you give to it, for God does not dwell in buildings built by human hands. He dwells in the human hearts of those who are surrendered to him.

[Acts 7:48-50; Acts 17:24-25; John 14:23; Ephesians 3:17; Romans 5:5]

The house of the Lord now is not a physical place, but it is spiritual. It is the church (not a physical building or location), the body of Christ, the body of believers in Jesus Christ who have died with Christ to sin and who are now to be walking in obedience to our Lord’s commands. We, the body of Christ, are now where God dwells by his Spirit. We, the people of God are his church, not a building, and not a church denomination. And we can gather together anywhere appropriate at any time of day, any day of the week.

So, to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of our lives is to be in genuine biblical relationship with Jesus Christ via God-persuaded and God-gifted faith in Jesus Chris whereby 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 now as slaves to God and to his righteousness. We are now his temple. And even if someone builds a “third temple,” it is still not our Lord’s temple, for we are and always will be his temple on this earth.

Now some people believe that if they make a profession of faith in Jesus Christ, or if they verbally confess him as Lord, and believe in his death and resurrection, that they are now saved for eternity regardless of how they live. This is based on a Scripture taught out of context (Romans 10:9). But if we read the Scriptures in their context we will learn that faith in Jesus Christ is something that must be continuous, and it must be shown as genuine by us dying to sin and us walking in obedience to our Lord’s commands.

For, as the Scriptures teach, if sin remains our practice, and not obedience to God, we do not know God, we are not in fellowship with him, and we do not have salvation from sin and eternal life with God. We must continue in Christ and in putting sin to death, by the Spirit, and in walking in obedience to our Lord in surrender to his will if we want to have eternal life with God when Jesus returns for his faithful bride. So don’t believe the lie which says that a one-time profession of faith in Jesus assures you of eternal life with God.

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).

The grace of God, 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 Jesus’ return. For Christ “gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.” “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” (See Titus 2:11-14; Ephesians 2:8-10)

And 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.

[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]

For Our Nation

An Original Work / September 11, 2012
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love
Recording Via Gerry Peters, music producer and arranger

Bombs are bursting. Night is falling.
Jesus Christ is gently calling
You to follow Him in all ways.
Trust Him with your life today.
Make Him your Lord and your Savior.
Turn from your sin. Follow Jesus.
He will forgive you of your sin;
Cleanse your heart, made new within.

Men betraying: Our trust fraying.
On our knees to God we’re praying,
Seeking God to give us answers
That are only found in Him.
God is sovereign over all things.
Nothing from His mind escaping.
He has all things under His command,
And will work all for good.

Jesus Christ is gently calling
You to follow Him in all ways.

Men deceiving: We’re believing
In our Lord, and interceding
For our nation and its people
To obey their God today.
He is our hope for our future.
For our wounds He offers suture.
He is all we need for this life.
Trust Him with your life today.

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All The Days of My Life
An Original Work / October 18, 2025
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

Speaking to God said:

Hello brothers and sisters in Christ,


I wanted to start a conversation about ethics and morality from a Christian perspective.

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Do you realize that you have placed your thread in an area designated as interfaith?

I'm not a Christian, but I'm going to reply anyhow. My ethics are really quite simple: "What is hateful to you, don't do to others. That is the WHOLE Torah. All the rest is commentary."

rambot said:

A quote from Chuck Kirk.


Now I look at this quote and I get seriously confused. I cannot understand why a person would have a problem with empathy.

How would the Good Samaritan Help someone that thinks their terrible without it?

How can Jesus heal someone without it?

In my view, empathy connects us and allow people sympathy to flow more greatly. It creates stronger bonds between strangers.

So help me understand how and WHY empathy is bad.

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All moral systems are built on a foundation of two things: empathy and a sense of fairness. People instinctively know something is wrong because they anticipate and feel the pain it would cause others.

You take away empathy, and what you have is a psychopath or sociopath without a conscience. Sometimes they still manage to be moral, but for practical reasons: they want to avoid negative social consequences (jail, getting fired, etc.). But the odds of harming others go way, way up.

Jet black

Former CNN anchor Don Lemon also recently suggested ICE agents enforcing the law should be shot.

FredVB said:

I am not Calvinist. I don't disagree with Calvinism except on a couple of points that I know of. I am not Arminian either. I do not think those are the only Christianity possible.

God does choose. But I would not agree with it being said there is no basis that we can understand. Regardless, the plan of salvation is with the gospel that is revealed, that is what matters, and it is to be shared. God is not willing that any perish, according to the scripture, they should come to repentance that there would be in essential faith in responding to God. Do you disagree with that? If so do then explain.

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Please answer the question I asked in my last post. Thanks!

Get ready, here I come!

Ain't Zwinglian said:

Again shows your rich wealth of knowledge so readily available at the finger tip. Excellent, and my early church understanding of history is a drop in the bucket. However, I can spot bogus beliefs about early church history, so I politely ask the person to cite historical reference and that pretty much ends the conversation.

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Hey Neil, how are you doing?

Alas this thread doesn’t really scratch the history of my beliefs, but I’d be deeply honored if you would comment on this thread, where I traced the origin of the version of the Hail Mary used by Martin Luther, and all other versions such as the closely related Eastern Orthodox Angelic Salutation, back to a third century Greek hymn, Sub tuum praesidium:

Leonardo

Play in the yard with the squirrels.

Squirrels are really . . .

Arcangl86 said:

From what I can tell, the judge simply followed the law regarding juvenile offenses. Prison time, while apparently an option, was never likely to begin with.

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Yes,she followed the law because she had discretion regarding the sentence. I think she failed to use good judgement regarding her discretion. Such short probation is a terrible sentence. Once again the failure of the liberal justice system.

Ugh…….

Bradskii said:

From what I've been reading about the danger of AI is that they are not programmed as such. They are not assembled as I would assemble a few lines of code. It is more accurate to suggest that they are grown. You 'seed' it with information and come back later to see what has developed. If you know what you're going to get then it's just a straightforward computer programme.

The danger, as I understand it, is that you don't know - or even cannot know, what's bubbling away under the hood. For one thing, you don't know where to look let alone what you are actually looking for.

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I think you are very right in what you said though. And that's also the indication I get and have been learning as well, etc. Truth is, we really don't know a lot about what's happening or going on with AI for the most part, and some of them have exhibited some "very strange behaviors", which is why I think we need to at least try to do what I am suggesting now, etc. Soon we'll be making them a lot more capable than even what they are capable of right now, etc, and we'll be giving a lot more control over to them also, and then, slowly (or maybe not so slowly at some point) but, slowly, piece by piece, until we can't shut them down, or turn them off, or unplug them anymore, and if we don't at least try to do the kinds of thing that I am suggesting right now I think? We'll, it's the whole consequences thing in action, etc.

Take Care.

joechristianwarrior said:

I am curious to hear you guys' thoughts on the issue of "equality", and whether it even matters to Jesus. I've heard many on the political left argue that it does, though I've heard many others (usually on the political right!) say it doesn't matter, that it's all just "woke" and "Marxism"; and that the only justice important to Christians is that we'll see when Jesus returns.

What do you guys think? I'd encourage everyone to check out this 4-minute video before you reply, as I think it sets good context for some of the dilemma I'm trying to get at with my question. And then let me know what you think, thanks: Login to view embedded media

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The video was just a bunch of taking verses out of context and cherry picking rather than looking at the whole Bible.
I think God does care about equality and social justice, but not like the leftists view it. He wants us to share the gospel equally and freely. He wants us not to give preference or discriminate. Instead of people using the Bible to bolster their argument they need to form a biblical ideology.

I've always felt that my mission is to find a husband and then we will travel around the world to spread the Gospel together.
But after being ditched by my ex, I feel like perhaps God had wanted to be alone instead. And now that I'm alone it won't be possible for me to carry out this Godly mission anymore given my agoraphobia and my strong need to be around familiar people for me to be able to travel around the world. The one time I tried to travel alone by myself I ended up staying cooped up inside the hotel room the entire time, I just can't do this alone by myself. Finding a husband is impossible as well, given that every guy I met including the christian men had only wanted premarital sex, and I didn't want to go against God regarding this premarital sex topic. I guess I'll have no other choice but to abandon this Godly mission, given that I had no ways of accomplishing this mission alone by myself.

redraven said:

Donald Trump

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Well, who you suggest is up to you...

“The two surviving ‘terrorists’ are being returned to their countries of origin, Ecuador and Colombia, for detention and prosecution,” Trump wrote in the social media posting.
The New York Times reports the two individuals have been transferred from the custody of the Pentagon to the U.S. State Department for their repatriation. They note that the U.S. has handed individuals in the past over to friendly countries when they were intercepted outside the country. The Coast Guard, in the past in the Caribbean, however, after stopping drug trafficking boats, has also arrested the individuals and brought them to the U.S. for prosecution.

Over 80,000 Americans died in 2024 as a result of a drug overdose.

Yttrium said:

I'm reminded of villains in DC Comics distancing themselves from the Joker. They may be bad, but the Joker is that much worse. Even bad people can have standards, reasonable lines that they won't cross. And when they point to someone who crosses even those lines, it's best to pay attention.

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And there are lines The Joker won't cross:

Studyman said:

Religious traditions of men have been a powerful deceiving force in this world God placed us in for a very long time. These traditions have corrupted some great men like King Solomon. We are instructed to beware and take heed of these traditions and philosophies.

I am encouraged that you too, have discerned this popular tradition and found that it is wrought in man and not God.

Good for you.

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I would look at the fact that scriptures do not support your belief and that alone should give you pause.

Clare73 said:

There is no "free will" of man in Scripture. Man is a slave to sin (Jn 8:34).

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Adam was not a man? What was he?
Where does the Bible say Adam and his offspring lost free will?

Clare73 said:

Slaves are not free.

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According to the Bible, that statement is not true. Galatians 5:1, 13

Are you saying Christ did not set us free, or are you saying we are not slaves of God and Christ... and one another?

Clare73 said:

Free will is the power to make all moral choices.

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Although you haven't provided a reference to support that claim, I'll like to point out that man does have the ability to make all moral choices given to him by his law giver. Deuteronomy 30:19, 20
However, free will is defined as...
the ability to act on one's own accord; unforced, of one's own will, voluntary; willing deliberate action (choice);
The philosophical definition is varied, as well as extreme in some cases.

Are you defining free will from the philosopher's point of view, or are you looking at the Biblical perspective?
If the former, the OP, is focused on the scriptures, which shows...

1. God created angels with free will
2. God created humans with free will

Are you contending the latter?

Clare73 said:

Can you choose to live completely sin-free?

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Free will does not mean having the ability to fly, walk through walls, change from human to deity, or remove sin.
These pertain to abilities that do not involve making moral decisions.

In fact, yes, we can make moral decisions, despite being sinners.
For example, Enoch is said to have "pleased God", because he chose to walk with God. Hebrews 11:5
Other too, chose to do what is right, in the face of death.


This is what free will involves.
It's not whether we are sinful, sinless, or black or white.
Your argument seem to be saying Adam and Eve had free will, but their offspring do not.
How would you arrive at such a conclusion without saying that free will ended with sin, and then redefining free will to involve a weak state?

Weakness does not destroy God given free will.
How is that possible?

Clare73 said:

You cannot.
Then your will is not completely free.
You have limited free will, ability to make some moral choices, but not all.

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Please name one moral choice that I cannot freely make.