Welcome!

Welcome Sam!

AI Pope Leo is all over TikTok

Jeesuspelastaa said:

God has the sole right to the name

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In Acts 4:8-12 our Apostle Peter says > "the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth", and later says >

"'Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.'" (Acts 4:12)

Jeesuspelastaa said:

having been baptized in the name of Jesus Christ.

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And we have >

"And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him." (Colossians 3:17)

"Let all that you do be done with love." (1 Corinthians 16:14)

Jeesuspelastaa said:

Yet the perfect unity for which Jesus prayed will not be fulfilled by trying to uproot denominations and churches from the world. They will always exist among us in this world. True unity becomes visible only when we root them out from within ourselves.

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Our Apostle Paul says >

"For there must also be factions among you, that those who are approved may be recognized among you." (1 Corinthians 11:19)

Jeesuspelastaa said:

The early congregation is our example.

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One item > for some while, it seems to me, the early church members were not decades matured in the faith. So, I would not try to "copy" what was being done while the Christians all were still new in Jesus and the Holy Spirit. However, we do have what I would consider to be letters given in scripture by ones after they had become much more mature.

So, I would consider > as we each grow in Jesus and with one another, there can be discovering to do . . . how God ***creates*** better than we now might try and push to copy, based on our present level of maturity.

Delvianna said:

there are teachings by other denominations that will not get people saved as they themselves aren't either.

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Yes, but I get what I think @Jeesuspelastaa is saying . . . how there can be genuine Christians in groups that are not correct in official stuff. It can even happen, that some unsaved pastor then trusts in Jesus and even turns that one's whole church to what is better, and they might stay in the group while they offer what is better.

Delvianna said:

claiming all denominations are apart of his flock.

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Well, if a whole denomination were a part of Christ's flock, wouldn't this mean every member is saved? I think there is no denomination with every member saved. So, in case one member isn't, the denomination isn't.

CLEEB said:

Many churches teach another Jesus and another gospel.

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Our Apostle Paul is plain about this, about if this is possible to have a false Jesus Christ >

"For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted---you may well put up with it!" (2 Corinthians 11:4)

So, yes we need to be able to tell the difference, to evaluate each group and every person >

"Test all things; hold fast what is good." (1 Thessalonians 5:21)

But we can see how ones are very set: no matter what right thing you offer . . . uh-uh. And they might have the Bible. So, how can this happen? My take is > if a person meets a person of some group, and that group gets the person to believe the person will "go to Heaven" . . . then that person is not going to accept that the group or the pastor is wrong. Because the person does not want to believe the guarantee of Heaven has come from a false source. They can make an idol of anyone they feel has guaranteed them of what will get them to Heaven. And so they put who-knows-who above question.

If they have accepted some person or what some group says to do, possibly nothing else will do.

But God's word says >

"we who first trusted in Christ" > in Ephesians 1:12.

And Jesus Himself guarantees us "all" >

"'Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I'm gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.'" (Matthew 11:28-29)

The first sentence made me spit coffee. “Gender Studies” professor. Notre Dame.
LOLOLOLOLOLOL

Cosmic Charlie said:

Am I seriously being asked to accept the Theological judgement of J.D. Vance over the Pope on matters of Catholic thinking and judgement?

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No

That fire in Hong Kong is so terrible. I feel horrible for the families of the victims.

Eternally Grateful said:

PIERS MORGAN: “Why is Bill Clinton able to have sex with an intern in the Oval Office

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Never happened.

It was in the private study next to the Oval, pictured here with the Oval in the background.

Eternally Grateful said:

PIERS MORGAN: “So paying somebody off who says you sexually harassed her, paying her nearly a million dollars while you’re the President of the United States and then having sex with an intern in the Oval Office and lying about it, that’s fine because he’s a Democrat?”

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Repeating a lie again doesn't make it true.

MarcusGregor said:

I don't trust your ability to make that determination.

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And I don't trust your ability, either.

The Vatican, the smallest state in the world, possesses a unique and complex legal, administrative, and spiritual structure designed to guarantee the independence of the pope and allow the Church to act freely throughout the world.

Bishop Juan Ignacio Arrieta, secretary of the Dicastery for Legislative Texts, in an interview with the Spanish-language edition of EWTN News, detailed how this tiny nation is governed, how its institutions operate, and what role the Holy See plays in the world.

A unique governance structure​

Arrieta explained that the Dicastery for Legislative Texts — where he has served for 18 years — is one of the departments that collaborates directly with the pope in the governance of the Church.

“The dicasteries are the ministries of the Holy See; they are like the departments that serve the pope … and this one is dedicated to the preparation of laws, to the oversight of the laws of the entire Church,” he said.

Continued below.

I think that's a good point . . . that if we have wealth, we should not be thinking only about our own selves.

And in case we have "enough", this does not mean we should just stop doing any more work; because we might be able to help someone else.

"be content with such things as you have," we have in Hebrews 13:5.

Also . . .

"Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need." (Ephesians 4:28)

So, yes it can be good to do work for more than myself. And, of course, you can have a family to provide for. And . . . I think of this > our Apostle Paul worked with his own hands to support those who were with him >

"'Yes, you yourselves know that these hands have provided for my necessities, and for those who were with me.'" (in Acts 20:34)

'Satan's going to come after you'

Screenwriter Randall Wallace, who has worked with actor and director Mel Gibson on some of his major films, including "The Passion of the Christ," revealed during a recent interview that Gibson's upcoming two-part movie about the Resurrection emerged from a conversation the two had about the Protestant emphasis on Christ conquering death.

"We were having dinner one night, just the two of us in Dallas, and I said, 'You know, the thing we need to do is the Resurrection,'" Wallace said on the "Verité Vision" podcast that aired Tuesday.

“It's an interesting thing. Catholic friends have said, and I don't want to over-characterize anyone's particular practice, but in Catholicism, there's much more emphasis on the Crucifixion, on the Passion. One Catholic friend of mine said we almost never talk about the Resurrection," he said.

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More than a year after she filed for divorce from televangelist Benny Hinn, Suzanne Hinn's marriage to the popular faith-healer is now officially over for a second time in 46 years.

Records from the Hillsborough County Court in Florida, first cited by the Trinity Foundation, show the Hinns' marriage ended in an uncontested divorce on Nov. 19.

When Suzanne Hinn filed for divorce in the summer of 2024, the former couple had been living in separate homes more than 60 miles apart.

Matthew Wilson, Suzanne Hinn's attorney who works with the Anton Garcia Law firm in Tampa, declined to comment when contacted by The Christian Post on Wednesday.

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Lex orandi, lex credendi

More than a year after she filed for divorce from televangelist Benny Hinn, Suzanne Hinn's marriage to the popular faith-healer is now officially over for a second time in 46 years.

Records from the Hillsborough County Court in Florida, first cited by the Trinity Foundation, show the Hinns' marriage ended in an uncontested divorce on Nov. 19.

When Suzanne Hinn filed for divorce in the summer of 2024, the former couple had been living in separate homes more than 60 miles apart.

Matthew Wilson, Suzanne Hinn's attorney who works with the Anton Garcia Law firm in Tampa, declined to comment when contacted by The Christian Post on Wednesday.

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RDKirk said:

Charitably speaking, a military lawyer's job is to explain to the commander how the commander can get his mission done legally. The lawyer doesn't say, "You can't do it," the lawyer says, "This is how to do it legally."

Without speaking charitably, that job does not necessarily involve invoking any kind of personal moral views. The morality of the matter is encoded within the applicable laws.

For instance, the Law of Armed Conflict (which includes applicable portions of the Geneva Conventions) states that US forces are prohibited from attacking a school or hospital--unless enemy forces are already using that school or hospital as an operational location. In that case, US forces may attack that school or hospital. The Law of Armed Conflict (in concert with the Geneva Conventions) places the moral fault on the forces that first began using those buildings for miltary purposes.

That particular lawyer may personally feel different. He may feel that the US should not under any circumstances attack a school or hospital. But it's not his job to transmit his own personal morality, but the morality encapsulated in the LOAC.



Depends on how they interpret the current Congressional resolutions. The president has presented his interpretation...it's up to Congress to dispute it.

Which Congress hasn't done yet.

What we think about in the peanut gallery is for us to make clear on election day.

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Correct. It is the Chaplain's job to advise commanders on morality. The JAG advises on how to accomplish the commanders objective legally.

Today is the feast of St. John Chrysostom, who like the other members of the Three Holy Hierarchs, has his own feast in addition to the combined feast in January (by the way, i have often wondered why we do not group St. Athanasius with the Three Holy Hierarchs given his extreme importance; it is because of the three Holy Hierarchs, two of them were alive during the Second Ecumenical Synod and the end of Arian persecution of Christians, and St. Basil despite reposing several years before his best friend St. Gregory the Theologian, was a contemporary of St. Gregory)? Perhaps because they picked up the torch of St. Athanasius after his repose and ensured that Arianism would not prevail?

That question aside, this is a feast with lovely hymns worthy of St. John the Golden-mouthed. Vespers begins with a bang:

In abstinence thou didst emulate well * thy namesake the Baptist, O father, * and didst imitate the great Elijah in purity and fasting. * Wounded by the zeal of both, O Chrysostom, * as a pastor of the Church of Christ ** thou didst speak boldly even against the imperial majesty. (Twice)
The sound of thy dogmas, * passing throughout all the world, as it is written, * hath illumined the world with the divine inspiration of the Word; * and thou hast thrown open to us the door of repentance, * embodying the Gospel of Christ ** in thy care for the poor.
The pure and undefiled light of thy soul * shineth upon the world * with sun-like beams of the dogmas of piety, * O wise father John Chrysostom, * dispelling the darkness ** and illumining the universe with piety.

Like with all hierarchs, we have quotes from the Wisdom of Solomon, the most frequently quoted book among those the Catholics call “deuterocanon”, at Vespers, but we also have a proper Matins Gospel instead of the cycle of 11 Resurrection Gospels read on Sundays. The Matins Gospel and Gospels during the liturgy are part of the common service for Holy Hierarchs from the General Menaion, however, the Old Testament prophecies differ slightly, with two quotes from the Wisdom of Solomon rather than one. Those interested might enjoy the text here: https://st-sergius.org/services/Emenaion/11-13.pdf


From the Canon at Matins, Ode IV is my favorite:

Irmos: Thou, O Lord, art my strength and Thou art my power, * Thou art my God and Thou art my joy, * Thou Who, while never leaving the bosom of Thy Father, * hast visited our poverty. * Therefore with the Prophet Habbakuk I
cry unto Thee, * ‘Glory to Thy power, O Lover of mankind!’
Christ Who, in that He is good, exerciseth forethought for all in His providence, hath given thee to us, O all-blessed John Chrysostom, as another peer of the apostles, a proclaimer of the heavenly liturgy, and a divine expounder of celestial mysteries.

Let us honor the golden John Chrysostom of golden eloquence, who hath rendered all things golden through the golden luster of his teachings, and hath illumined the world with his tongue, which shineth brighter than gold, is full of light and poureth forth divine grace.
Thou wast wholly the habitation of God; thou wast shown to be wholly the instrument of the Spirit, sounding forth a divinely inspired hymn of every virtue and the cause of salvation, and revealing the beauty of the kingdom of heaven, O all- blessed John Chrysostom.
Thou didst proclaim the compassion of God, setting forth examples of repentance, and most excellently instructing us how to avoid evils, O most blessed, most perfect and most honored father Chrysostom, pouring forth excellent teachings on good works.
Theotokion: After God, we have acquired thee as our intercessor; for thou wast the Mother of God, the Creator and Fashioner, Who took upon Himself our guise, saving it from corruption and death, and glorifying it with divine glory, O all- immaculate one.

But Vespers really shines for this feast, for in addition to the stichera I quoted earlier, after the Litya we are treated to these exquisite hymns; this is in contrast to many Orthodox feasts where much of the exciting material is in Matins.

The composition of Anatolius, in Tone I:
O luminary John, mouth of golden luster, ornament of divinely wrought virtues, receptacle of mystic writings: thou wast the most pure and incorrupt treasury of the all-holy Spirit, from whence thou hast brought gladness to the whole Church by thy salvific discourse; wherefore, having found boldness before God, amid the enjoyment of heavenly delight, pray thou for us, O most holy father.

Grace was poured forth through thy lips, O venerable father John Chrysostom, for
which cause God anointed thee a high priest for His people, to shepherd His flock in holiness and righteousness. Wherefore, girded about with the armor of the Mighty One, thou didst cut down the blasphemies of heresy. And now, cease thou never to pray, that peace be granted to the world, and that our souls be saved.

The composition of the Studite, in Tone II:
Praising thee with love, the great high priest and pastor, innocent and venerable, the preacher of repentance, the golden mouth of grace, we pray: grant us thy supplications, O father, unto the salvation of our souls.
The composition of George of Nicomedia, in Tone II: Having been adorned with thy golden words as with golden ornaments, O John Chrysostom, the Church crieth out to thee: “I have drunk my fill of thy flowing golden waters, adorned with thy drink of golden honey mingled with gold; for I am brought from works to vision because of thy teachings, and am united to Christ, the noetic Bridegroom, reigning with Him.” Wherefore, assembling to honor thy memory, we also cry aloud: Cease thou never to pray to the Lord for us, that our souls be saved.

Thou didst receive the most elevated philosophy, O hierarch, and didst transcend the world, living above visible things; and in godly manner didst show thyself to be an undefiled reflection of God. And ever united with the Light, thou didst receive the Light and a most clearly blessed end. Pray thou, O Chrysostom, on behalf of our souls.

In Tone IV: Thou didst manifestly water the earth with words of golden luster, possessed of a body and soul flowing with gold, O all-blessed one; and having by thy discourses on thy dogmas rendered all things golden, O maker of gold, and written books of golden letters, thou didst fly up to the heavens. Wherefore, we cry out to thee: O river and mouth of gold, entreat Christ God, that He save our souls.

Glory ..., the composition of Germanus, in Tone II:
It was fitting for the queen of cities to have John as its hierarch, as a certain royal adornment and a golden trumpet instructing all the ends of the earth with the dogmas of salvation, and moving all to zeal in chanting divinely splendid hymns. To him do we now cry aloud: O thou of golden discourse and golden mouth, entreat Christ God, that He save our souls.

Both now ..., Theotokion, in Tone II:
Thee have we obtained as a rampart, * O most pure Theotokos, * a favorably calm harbor and confirmation. * Wherefore, we who are tempest-tossed in this life beseech thee: ** do thou guide us and save us!

On the Aposticha, these Stichera, in Tone V: Spec. Mel.: “Rejoice ...”:
Rejoice, divinely inspired instrument of the Church, beauteous and of golden luster, O tongue which lovingly describes to us images of repentance; mind of golden sheen, golden-mouthed swallow, dove who with golden wings shineth like gold, chanting hymns amid the verdure of the virtues, golden stream pouring forth waters and serving as the surety of God's love for mankind! Entreat Christ God, that He send down upon our souls great mercy.

Pepperdoodle said:

I'm not referring to Trump as I already mentioned. I'm referring to Mamdani.
Please ask who a person is referring to next time instead of assuming it's Trump.

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From the description I thought you were clearly describing Mt Trump who fits the description very well.

another_lost_guy said:

You may have read this thread title and thought "of course atheism exists, my coworker is an atheist" or something like that.

No, your coworker just calls himself an atheist, but in reality he just worships lower gods than Christ (such as video games, anime, porn, money, etc

Here is the scripture I see as backing this up:

“Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things.” - Philippians 3:19

In my opinion, as someone who is neither a priest or a theologian, this shows that all atheists worship their own god(s), which dismantles many pretentious atheist arguments such as "I just worship one less god than you do" and "religion is inherited", etc;

Scripture does not really define what atheism is aside from it being foolish so I wanted to make this thread to ask if we as Christians should even believe in such a thing as atheism

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According to Romans 1, God does not believe in atheists

Hvizsgyak said:

I have to say, I actually support MTG over Trump. Hope she has a great life away from Congress.

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We have flat earthers on this forum too. Its not a sin to be crazy. Its what you do with it

You're merging so many concepts that shouldn't be merged because the context of the topic doesn't fit, even if you're applying the same term. Being a lost sheep and being spiritually dead = not saved. You aren't going to be resurrected in life, if you aren't saved. Now, unsaved will be resurrected at the very end and be judged and then thrown into the lake of fire, but that's a completely different concept and not the same as being symbolically alive vs dead.

Ephesians 2:1 - "And you were dead in the trespasses and sins."

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Romans 6:23 - "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."

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Luke 15:24,32 - (The Parable of the Prodigal Son) "...for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’
But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”

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Notice in like it says alive "again". So being a lost sheep is being spiritually dead, but being found again is being alive again.

This is why Jesus said not everyone who calls him Lord will enter his kingdom because if people are being led away from him via false doctrine or false prophets, they will be apart of that crowd that might call him Lord, but will not enter his kingdom (Matthew 7). You're essentially saying that all people who are led astray (lost sheep) are still saved and that contradicts Jesus's statement of calling him Lord and not entering his kingdom, along with other parables and teachings. Your interpretation goes against scripture teachings, so either you are correct, and scripture has errors, or you're misunderstanding since the two can't be true at the same time.

DaisyDay said:

Just bring your scuba gear!

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I used to live in Virginia and there were many times when we were thinking of visiting Tangier Island. It is supposed to be really pretty place (and unique) place to visit. Unfortunately, we never got a chance. Hopefully, it will be a millennia before it gets covered by water.

I just did a check on the place and the Army Corps of Engineers are only giving it another 50 years or so before the whole place is a swamp. Not good. It sounds like they got alot of the residence off the island already (by the government stealing their land, oh I mean eminent domain).

Yes, bring the scuba gear. You never know what secrets and shipwrecks, in the depths of the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay, may be there - pirate booty!

BryanJohnMaloney said:

Has anyone ever dealt with a spouse that suddenly felt the need to set up surveillance? It's a bit of a head-scratcher. My response was a cheery "Okay!" when the subject of setting up cameras outside and within the home was broached. The easiest way to keep secrets is to have none. Is this a matter of concern?

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If this is sudden, it should provoke a discussion. As long as you both know where all the cameras are, I don't see the problem, especially outside.

If you discover a hidden camera, yikes!

Nithavela said:

One of the main reasons those governments are so inefficient.

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But Mussolini got the trains to run on time....