Latest activity

Ophiolite · May 17, 2024

durangodawood said:
The massive proliferation of satellites has the potential to make space exploration impossible.

When you think about it, pollution seems to be humanity's super-power. We've polluted our air, our land, our seas, our cities, our media. And now we are polluting space. It's difficult not to see this from a political perspective.

HopeSings · May 17, 2024

Me and Jesus worked on a tool I'm fabricating for forging steel. We listened to George Jones gospel again. It's going to be OK I think.

HopeSings · May 17, 2024

Me and Jesus worked on a tool I'm fabricating for forging steel. We listened to George Jones gospel again.

keras · May 17, 2024

Jeffrey Bowden said:
And so we will be with the Lordforever.

Jesus will be on earth for the Millennium, not in heaven, so His faithful people will be too. Rev 5:9-10

Jeffrey Bowden said:
The words “you” and “those” are never used in Rev 3:10 to refer to just one group

In Rev 3:10, Jesus is talking to the Church at Philadelphia. He says: Because you have kept My Command and stood firm, I will keep you from the great ordeal which is to fall upon the world to test its inhabitants.
1/ Only one group of people referred to.
2/ That group are all those who have proved their faith and trust in the Lord.
3/ Being kept from, does not mean -removed away from.
4/ The forthcoming great ordeal, will be the Sixth Seal worldwide disaster. We are told to; Call upon the Name of the Lord and we will be saved. That is: kept safe and protected during that terrible event.

Trying to make Rev 3:10 prove a rapture, is wrong and just shows the complete lack of scriptural support for that false theory.

Wildflower3 · May 17, 2024

cradleGO said:
I clearly see how the good are rewarded and the evil punished, and how to avoid being wicked. I don't see a means to proactively work to avoid severe punishment. One can ask for God's mercy, certainly. And one can always make amends/atone for bad deeds with the one you hurt, if possible. Short of those things, I don't see a way to reduce the punishment, perhaps there isn't any.

Let me illustrate the bad I've seen and why there may not be so many mansions in Heaven - not as many as one might expect. These happened earlier than 'the last 15 years' I mentioned in the OP. And while none of these has happened again, plenty of bad has been demonstrated to me, personally or otherwise, since then.

1. was poisoned by a waitress - bad food poisoning
2. was poisoned by a waiter - bad food poisoning
3. was poisoned by a waiter - bad food poisoning
4. served soup over-salted
5. served menu item over-salted
6. served 'steak' that was almost totally fat and gristle
7. name taken, never seated
8. name taken, never seated
9. eggs under-cooked and not remedied even after complaint and re-serving
10. eggs under-cooked and not remedied even after complaint and re-serving

That is just food service. (And not all that occurred in that setting.) With the exception of 6 and 7, those were all within the previous 15 years to 30 years ago, roughly. Items 4, 6 and 10 happened at restaurants that subsequently closed - nothing of my doing.

In several instances, not only the wait staff but a cook had to be cooperative with the harm done. There is no possibility that any of these could make amends to me. So, they will ask for God's mercy, and take their chances. Some may do good deeds with others and severely regret what they did, but....?

Then the burden in on us, as Orthodox Christians, to pray that God does not punish them despite them not making restitution.

Even the Lord did this on the cross, "Father, forgive them, they know not what they do."

Other examples of prayer for this:

"O Lord, at the day of judgment, do not hold these sins against them on my account."

"Relieve my enemies of the malice they bear towards me, that they become worthy of Thy mercy."

"Lord, by my enemies prayers, save me!"

"Lord, do not hold this sin against them." - Protomartyr Stephen, Acts 7:60

I'm confused about your restaurant list there. We Orthodox should constantly fight the very "remembrance of wrongs" and instead pray the Lord's complete mercy on enemies and wrongdoers whenever the evil one throws the memory at us again and again. And pray for them to repent and right their wrongs.

I'm not saying this is easy at all. I struggle and fall with this multiple times a day every day. It's a massive struggle. We need to make a constant effort, no matter how feeble or despite what our feelings are. Just do it the best we can where we are at now and ask God to help.

I don't think it's benefiting you to ponder too much on the questions you posed or waste your energy on them. How much or how little will God punish a sinner? How many mansions does the Lord have in His kingdom, not many? We can't possibly begin to even grasp these things or even know what they truly mean.

I think, if you want peace about these questions, then focus instead on not remembering wrongs and pray for those who did you wrong. Also, almsgiving in their name if they're reposed. Maybe even doing a good deed in their name if they're alive and asking God to credit it to their account. We can even do this in general for people we don't even know.

essentialsaltes · May 17, 2024

After blaming his 2020 loss on mail balloting, Trump tries to make GOP voters believe it’s OK now

Trump’s handpicked chair of the Republican National Committee, his daughter-in-law Lara Trump, has vowed to embrace all sorts of legal election methods to boost turnout that Trump falsely blamed for his 2020 loss, including so-called “ballot harvesting” — letting people turn in mail ballots on the behalf of other voters.

Zaha Torte · May 17, 2024

rambot said:
Since about 1750, the calculated amount is 1,500,000,000,000metric tonnes (1.5 trillion). And as I understand it, one kilogram of CO2 is the the volume equivalent of a 1mx1mx1m beach ball size

Of course there are absolutely miniscule fluctuations of the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere because, of course, that CO2 is constantly getting taken in by trees and plankton AND getting released from animals and decaying matter. But the due general natural cycle, the system can EASILY remain stable. The cyclical nature allows those miniscule fluctuations to be easily managed.

Now if you look throughout the history of the world, you will find that there were outrageously higher levels of co2 in our atmosphere.... like 15-20x what we see now. And for some, they take that as proof that "we'll be fine" (more on that later). However, it is important to note that the state of the world then was very, very different. Like, incomparably different. How so? Well, vegetation had not yet evolved on terrestrial earth and the only living things were all under water. A planet devoid of a HUGE mechanism for getting rid of CO2 is not an reasonable comparison to today's environment. What's interesting is that plants started to evolve on the surface but it still took millions of years for co2 levels to come CLOSE to what we know today.

But I want to address fluctuations and variations with a cycle. In addition to those high levels, we can find MASSIVE fluctuations in CO2 found in the atmosphere. These fluctuations have different sources but one thing that they tend to have in common (unless it was caused by a catastrophic event like an asteroid or something), is the length of time these changes occurred on. These changes and shifts occurred of tens of millions of years. To demonstrate these very very very LONG term changes, we can see the affect that cycles have in a short term.

Manu Lau is a very famous weather station stuck on top of a mountain in Hawaii far away from development. It has been tracking co2 in the atmosphere for the past few decades...what is interesting is what the co2 increase looks like:
View attachment 347967

Notice how the red line increases and decreases EVEN WHILE the trend line goes up. This is because of a fascinating quirk of our planet. You'd note (if you look at a map) that the VAST majority of our earth's terrestrial landscape is in the northern hemisphere. And of course, tied to that would be that massive amount of vegetation that would be able to take co2 out of the atmosphere and create o2. And so, when the north side of the planet is in summer, the co2 levels are low and, conversely, when the north is in winter there is less vegetable to remove co2. So you see that, even though there is variability, the planet's systems correct themselves: a beautiful balance. At least in a way.

Until you see our trend line. You can see that each year, the top arch of the red line is a TINY bit higher. It's ppm so those changes are quite small. But the important thing to note is that there IS an increase each year.

Still with me? Any questions? Anything you have a problem with?

I am with you. You have been very clear. Please continue.

BPPLEE · May 17, 2024

stevil said:
I saw the Republican primary debates but I must have missed seeing Trump there.

Why debate when you’re leading the closest opponent by over 30 points? It was a smart choice.

Jamdoc · May 17, 2024

TheCabinetGuy said:
With all due respect, Irenaeus was misled. Even the number values of name "Nimrod" in Hebrew or Greek gematria doesn't add up to 666. John didn't say that this was the way to calculate to number. He just said that if anyone has wisdom, let him calculate the number. The number 666 is also known as the "grand number of the sun." What was the greatest abomination Ezekiel saw in the temple in chapter 8? Notice the picture of the seal of God in the following chapter. It never had anything to do with the number values of someone's name. Names are given to us from birth, but titles on the other hand...

✂️ The Blasphemous Title of the Pope

60 seconds · Clipped by Lion of Redemption · Original video "The Real Meanings Behind the Number 666 and the Mark of the Beast | Part 1" by Lion of Redemption

youtube.com

Why would Nimrod calculate to 666, 666 is for a specific name at a specific time doing specific things. It wouldn't apply to a historical person from thousands of years ago, because this was all yet future things from the time of Christ and from the times of the apostles and from the times of the Early Church Fathers.

John taught Polycarp, Polycarp taught Irenaeus. So the closest sources we have, are John's writings, and Irenaeus's writings. Everything else is extrapolated from John's writings but was not taught even indirectly by John in their meaning. Irenaeus would be the closest we could get to what did John mean? Everything else is just guesses.

GoldenBoy89 · May 17, 2024

essentialsaltes said:
At least 9 GOP lawmakers are at Trump trial [Thursday in NYC], which could be a problem for Republicans

That leaves Democrats with a several seat majority.

These people don’t have jobs to do?

Pommer · May 17, 2024

If Gaia gets a “fever” it’ll likely burn off the “infection” good enough to survive quite well without disturbing much more than the species driving the current round of warming.

Chesterton · May 17, 2024

Larniavc said:
Man of Wars.

Thank you! (One of these days I'm going to have to get access to that internet I've been hearing so much about.)

essentialsaltes · May 17, 2024

At least 9 GOP lawmakers are at Trump trial [Thursday in NYC], which could be a problem for Republicans

That leaves Democrats with a several seat majority.

HTacianas · May 17, 2024

essentialsaltes said:
Trump’s legal troubles are drowning state Republicans in a financial flood of their own making
When infighting in the Colorado Republican Party recently spilled out into the press, the conflict wasn’t over ideologies or values. It was an argument about money; or rather, the lack of it. Like other state Republican parties nationwide, Colorado’s GOP is feeling the pinch of the national party’s Trump-centric fundraising plan. Now those internal party cracks are becoming embarrassing public fractures.

A growing number of state Republican operations are either broke or perilously close to it. Last year, the Minnesota Republican Party reported having only $53 in the bank and over $330,000 in debt. In January, Michigan’s Republicans faced bankruptcy amid a brutal MAGA leadership fight. So much for being the party of fiscal responsibility.

Republican Party chairs know from Democrats’ past examples that starved state operations lead to electoral blowouts at the ballot box. But the Republican National Committee isn’t coming to the rescue

Republicans can thank Donald Trump for their current financial problems. Trump’s deal with the RNC requires the party to run its donations first through his Save America PAC

Hey, Trump doesn't need money. He's going to be elected based on free publicity.

keepitsimple144 · May 17, 2024

Dan Perez said:
When reading Eph 3:6 I do fine the word Gentiles // ETHNOS , and have yet to IGNORE or to FIND the word Jews in that CONTEXT !!

Dan Perez said:
Why not quote from the DISPENSATION of the Grace of God , because , Paul is our APOSTLE for the MYSTERY and we are to become IMITATORS of me ( means Paul ) who only having been SEPARATED // APHORIZO ,which means Boundaries were set , and also means LIMITED and also means .
The Greek word APHORIZO is in the Greek PERFECT TENSE that from the the day Paul was separated to the day he died Paul was only preach Gods Gospel .

So now you know that Jews are patakers of God's grace, since Paul was a Jew.
For this reason I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might demonstrate patience,
as a pattern to those who are going to believe on Him for everlasting life. 1 Tim 1:16

Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote
you with the wisdom that God gave him. 2 Peter 3:15

Live a life worthy of the Lord and pleasing in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to partake in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. For he has delivered us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, Col 1:10-15
I have come to give life—life in all its fullness. John 10:10
Israel, trust in the Lord. For with Him is full redemption. Psalm 130:7

Clare73 · May 17, 2024

Diamond7 said:
Caiphas was high priest and yet he betrayed Jesus.
Paul tells us he was concerned that he could lose his salvation after preaching to others on how to be saved.

Not quite. . .

There is salvation by faith, and there is reward for the quality of one's work.
They are not the same thing.
Worthless work; i.e., weak, insipid teaching and life, will receive no reward, but one will not lose one's salvation (1 Co 3:12-15).

Salvation is by faith alone, which faith is a gift (Php 1:29, Ac 13:48, 18:27, 2 Pe 1:1, Ro 12:3).
The reward/prize is based on the quality of one's work and does not affect one's salvation.

Paul did not want to be disqualified for the prize/reward (1 Co 9:27), he was not concerned about his salvation.

Diamond7 said:
Still we have the word: "Many". Are there really MANY that think they are saved but they are not? What are they doing wrong, what must they do to be saved. My post was on how many are lawless, they preach and teach that you do not have to follow the commandments of God. I wonder about people that work in fast food or convivence stores. Is it wrong that they are selling things that are harmful to people?

We have laws and regulations enforced by the government regarding safety of merchandise.

essentialsaltes · May 17, 2024

Trump’s legal troubles are drowning state Republicans in a financial flood of their own making

When infighting in the Colorado Republican Party recently spilled out into the press, the conflict wasn’t over ideologies or values. It was an argument about money; or rather, the lack of it. Like other state Republican parties nationwide, Colorado’s GOP is feeling the pinch of the national party’s Trump-centric fundraising plan. Now those internal party cracks are becoming embarrassing public fractures.

A growing number of state Republican operations are either broke or perilously close to it. Last year, the Minnesota Republican Party reported having only $53 in the bank and over $330,000 in debt. In January, Michigan’s Republicans faced bankruptcy amid a brutal MAGA leadership fight. So much for being the party of fiscal responsibility.

Republican Party chairs know from Democrats’ past examples that starved state operations lead to electoral blowouts at the ballot box. But the Republican National Committee isn’t coming to the rescue

Republicans can thank Donald Trump for their current financial problems. Trump’s deal with the RNC requires the party to run its donations first through his Save America PAC

Warden_of_the_Storm · May 17, 2024

Nithavela said:
Then I guess you will be doomed to post in this thread until the day you die.

It might just be a sad and vain case of hopefulness and possible a blatant example of madness, but I do live in hope that OP will actually understand and listen to what people are telling him.

It's a slim chance but still...

The Liturgist · May 17, 2024

cradleGO said:
In part you are objecting now on precisely what you said we should agree to disagree on.

Well, this is ironic, insofar as it seems we have a disagreement as to what subjects we had agreed to disagree about.

At any rate. I had proposed, or thought I had proposed, in my mind, that we should agree to disagree in general and end this entire debate, since it is obvious that our positions cannot be reconciled.

This is especially true insofar as I believe the Oriental Orthodox are as Orthodox as we Eastern Orthodox are, perhaps more so, and if anyone has to make concessions to restore communion with them, it should probably be us due to the violent persecution that they were subjected to by the Byzantine Empire, especially under Justinian, and obviously you take a different view. Since we can tell from what my pious friend @dzheremi wrote that they are wary of us, perhaps in the same way we are wary of even considering offers for reunification sent by the Melkite Greek Catholics, since we do not want to wake up and discover the Pope is now in charge (which happened to some Eastern Orthodoxw about 670 years ago due to the formation of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth). And based on that, I can understand why some Oriental Orthodox might be concerned that we might force them to venerate Pope Leo or Emperor Justinian.

But the situation with the Antiochian Orthodox and Syriac Orthodox is that both churches recognized each other as equally valid, and even went so far as to prohibit conversions between the two churches, which is something that can only be morally justified if each church believes the other church is an equally viable as a path to salvation.

My position has always been that specifically the Syriac Orthodox Church and the Antiochian Orthodox Church are in a state of limited intercommunion, although from a pan-Orthodox perspective, the fact that such relations were entered into, and a similar ecumenical relationship was entered into between the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria and its Alexandrian Greek counterpart, is obviously a step in the right direction for EO-OO relations as a whole; also the numerous memorial liturgies served in Eastern Orthodox churches for the victims of the Armenian genocide, with Coptic bishops entire, was a very good act and also a move in the right direction.

Vambram · May 17, 2024

iluvatar5150 said:
The question wasn't posed to me, but I don't see why that's necessary. Schools are co-ed. Church groups are co-ed. Sports teams at younger ages are co-ed. Why does scouting have to be unisex?

In my opinion, between the ages of 10 to 17, young boys are too often more emotionally immature than the young girls. I am sure that all of us recognize how mean, and insulting, or even how much sexual harassment teenage boys do to girls. I recommend that girls have the safe space areas and scouting enjoyment away from the boys. Boys and girls don't always have to be together in order to benefit from equal scouting experiences or expectations.

JosephZ · May 17, 2024

rjs330 said:
What happened to the Taliban after the US attacked? They fled. They no longer controlled Afghanistan. The issue is you had other countries that sheltered them. They weren't destroyed because they had protection from others.

The Taliban never left Afghanistan. I pointed this out earlier in the thread.

JosephZ said:
The Taliban never left Afghanistan. Some of the leaders escaped, but not all, and most of the terrorists remained in the country. Also, the number of attacks carried out by the Taliban in Afghanistan increased the entire time we were in Afghanistan. There were more terrorist attacks carried out by the Taliban in 2020 alone than there were in the first 10 years of the war.

View attachment 339140

Most of the attacks, greater than 85%, were not targeting US forces; they were carried out against private citizens, religious institutions, schools, local police/security forces, and the Afghan government.

rjs330 said:
I've always believed this kind of thought makes no sense. It's a catch 22 scenario for the victims.
1. Terrorists attack and the victim does nothing which creates more terrorists.
2. The victim tesponfs and creates more terrorists.

Terrorism and support for terroist groups is a symptom and terrorism activities will continue until the cause of those symptoms is addressed.

rjs330 said:
In truth the only thing you can do is fight back.

Using military force against terrorist groups in general rarely if ever works, and even more rarely against well-established terrorist groups like Hamas. Military force isn't the only option when it comes to fighting terrorism and terrorist groups. On October 15th, I explained what Israel should have done to defeat Hamas:

"Israel needs to focus exclusively on hunting down all of the terrorists responsible for the attack, including the leadership of Hamas, and holding them accountable. Israel also needs to stop the influx of outside funding from countries like Iran. Bombing Gaza and punishing everyone living there for the actions of Hamas isn't going to destroy Hamas or end future terror attacks against Israel. The current approach is only going to exacerbate long-standing grievances between the Palestinians and Israel, and until those grievances are addressed, terrorist attacks against Israel will continue.

To defeat Hamas, Israel has to make supporting and joining them less attractive to Palestinians and potential recruits. This can be done by Israel recognizing and respecting a Palestinian state and improving the lives of the Palestinian people. Israel will need to play a direct role in rebuilding Gaza and improving infrastructure once the dust settles from this most recent bombardment. This, along with supporting economic development and offering livelihood opportunities, would go a long way in changing the attitude and mindset of those who live in Gaza. If Israel can show that they care more about the Palestinian people than Hamas, then Hamas will lose the support of the Palestinian people and their primary recruiting tool. This is the only way to destroy Hamas. To make this happen, it will take a concerted effort by the Israeli government, the UN, NGO's, and the Palestinians themselves."

rjs330 said:
I actually don't believe believe that fighting back creates more terrorists.

It's called counterinsurgency mathematics, and it has been proven to be true in multiple theaters of war over the past few decades and it's happening in Gaza today.

rjs330 said:
If we are to believe rhat Hamas is a terrorist group who terrorized rhe Palestinian people and the Palestinians did NOT fight back and Hamas grew anyway.

This was because the root causes of the conflict were not being addressed, and the situation in Gaza continued to deteriorate.

Latest activity

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After blaming his 2020 loss on mail balloting, Trump tries to make GOP voters believe it’s OK now​

At least 9 GOP lawmakers are at Trump trial [Thursday in NYC], which could be a problem for Republicans​

At least 9 GOP lawmakers are at Trump trial [Thursday in NYC], which could be a problem for Republicans​

Trump’s legal troubles are drowning state Republicans in a financial flood of their own making​

Trump’s legal troubles are drowning state Republicans in a financial flood of their own making​

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After blaming his 2020 loss on mail balloting, Trump tries to make GOP voters believe it’s OK now

At least 9 GOP lawmakers are at Trump trial [Thursday in NYC], which could be a problem for Republicans

At least 9 GOP lawmakers are at Trump trial [Thursday in NYC], which could be a problem for Republicans

Trump’s legal troubles are drowning state Republicans in a financial flood of their own making

Trump’s legal troubles are drowning state Republicans in a financial flood of their own making