Disclaimer: In this OP, I am not arguing whether or not the Father draws everyone. I am discussing the logical usage of the word "unless".

John 6:

44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.

Click to expand...

Let's try to translate the above to the first-order logic language. The trouble is that there is more than one way to express the English concept of unless. The word carries two senses.

Definition #1, the weak sense: If the Father does not draw him, he cannot come to Jesus.
⇒ If he comes to Jesus, then the Father draws him.
The Father's drawing of a person is a necessary condition. At this point, I don't know whether the Father draws everyone.

Definition #2, the strong sense: The Father does not draw him if and only if he cannot come to Jesus.
⇒ He can come to Jesus if and only if the Father draws him.
The Father's drawing of a person is both necessary and sufficient.

John 6:

44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.

Click to expand...

Jesus raises him up on the last day iff the Father draws him.

40 For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.”

Click to expand...

He has eternal life iff the Father draws him.

There exists a person who does not have eternal life.

Therefore, the Father does not draw him.

According to the strong sense of the word "unless", the Father does not draw everyone. In either case, John 12:

32 And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”

Click to expand...

By the Cross, Jesus does draw all people to himself.

===========================================================================
Appendix 1

Sometimes, the context tells us which sense is being used. Let's apply these two senses to 2 Timothy 2:

5 An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules.

Click to expand...

1. If he does not compete according to the rules, he is not crowned.
   Method 1 (weak sense of unless) is a valid interpretation.
2. He does not compete according to the rules if and only if he is not crowned.
   ⇒ If he is not crowned, then he does not compete according to the rules.
   ⇒ If he competes according to the rules, then he is crowned.

Method 2 implies that competing according to the rules is a sufficient condition for crowning. This is not true. Method 2 is not a valid interpretation of 2 Timothy 2:5.

===========================================================================
Appendix 2

Young's Literal Translation, John 6:44

no one is able to come unto me, if the Father who sent me may not draw him, and I will raise him up in the last day;

Click to expand...

ἐὰν μὴ
if not

draws
ἑλκύσῃ (helkysē)
Verb - Aorist Subjunctive Active - 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 1670: To drag, draw, pull, persuade, unsheathe. Or helko hel'-ko; probably akin to haireomai; to drag.

BDAG:

ⓒ w. other particles
α. ἐὰν καί even if Gal 6:1; likew. ἐὰν δὲ καί (POxy 472 II, 7) but if 1 Cor 7:11, 28; 2 Ti 2:5. ἐὰν δὲ καὶ παρακούσῃ but if the pers. refuses to listen Mt 18:17.
β. ἐὰν μή if not, unless w. pres. subj. ἐὰν δὲ μὴ ᾖ ἀξία Mt 10:13; cp. Lk 13:3; J 3:2f, 5, 27. Mostly w. aor. subj. ἐὰν μὴ περισσεύσῃ Mt 5:20; 6:15; 12:29; 18:3; 21:21; Mk 3:27; 4:22 (s. KBeyer, Semitische Syntax im NT, ’62, 131); J 4:48; 6:44; 7:51; Ro 10:15; 1 Cor 9:16; 14:6; unless, without ἐὰν μὴ αὐτὸ πίω Mt 26:42. W. fut. ἐὰν μὴ μετανοήσουσιν Rv 2:22.

Click to expand...

Biblehub listed 30 translations out of 51 use the word "unless" to translate ἐὰν μὴ with aorist subjunctive. In this case, it is not just ἐὰν μὴ; it is ἐὰν μὴ followed by an Aorist Subjunctive verb. This pattern has been observed frequently enough that some experts believe that this pattern is the equivalent of the English concept of "unless".

I am about to be married to a wonderful man with an 8 yo grandson. His grandson was born to his son and his then fiancee. The relationship did not work out but the 2 are coparenting wonderfully. My fiance loves his grandson and I love that and I believe that is a beautiful thing, the boys live in a different State than him, 9 hours drive away, so it is hard to see them regularly, but he travels 2-3 times a year to visit them.

Now, we are getting married in about 2 months time, he suggested he should then send his son home alone and his grandson stay with us for a week right after our wedding, and I shot that down, because that is excluding his own son and having him driving home alone and of course it is our honeymoon and we need time alone after just being married. He then suggested that we fly over to visit a week after our wedding and I will fly back after a few days and he would stay 2 more weeks because he really wants to spend time with grandson alone then. My heart aches for the 2 sons.

Between us, we have 5 kids, 4 adults and a highschooler. The grandson has a priority over all of them and some days, I feel like it is over me, he denied it. He would obige when I disagree, but, he would keep trying. I love him, and all he does, but this grandson thing is kind of looking to me like an obsession.

I am starting to wonder if this is something I want in our marriage. At this point, I am wanting to push this wedding before this fundamental thing is being sorted out. Please share your thought.

He loves my girls, no doubt about it. I love his sons and then his grandson. Prayers, caring and communicating among me and his boys, him and my girls are regular and natural. I am heartbroken to tell him I cannot marry him till this is being sorted out.

I cannot find any scripture to support loving grandkids over our kids is wrong. The way he doing is likely to cause jealousy and rivalry among our offsprings. He is going to be my husband and I am ready to submit to him as with the Lord. I cannot bear to see this bias/favor causes division.

Have you ever tasted water that is lukewarm? I have, and I wanted to spit it out of my mouth. It tastes good hot, and it tastes good cold, but not lukewarm.

Well, that is how God feels about his church who is living in spiritual adultery against him. They aren’t opposed to him, but they are not really for him, either. They profess the name of Jesus, go to meetings of “the church” (most of them businesses incorporated under the state) weekly, and they may even be involved in some kind of ministry within “the church,” but they don’t live much differently from the people of the world who make no profession of faith in Christ at all. They honor God with their lips, but their hearts are far from him. They worship God in vain for their teachings are merely humanistic philosophy mingled in with the Scriptures.

Therefore, Jesus is calling out to this church today, and he is calling them to repent of their sins and to return to him, and he will restore them to fellowship with him.


Laodicea

An Original Work / April 29, 2011
Based off of Revelation 3:14-22

Laodicea, Laodicea, I’m calling you.
You hear Me calling, you hear Me calling. I’m calling you.
Will you not answer? Will you not answer? I’m calling you.
If you but follow, if you but follow, I’ll answer you.
Won’t you give Me your heart and your soul,
So I can cleanse you and make you whole?
Laodicea, Laodicea, I’m calling you.
If you will answer, if you will answer, I’ll come to you.

I stand at your door; I stand at your door. I’m knocking there.
Will you not listen? Will you not listen, while I’ll be there?
If you’ll but open, if you’ll but open your hearts to Me,
I’ll come within you, I’ll come within you, you’ll sup with Me.
Won’t you buy from Me some gold and salve?
These costly treasures are yours to have.
Laodicea, Laodicea, I’m calling you.
If you will answer, if you will answer, I’ll come to you.

Are you contented; are you contented to be lukewarm?
Will you not have Me? Will you not have Me? Of this I warn –
If you don’t hear Me, if you don’t hear Me, and so obey,
I will spit you out; I will spit you out without delay.
So why not heed this, your final call,
And give to God absolutely all?
Laodicea, Laodicea, I’m calling you.
If you will answer, if you will answer, I’ll come to you.

Login to view embedded media

There are many “shepherds” of the people here in America, and perhaps in other nations in the world, too, who are convincing many people that faith in Jesus Christ is nothing more than a profession of faith which requires no works at all, no dying to sin, no walking in holiness and in righteousness, no obedience to Christ and to his commands, and no servanthood to Christ as Lord (Owner-Master) of our lives. For they call that “works salvation.”

As a result, we have many (perhaps the majority of) people professing faith in Jesus Christ who are convinced that all their sins are forgiven (past, present, and future), that they are now guaranteed heaven when they die, and that it can’t be taken away from them, but regardless of how they live. And even if they are being taught repentance and obedience to Christ, which many are not, it is often taught as something recommended, not required.

And so we also have many (perhaps the majority of) people professing faith in Jesus Christ who are still living in sin and for the will of the flesh and who are not walking in obedience to the Lord in holy living, as a matter of habit. So even though they profess to believe in Jesus, they are still living in sexual immorality and impurity. They are still using filthy language, still telling crude jokes, and still filling their minds with the sinful pleasures of the flesh.

But the Scriptures teach us that no one who makes sin their practice and who lives in sexual immorality and idolatry, lying, cheating, stealing, etc., has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. So we should not let ourselves be deceived by those who are telling us that we can have heaven secured us but while we continue in deliberate and habitual sin against the Lord Jesus. For the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.

[Matt 7:21-23; Lu 9:23-26; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; Rom 12:1-2; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Co 10:1-22; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Gal 5:16-24; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:1-17; Titus 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; 1 Pet 2:24; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Heb 10:23-31; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]

Therefore, we are not to be partners with them. We are not to be those who are regularly and consistently partaking in the sinful pleasures of the flesh, either by just being entertained by such as this on the TV or on the internet, and/or by physically partaking in those sinful pleasures ourselves. For sin isn’t just what is acted out in physical ways, but we can sin in our minds by what we entertain in our minds, such as via lustful thoughts and desires.

And the reason we should no longer be doing these things is that Jesus died on that cross to deliver us out of our bondage to sin so that we will now walk in obedience to his commands in holy living. He died to change us, to transform us, to make us new creations in Christ Jesus, not like we were when we were still living for the pleasures of the flesh. For now we are to be imitators (followers) of God who walk in his love, in living holy lives for him.

Thus, we are no longer to take part in the unfruitful works of darkness (sin, wickedness), but rather we are to be those who exposing these fruitless deeds of darkness for what they are so that others do not get entrapped by them thinking that God is okay with that and that heaven is still their destiny. And we are not to fear what others will think about us or do to us, either, when we expose these deeds of darkness for what they are.

His Tender Mercies

An Original Work / January 26, 2014

Fear not! I’m with you.
Be not dismayed!
God watches o’er you.
Trust Him today.
He’ll lead and guide you;
Give you His aid.
He’ll love and keep you
With Him always.

Walk in His footsteps.
He’ll lead the way.
Trust in His love;
Believe that He cares.
He will not leave you.
Faithful He’ll be.
His tender mercies
Now you will see.

Fellowship with Him
Throughout the day.
Tell Him your heartaches.
He’ll heal always.
Rest in His comfort.
He is your friend.
Your faith He’ll strengthen,
True to the end.

Login to view embedded media

Wow, $600/mo for a two bedroom apartment in a city where one does not need to own a car? The downside, you have to speak German, which has harsher phonetics compared to English. After the article summary, there is this cool 9 minute video that explains why German sounds so harsh. Here is the article: Could Vienna’s approach to affordable housing work in California?


Short summary of the open-access article by The Guardian (<20% in length, for fair usage reasons):

Whelp, looks like the AI run on my laptop is actin' up. You will have to read the article yourself. I will have to troubleshoot this.



Why German language sounds aggressive (9 minutes, ages 15 and up, due to stereotypes about Germany)

Login to view embedded media

When this says here to look carefully how we walk, this is speaking of how we live our lives, the things that we do every day, and the things that we think and speak and seek after, too. For this has to do with our conduct and with our habits. What is our daily practice? What things do we do over and over again by practice (habit)? What do we watch, read, and/or listen to? How do we spend our free time? What do we live for? For self? Or God?

And we definitely need to be watching carefully with regard to how we are conducting our lives, for the days we live in now are extremely evil, and they are getting worse and worse as time goes by. And there are so many trappings out there in the world and in the world of computers and the internet and smartphones, et al, that we must be very guarded that we don’t let our eyes and minds and hearts go in the wrong direction.

So we need to conduct our lives as those who are wise, not as the unwise. And we get our wisdom from the study of the Scriptures and from our personal relationships with Jesus Christ in walks of obedience to him and to his commands in holy living. For the more we know of God and of what he wants for our lives, and the more we submit to him and to his will and purpose for our lives, the more we grow in wisdom and we reject folly.

And it is so important that we make the best use of the time we have here on this earth while we still have time. For we need to be walking closely with our Lord in fellowship with him in doing what he has called us to do. And we need to be sharing the truth of the gospel with others so that they can come to know Jesus, too, and be delivered from their slavery to sin and have the hope of eternal life with God. So we must surrender our lives to do his will.

And then, not only are we not to get drunk on alcoholic beverages, but we are not to get intoxicated to any kind of sinful habits. Our lives are not to be out of control, but under Holy Spirit control. For 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 our Lord’s soon return (Titus 2:11-14; Romans 6:1-23; Luke 9:23-26).

Instead we are to be filled with the Spirit, which is an ongoing process of daily denying self, dying daily to sin, and following our Lord in obedience to his commands. And it involves us putting off the things of the flesh, like sexual immorality, idolatry, witchcraft, lying, stealing, and cheating, and now living in moral purity, uprightness, honesty, faithfulness, and in obedience to our Lord and to his commands. Then we make room for the Spirit in our lives, because we are now yielding to him, and not to the flesh.

And when this says to address one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, this is about us sharing these with one another for the encouragement of one another in our walks of faith in the Lord, and as led by the Spirit of God in what to share. This is not talking about a public song service where we just sing along with songs others have picked out for us to sing. For this is so that we are encouraging each other.

And these songs should be biblical in nature, and be songs which glorify God and which give praise to him, but which are for the express purpose to encourage each other in our walks of faith, much like so many of the old hymns which were and still are so rich in biblical truth and righteousness. And as we do this, we should be giving thanks to the Lord in all things, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.

[Matt 5:13-16; Matt 28:18-20; Jn 4:31-38; Jn 13:13-17; Jn 14:12; Acts 1:8; Acts 2:14-18; Acts 26:18; Rom 10:14-15; Rom 12:1-8; Rom 15:14; 1 Co 12:1-31; 1 Co 14:1-5; Eph 4:1-16; Eph 5:11-27; Php 2:1-8; Col 3:16; Heb 3:13; Heb 10:23-25; 1 Pet 2:9,21; 1 Jn 2:6]

Oh, to Be Like Thee, Blessed Redeemer

Lyrics by Thomas O. Chisholm, 1897
Music by W. J. Kirkpatrick, 1897

Oh, to be like Thee! blessèd Redeemer,
This is my constant longing and prayer;
Gladly I’ll forfeit all of earth’s treasures,
Jesus, Thy perfect likeness to wear.

Oh, to be like Thee! full of compassion,
Loving, forgiving, tender and kind,
Helping the helpless, cheering the fainting,
Seeking the wandering sinner to find.

O to be like Thee! lowly in spirit,
Holy and harmless, patient and brave;
Meekly enduring cruel reproaches,
Willing to suffer others to save.

O to be like Thee! while I am pleading,
Pour out Thy Spirit, fill with Thy love;
Make me a temple meet for Thy dwelling,
Fit me for life and Heaven above.

Oh, to be like Thee! Oh, to be like Thee,
Blessèd Redeemer, pure as Thou art;
Come in Thy sweetness, come in Thy fullness;
Stamp Thine own image deep on my heart.

Login to view embedded media
Caution: This link may contain ads

In Australian court recently there was a case Giggle v Tickle.

Giggle was a woman only social media application, that wanted to exclude all men from the space. The app owner was an actual woman Sall Grover.
Tickle is a person, who has changed name to Roxanne. Tickle wanted access the site.
Giggle had an AI program that looked at a picture and refused entry to people it deemed not to be a woman.
The AI let Tickle in, but on review by the app owner, Tickle was removed. Tickle appeared to be a non-woman to the app owner (and personally I'd agree with her) and was removed.
Tickle took Giggle to Human Rights mediation, the mediation solution to avoid a trial, was that the app had to let Tickle on, purposefully seek to remove anything that may offended Tickle or people who agree with Tickle. Along with Grover going to education session on gender v sex. Grover refused.
Tickle began legal action, asking for $200K AUD but then withdrew. Then later changed mind and got approval even though the time had expired, as it was thought this was important to resolve.

Now it is likely that Tickle will win the first case but then it will go to Australian High Court.

Issue is Australia created its woman's right law on an UN convention that does not include gender expression. However, our first female PM, added gender expression to the Act.

This case is the case to legally define the question of "what is a woman", and because it is going to the UN convention it will probably be used a precedent internationally.

Do you support peace talks to end the war in Ukraine?

Hello folks. Today we will discuss how to spread the Gospel in a way that is effective in modern society, without straying from the Bible.

There are two kinds of matter particles in the universe. Some scientists think that ordinary matter comprises baryons, while dark matter is non-baryonic. Ordinary matter is visible to our eyes and mechanical sensors, while dark matter is invisible.

CERN:

Unlike normal matter, dark matter does not interact with the electromagnetic force. This means it does not absorb, reflect or emit light. Researchers have been able to infer the existence of dark matter only from the gravitational effect it seems to have on visible matter.

Click to expand...

While dark matter explains the hidden gravitational force that pulls a galaxy in place, a seemingly opposite anti-gravitational force pushes galaxies away from one another: dark energy.

NASA:

One explanation for dark energy is that it is a property of space. ... As more space comes into existence, more of this energy-of-space would appear. As a result, this form of energy would cause the universe to expand faster and faster.

Click to expand...

NASA:

It turns out that roughly 68% of the universe is dark energy. Dark matter makes up about 27%. The rest - everything on Earth, everything ever observed with all of our instruments, all normal matter - adds up to less than 5% of the universe.

Click to expand...

Over the course of a human lifetime, the total amount of dark matter to pass through your body doesn't even add up to one gram.

Does the Bible mention dark matter?

I think so. Genesis 1:

1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and void,

Click to expand...

Was this the invisible dark earth existing in the spiritual realm?

and darkness was over the surface of the deep.

Click to expand...

Watch the parallelism: darkness parallels Spirit of God.

And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.

Click to expand...

Was the spiritual realm composed of dark matter and energy?

3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.

Click to expand...

Then came ordinary matter and energy. The physical, visible universe began.

4 God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness

Click to expand...

as if darkness was material like light.

Isaiah 45:

7a I form light and create darkness.

Click to expand...

The invisible became visible, Hebrews 11:

3 By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.

Click to expand...

From the invisible (non-baryonic) matter came the visible (baryonic) matter.

Colossians 1:

15 The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For in Him all things were created, things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities. All things were created through Him and for Him. 17 He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.

Click to expand...

All things visible, ordinary matter, and invisible dark matter hold together.

Berean Study Bible Job 10:

22 to a land of utter darkness, of deep shadow and disorder, where even the light is like darkness.”

Click to expand...

Why can't humans see angels?

Angels are made of non-baryonic matter.

YEC people want scriptures that tell us the earth is old or ancient. So we show them the scriptures in Isaiah, Psalms and Job, Then they try to say ancient does not mean ancient and old does not mean old. It is the KJV that uses these words. So does that mean they are NOT KJV only? If they try to claim old is not old, ancient is not ancient and KJV is not the word of God.

They call themselves YEC for young earth, then try to say old means young. Why do they contradict themselves?
The fact is the KJV uses old and ancient no matter how much of a tap dance they try to do to explain that away.

• The tension arises when YEC proponents attempt to reconcile scientific findings (such as an ancient cosmos) with their literal interpretation of the Bible.
• Some engage in creative explanations or interpretive gymnastics to harmonize these seemingly contradictory perspectives.
• While the KJV consistently uses terms like “old” and “ancient”, the challenge lies in fitting these concepts into a young Earth timeline3.

In her book, Noem writes that she took Cricket on a hunting trip with older dogs in hopes of calming down the wild puppy. Instead, Cricket chased the pheasants while "having the time of her life."

On the way home from the hunting trip, Noem writes that she stopped to talk to a family. Cricket got out of Noem's truck and attacked and killed some of the family's chickens, then bit the governor.

On Sunday, she defended her decision to kill the dog, saying that "South Dakota law states that dogs who attack and kill livestock can be put down."

In the book, Noem also writes that her family also owned a "nasty and mean" male goat that smelled bad and liked to chase her kids. She decided to go ahead and kill the goat, too. She writes that the goat survived the first shot, so she went back to the truck, got another shell, then shot him again, killing him.

Noem’s story has drawn criticism from Democrats and Republicans alike and grim jokes at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Saturday night. Ana Navarro, a former Republican political strategist, said Noem was “auditioning for Cruella De Vil” in a panel on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday morning. S.E. Cupp, another Republican pundit who also hunts with dogs, pointed out that “there are 592 other things you can do with a dog that won't hunt besides kill it in front of your kid and construction workers.” Conservative commentator Meghan McCain also criticized Noem, writing in a post on X “you can recover from a lot of things in politics, change the narrative etc. - but not from killing a dog. All I will distinctly think about Kristi Noem now is that she murdered a puppy who was ‘acting up’ -which is obviously cruel and insane.” The night before, comedian Matt Friend mocked Noem in Trump’s voice at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, saying he was “killing this dinner harder than Kristi Noem kills the puppies”—drawing gasps from the crowd in Washington. Ryan Busse, a Democratic gubernatorial candidate in Montana, criticized Noem as a hunting dog owner on social media, writing “anyone who has ever owned a birddog knows how disgusting, lazy and evil this is.”

One of the disturbing things about this, is that she thought it was a good idea to brag about it in a book.

Abraham was faithful to God in going to the land that God brought him to. Sarah, as grace, brought forth Isaac, as the promise to those who were not bound to the law.

Isaac inherited the promise of the land without having to do anything but enjoy it. We also have inherited the promises of Christ that the Father has placed on the Son, and have to do nothing to enjoy death to sin, risen with Him, and life in Him. In that we need do nothing but believe and enjoy.

However God is the God of not just Abraham and Isaac but also of Jacob. God is the God of the living.
Jacob went thro many trials and tribulations, from a natural strength to a spiritual strength, during his lifetime.

From that we can see how God Himself calls us to the inheritance of God the Son. We have been crucified in Christ at the same time His death occurred. So the old creation has already died, but yet alive to Christ. Being alive to Christ, reckoning ourselves dead to sin, we have yet to deal with self.

Jacob had a very active self, yet he had come to that place where angels ascended and descended. ( The House of God ) Jesus said that we would see the same angels ascending and descending on Him. In Him we live and move and have our being. For God intended that we would seek and find Him.

Jacob, by nature, much unlike Isaac, was unsuitable for God's work. But at the end of his life he was very humble. The work that God started in him, He did complete.

Our lives are like the dealings that God had with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. We have been led here, we have been given the accomplishments for our inheritance, and we are being perfected to be suited for noble use, that He ( God the Father of the living, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob ) did begin.

According to God, Genesis 2:

17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”

Click to expand...

This was not just knowledge but knowledge of good and evil, i.e., knowledge of morality. Before the fall, everything was good according to their conscience provided by God alone.

What was wrong with Adam and Eve knowing good and evil?

God did not want man to have this ability to decide on his own independently what was good and evil apart from God's standard. But the serpent had other ideas. It tempted Eve in Genesis 3:

5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

Click to expand...

Right, they would be like God, having this ability to decide morality. Only God was supposed to decide what was good and evil. Men are not supposed to decide on morality.

The Hebrew word for "knowing" was H3045. It was a common word that appeared 942 times.

Brown-Driver-Briggs:

know by experience

Click to expand...

Adam and Eve would experience good and evil if they ate.

According to Eve:

6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food

Click to expand...

There was an internal conflict: On the one hand, it looked good to eat. On the other hand, according to God, it was not good for her to eat that. But it looked delicious. Eve wanted to decide what was good or not by her own thinking process.

and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise,

Click to expand...

for obtaining wisdom,
Strong's 7919: To be, circumspect, intelligent

Eve wanted to be wise to do her own thinking and make her own decisions. By eating, Adam and Eve would acquire their own abilities to decide what was good or bad, apart from God. And it happened right away:

she took of its fruit and ate,

Click to expand...

Eve was deceived.

and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.

Click to expand...

Adam fell with her.

7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.

Click to expand...

At this point, they thought that it was bad to be naked, which they didn't think about before they ate. God didn't think that either. Their consciences were now independent of God due to their 1st disobedience.

But have no fear; God will make the reconnection by the Paraclete. The Paraclete is our spirit's legal counselor. He makes the judgment calls, advises us on good and bad, and guides us to walk in the Spirit.

Hello Everyone,

I am grateful that I have found this forum and am really looking forward in finding some fellowship with some like minded Christians. I have been on a spiritual journey and have surrendered myself to God. Can't say it has been easy so far and have now realized how narrow that gate really is.

Thank you and God Bless.

Have all [and are all] scientific theories been valid ones?

The president of a nonprofit Christian persecution watchdog that monitors hostility to faith and freedom abroad warned that too few Christians in America and the West seem aware of how such trends are manifesting at home.

"Basically, we are frogs in the kettle, and the bubbles keep coming up under us," Jeff King, president of the Washington, D.C.-based International Christian Concern (ICC), told The Christian Post.

"Too many people are not aware politically, and they're so used to thinking of how things were that they can't figure out where these bubbles are coming from, not realizing they're being cooked."

ICC, which was founded in 1995 to advocate for the persecuted church around the world, has been speaking out, particularly about Staci Barber's case in Texas.

Continued below.

Pray that The Holy Spirit comforts & heals those affected by the death of a 13 year old boy who was killed due to a sword attack on 30-April-2024:

https://www.bbc.com/news/live/uk-england-london-68926446?src_origin=BBCS_BBC

The Fortunate Fall, was it fortunate for mankind that we fell?

I do understand that this is a position held by the Mormon church. I, however, am not interested in debating for or against Mormonism per say. I am interested in the theology and reasoning behind whether the fall of Adam, thereby the fall of mankind, was a fortunate or unfortunate thing. I'm looking for reasoning and biblical reference.

The general concept, to me (I am not aware of the debate issues), seems to revolve around the ultimate state of mankind, i.e., the glorified man. Anyone saying that the fall was a fortunate thing for mankind would seem to suggest that Adam (thereby mankind) could only attain the state of Able to Sin, Able not to Sin (posse peccare, posse non peccare), which is not the ultimate state of mankind, which is posse non peccare (meaning Not Able to Sin). This postition, of the fall being fortunate, would hold that Adam was created perfect and complete in regard to how Adam could possibly be (both of these terms would need to be defined for a proper discussion). Thus, being created perfect and complete, Adam had no path to posse non peccare (Able Not to Sin).

This position, that the fall was fortunate would seem to require one of few lines of thought; (1) God had a plan and it was thrwarted by sin so he went to plan B, (2) The final end of mankind has always been tied to sin. We had to sin to get to our ultimate state. As Orson F. Whiteney said in 1908, “Adam’s fall was a step downward,” but teach that “it was also a step forward . . . in the eternal march of human progress.”

1. Was the fall fortunate of unfortunate?
2. Was Adam created complete with no path toward glorified man?
3. Did mankind have to sin so that our ultimate state of posse non peccare could be achieved? (Is sin necessary)


Thank you for your responses in advance

Okay, I was not sure how to title this post since it is not anti-sabbath per se, which is why the quote marks are there.

When one claims to "keep the Sabbath," they make a truth-claim about themselves. There are as many ways to "keep the Sabbath" as there are Sabbatarians, especially when it comes to the more liberal Sabbatarians, so which way is the correct way, or is this subject to the modern definition of "truth?" They claim to be the ones who know how it should be kept, or else how could they claim to be keeping it?

In general, Sabbatarians all agree that the Sabbath is an important command to keep, but that is where it ends. If one tells me it is very important to keep the Sabbath, should they not explain how it is to be kept, especially in our modern day? But doesn't this all lead to a works-orientation?

I think that sometimes Sabbatarians develop a blindness to the forest because of the Sabbath trees. The issue is not the sabbath but obedience to our Father and Christ. Human nature is prone to idol worship, and once it assumes it has found a way to climb to heaven, it can easily slip into idol worship unless our desire to obey is divinely planted in us and our love for our Father and Our big Brother, Christ, is burning in us and motivating us, commandment-keeping, in general, is an empty pointless exercise in a vain attempt to scale the wall of the sheepfold.
In short, The danger or dangers of sabbath keeping can be

1. Self-centered works
2. Judgement of brother and sister Christians
3. Pride
4. Legalism

Of course, the true Sabbath is found in Christ, but a godly observance of God's law in humility and gratefulness for his salvation can allow us to experience a taste of the rest to come. God does not point the bony finger of indignation at His sheep, nor should I.

1 John 2:

18 Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour.

Click to expand...

There were many antichrists in John's time.

The word appears five times only in John's epistles. It is NOT found in the Book of Revelation, the Book of Daniel, or the Olivet discourse, and Paul never used the term.

Who is an antichrist?

An antichrist could be a human being. 1 John 2:

22 Who is the liar? It is whoever denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a person is the antichrist—denying the Father and the Son.

Click to expand...

An antichrist could be a spirit. 1 John 4:

3 but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.

Click to expand...

2 John 1:

7 I say this because many deceivers, who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh, have gone out into the world. Any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist.

Click to expand...

An antichrist is a liar and deceiver who denies the Father and the Son and that Jesus came in the flesh. There were plenty of those around in John's time and in ours. That's the concept of the antichrist according to John, and he did not use this word in the book of Revelation. There is no need to glorify one single individual as THE AntiChrist on the last day, as if he is the opposite equal of Christ. There will be plenty of them.

Can a Pope or a politician be an antichrist?

Sure, but only if he

1. is a liar
2. is a deceiver
3. denies the Father and the Son, and
4. denies that Jesus came in the flesh.

It is not healthy for a Christian to be more interested in the Anti-Christ than Christ.

A abortion pro-choice activist wanted me to sign abortion petition and I denied it and kept walking I told a Christian friend about it and he told me I did the wrong thing. He told me I should’ve denied it and after that and tell the activists that they are promoting sin and explain how wrong abortion is. Should I have done or all that or did i do the right thing or was there another option?

It seems like I often feel some anxiety even to a slight extent. Some of the anxiety is sleep related. Because in the past there were a few occasions where I had serious trouble sleeping, sometimes I feel some anxiety if it is getting close to my bedtime and I don’t feel tired. This is especially true on Sunday night where I have slept in during the weekend and have to readjust to getting up at 5 in the morning for work.



When I say serious trouble sleeping, there were a number of occasions in the past number of years where I would get no sleep for two nights / days in a row, and sometimes these experiences were connected to going to the psych ward. Whenever two nights in a row with no sleep happens, I have to call off of work, and it would put me in a place where what I think I remember is if I wasn’t able to fall asleep after getting home from work after the first night, I would try to call off in the evening, but if I ended up falling asleep I would go in to work after all. So somehow sleep is connected to anxiety related to the workplace, especially when you have to report this to someone and they may not understand or want to know if you have caught something.



Another source of anxiety where I have felt a tinge of anxiety is knowing about terrible things happening in other countries and imagining what it would be like if it happened here. For instance, I heard on the news recently that a missile landed on an apartment complex in Ukraine killing or injuring residents, and living at an apartment myself, I think that could be horrific.



Additionally before moving to a large city I live by currently, I heard reports of crime in the area. On a radio station in the area I had heard that the crime was spreading from the city into the suburbs and if I remember correctly, they reported a shooting at a gas station. Furthermore, I had visited a guys Bible study in the area where it was shared that one of the guys was jumped at a gas station in the area.



As Christians we are supposed to have no fear of death, but if I am honest, I will say that the idea of my body falling apart in the future is something that makes me uncomfortable, and if I suddenly faced that risk, I think I could be afraid in that moment.



Has anyone else dealt with these kind of anxiety issues?

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO "COUNT THE OMER?" (Leviticus 23:10-17)


Many Christians probably are not familiar with these words; "counting of the Omer" However, when we read in Leviticus 23:10-17 the instructions from God, we can see symbolism in our Messiah Yeshua. So, grab your Bibles and read through verses 10-17.

When we look at the context, Passover has been celebrated. This is the time when lambs were sacrificed and their blood placed on the doorposts of the houses in Goshen, in the land of Egypt. As we are familiar with the Passover story, Adonai himself goes through Egypt and takes the lives of the firstborn in Egypt, in all of the houses where blood was not placed on the doorposts.

Goshen, however, was where the Hebrews lived and they DID put the blood on the doorposts, so, Adonai "Passed over" those houses seeing that the "blood of the lambs" was there. How does this point to Yeshua/Jesus? The blood of the lambs was the "substitute" so that death did NOT enter those households that were obedient.

Our LORD and Messiah, Savior was OUR substitute, who took our curse of sin and died in our place. No wonder he is called the "Lamb of God". But then, what follows, is the Moed (time, season) of unleavened bread. We are to eat bread without leaven for 7 days, and together with the night of Passover, they are 8 days. What is special about unleavened bread? Yeshua is known as the "Bread of Life" without sin. Leaven points to sin in Biblical understanding. So, for 8 days, we are to be reminded to be "aware" of sin in our lives. Every time we partake of unleavened bread during this time period (for those who chose to do so) we are to be reminded of "Yeshua" who is the Bread of Life (without leaven) and to reject temptations, and avoid sin.

But there is more. This is the time when the barley grain was harvested in Israel. Barley is a simple grain used for food for cattle, and the very poor made barley bread. Once I made barley bread and it is similar to cornbread, it crumbles easily. A sheaf of barley is waved before the presence of Adonai, in thankfulness of the harvest. Then, the barley can be harvested and prepared for cattle fodder, or for making this simple bread. We remember also that Yeshua/Jesus is the "First Fruits" of the resurrection. He is the first to be "raised from the dead".

Then, we have a time period of 7 sabbaths, (49 days) between this time and it culminates on the Day of Shavuot or Pentecost. We call this time the "counting of the Omer." You might ask "What is an Omer?" An Omer is a grain measure between 2 and 3 litres. We are reminded that the Israelites were provided with Manna for their daily consumption in the wilderness journeys. In the Ark of the Covenant, an "Omer" of manna was kept in remembrance of God's daily provision for his people.

So, we we really count wheat and barley grains during the counting of the Omer? Not really, rather we use this time of 49 days to grow in faith and in maturity, to increase our knowledge of the WORD, and in the "Living WORD" to remember that our ancestors came out of Egypt with attitudes and grumblings, yet 50 days later, at Sinai, they were joined together as "Am Echad" (One People) The goal would be to become more like Adonai, to love and obey His commandments, thus maturing in the faith.

We need to remember that on Shavuot, or "Pentecost" was when the Holy Spirit came down to dwell with all believers. On Sinai, the fire of God came to rest on Mt. Sinai, away from the people. On Pentecost, the Fire of God came to "rest" on believers. This is the culmination of the time of "counting the Omer" looking forward to this time, when we wave two loaves of bread as a "wave offering" The Bread is of course "Yeshua, the Bread of Life" and why 2 loaves? "2" can mean "unity and division" we have been "united" in fellowship with God, and "divided" or "separated" from the lost world.

We can say this prayer each day: "Blessed are you O LORD, our God, King of the Universe who has sanctified us in his commandments and commands us to count the Omer." after that, it is customary to read Psalm 67, then meditate and read Proverbs or other Psalms. Everyone is different. We just take this time to grow in faith.

Yes, many are saying; "This is a Jewish holiday" Well, it started out being for the Hebrews first, then, since we are ALL included in God's community of called-out believers, those who trust in Yeshua/Jesus as LORD and Savior, we have the right and privilege to celebrate the "Counting of the Omer" as well. Once again, we can choose to do, or not to do.