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Postvieww · 2025-11-23T07:10:35-0600

stevevw said:
What's that old saying 'don't throw stones if you live in a glass house'. Its funny how on just about every issue the Dems have gone crazy and fixated on in trying to blame Trump and Rep with. It ends up being the exact thing the Dems have done.

You can just about know where the Dems are at by using the very accusations they label Trump with. Those who judge others have to be prepared to be judged by the same standards.

This is so very true. Just a few examples, gerrymandering, insurrection, destroying democracy, talking campaign money from big corporations and billionaires, more recently starving children. This could go on and on but I believe the point is made. You are absolutely correct if they are claiming Republicans are doing something wrong you can bet they have already done or are doing it now.

Sam266 · 2025-11-23T07:09:58-0600

2PhiloVoid said:
And what would be the epistemic goal in letting those of us who are still Christian know that the historical evidence for the Resurrection of Jesus is, as you've said, "weak"? Is your intention to merely inform us? To infuse us with needed Critical Thinking skills that we often lack? To humble us and urge us to appropriate doxastic humility, especially where politics is concerned?

I have to ask because being that your divulgence to my earlier question implies that theology and apologetics will be stepped on here in the attempt to explicate a particular view of The Philosophy of History and/or Historiography, you run the risk of having this thread closed and removed. And that would be an unfortunate waste of time for both of us.

My goal is to inform, to challenge, and to help people think more clearly. Every worldview is a philosophical claim, even the Christian worldview. That said, I'm going to end this thread, because I don't want to run the risk of spending so much of my time on something that's going to be deleted. I'm surprised that so many Christians are unwilling to be challenged, not that you're necessarily saying this, but the implication is there. I see this on the political left all the time. They shout you down, refuse to listen, and ostracize you. It's a way of sealing themselves off from counter-evidence, and it's a shame. Not all Christians are like this, but many are. I want to listen to your response in case I've misinterpreted something.

hedrick · 2025-11-23T07:07:30-0600

Oompa Loompa said:
First, there are already processes in place for dealing with unlawful orders such as the chain of command and the judge advocates. Second, where the heck were Democrats when service members were being kicked out of the military for refusing the COVID vaccines? Third, what illegal orders are these democrats talking about?

You can make a reasonable case that orders to bomb boats with alleged smugglers are illegal. You can also reasonably argue that use of the national guard in cities has often been illegal. Judge rules Trump's National Guard deployment to D.C. is illegal. In both cases, however, these issues are going to be dealt with in the courts. It would not be a good idea for individual soldiers to disobey.

On the other hand, Trump has been pushing the boundaries of presidential powers. It's not unreasonable to ask whether in the next 3 years he might go further and issue orders that should be rejected.

It's not so clear that the chain of command is going to work in this case. There's reason to think that JAG's are being overruled by politicians, as noted in a previous article. The Comey prosecution is another example of the same thing: the real prosecutors were fired, and someone brought in whose only qualification was a willingness to do the prosecution. This is not an administration that can be relied on to use internal controls.

Oompa Loompa · 2025-11-23T06:59:03-0600

Yarddog said:
Well, the UCMJ says this:
(c) Lawfulness. A general order or regulation is lawful unless it is contrary to the Constitution, the laws of the United States, or lawful superior orders or for some other reason is beyond the authority ofthe official issuing it. See the discussion of lawful-
ness in paragraph 14c(2)(a).

Now, we all know what is contrary to the laws of the United States and for the most part, the Constitution. Some ambiguity may arise as to how much authority that Congress has given to the President in so called National Emergencies. But, it is the military's duty to disobey unlawful orders. We will have some clarity when SCOTUS rules on the case on the docket about using the military in Chicago.

The Navy has more information than the public has but it is their responsibility to report to Congress, if Congress calls for it, and which Congress says nothing has been provided to justify the bombing of boats in International waters.

Nothing in our laws allows for the murder or killing of alleged drug traffickers unless being fired upon.

First, there are already processes in place for dealing with unlawful orders such as the chain of command and the judge advocates. Second, where the heck were Democrats when service members were being kicked out of the military for refusing the COVID vaccines? Third, what illegal orders are these democrats talking about?

d taylor · 2025-11-23T06:52:45-0600

-

So does one have to actually sit in the chair to believe the chair will support them when sat in.

Sam266 · 2025-11-23T06:49:56-0600

The Psychology of Belief

Belief is not just “a sentence in your head,” it functions more like a filter and a forcefield. Once you believe something, it shapes what you notice, how you remember events, what feels threatening or comforting, and which explanations “feel right.” In that sense, belief is an active stance, not a passive state. That is why it often feels stronger than any single piece of evidence or one neat argument.

Psychology gives us several mechanisms that explain this. Confirmation bias makes us seek and highlight information that fits what we already think and quietly ignore or downgrade what clashes with it. Motivated reasoning means we often use our intelligence like a lawyer, defending the belief we already want rather than judging it impartially. Many beliefs are also stitched into identity and tribe: to question them feels like betraying “my people” or losing who I am, so counter-evidence lands as an attack rather than a reason to revise. Cognitive dissonance then pushes us to reinterpret or dismiss evidence rather than change the belief, because changing the belief is emotionally costly.

That said, good reasoning is not powerless; it is just slow and fragile compared to settled belief. Over time, repeated collisions with reality, changes in what trusted people around us believe, and deliberate habits of self-questioning can shift even deeply held views. But left to itself, belief tends to overpower evidence. You have to build structures and habits, like actively looking for defeaters, separating “I feel sure” from “this is well supported,” and checking your sources, if you want evidence and reasoning to have a fair chance against the sheer psychological momentum of belief.

None of us is exempt from the psychological forces that shape our beliefs. Those forces usually outweigh clear reasoning in determining what we accept. Every one of us holds beliefs that owe more to our psychology than to strong justification.

hedrick · 2025-11-23T06:45:33-0600

RDKirk said:
You keep saying it's illegal...cite the US law that they would be prosecuted under.

This article will give you a sense of the debate: Top military lawyer raised legal concerns about boat strikes While there are good arguments that using lethal force requires justifications that the administration doesn't have, past administrations of both parties have also rejected some of these limits. As far as I know, the Supreme Court hasn't dealt with them. Here's a legal analysis that argues that they are not legal: Perry World House Q&A with William Burke-White: Understanding the Legal Ramifications of U.S. Strikes Against Venezuela - Perry World House However it is not clear to me that past administrations have accepted the restrictions referred to there, even though in principle they should.

In the current case, the legal question is whether drug smugglers are criminals or an invading army.

However in the past, US presidents seem to have felt free to drop bombs on people without a declaration of war or other legal justification.

BelieveItOarKnot · 2025-11-23T06:45:28-0600

Colo Millz said:
May there not be very many other OT passages that can be interpreted allegorically?

They are all allegory/similitude/parable/figures/types

But of what are always the questions

BelieveItOarKnot · 2025-11-23T06:40:40-0600

SabbathBlessings said:
I think reading the story of King David and how he valued the ark of God,

It wasn't the components of ark material that David valued, but the power of God that killed Uzzah

2 Sam 6
6 And when they came to Nachon's threshingfloor, Uzzah put forth his hand to the ark of God, and took hold of it; for the oxen shook it.
7 And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah; and God smote him there for his error; and there he died by the ark of God.

The Law it seems is indeed a KILLER. Maybe not in such dramatic fashions as Uzzah, but the shadow of that event definitely STUCK here:

Romans 7:
9 For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died

POWER against Uzzah killed him. Just trying to "help out" the law

The Law needs no help of man. It proved all of us, sinners, long long ago. In the Garden iirc, on day one

RDKirk · 2025-11-23T06:38:18-0600

Yarddog said:
So since it's illegal to use excessive force in the US, Navy or Coast Guard personal can be prosecuted for deliberately killing alleged criminals in speed boats?

You keep saying it's illegal...cite the US law that they would be prosecuted under.

Warden_of_the_Storm · 2025-11-23T06:34:35-0600

Apple Sky said:
Sorry - but I think you may have your page numbers wrong.

They're posts not pages.

Strong in Him · 2025-11-23T06:34:17-0600

Apple Sky said:
Sorry - but I think you may have your page numbers wrong.

He didn't say "page number", he said "post number."
For example, Post 1324 says;

Bradskii said:
Funnily enough I drove down that 90 mile road two weeks ago. Here's a piccie I took with my drone (video won't upload):

View attachment 373516

It's a straight road. No bends or curves. The higher the drone went, the further I could see. Funny that. And if I get the drone to look out to sea at around 1,000m up (well away from civilisation where there may be restrictions) then you can see ships in the distance. But as the drone drops they dissapear over the horizon.

Why do you think that happens?

Oh, another thing. I've now driven across the continent north to south and east to west. The difference in distance is a few hundred kms. Your flat maps show Australia about 5x as wide in width compared to height.

Your flat earth map is very wrong indeed.

Normandt · 2025-11-23T06:33:46-0600

Homily Monday, November 24 2025

34th OT

Daniel 1:1-6, 8-20

The question of food in Daniel's time is not an issue for Catholics. Except for meat offerings to idols.

The example we can draw from this is to distance ourselves from evil and allow ourselves to be loved by God.

Allowing ourselves to be loved by God, drives away evil.

Luke 21:1-4

What Jesus says here is a lesson in itself:

"Those others have all made offerings from their surplus wealth, but she, from her poverty, has offered her whole livelihood."

As we know, Jesus wants to guide us to the realities of heaven.

The "surplus wealth" is a danger of pride.

But, for the little woman, she is present with her heart, and in her heart is peace.

Let us be like this little woman who allows God's Love to go ‘round.

Let us allow all people to discover simple joy within themselves.

God's Love is in all hearts.

Biblical texts: NAB-RE

Normand Thomas.

Strong in Him · 2025-11-23T06:30:00-0600

Bradskii said:
C'mon, Apple. Think about each of them and give us your answer.,

I admire your optimism - I suspect the answer will be to look for a YouTube clip that "explains" it.

Apple Sky · 2025-11-23T06:29:55-0600

Bradskii said:
Just see posts 1262, 1319 and 1324.

Sorry - but I think you may have your page numbers wrong.

prodromos · 2025-11-23T06:28:58-0600

Apple Sky said:
That's right until it dosn't apper to be there anymore.

Except for very large objects which would still be visible to the naked eye, apart from the fact that they are hidden behind the curvature of the earth. Objects like the Isle of Man for example.

Sam266 · 2025-11-23T06:27:12-0600

Robban said:
What is dead is dead, what is alive is alive,

So how can there be an afterlife, First must one come alive or can a corpse bury a corpse?

Matthew 8:21-22.

Said the Rebbe, "When a cold hard heart becomes excited over a Godly idea, is this not a resurrection"

I appreciate your interest in NDEs, but the thread is about epistemology and the resurrection. First epistemology, then we will examine the evidence for the resurrection.

Christsfreeservant · 2025-11-23T06:25:59-0600

“Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth.

Serve the Lord with gladness;

Come before Him with joyful singing.

Know that the Lord Himself is God;

It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves;

We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.

Enter His gates with thanksgiving

And His courts with praise.

Give thanks to Him, bless His name.

For the Lord is good;

His lovingkindness is everlasting

And His faithfulness to all generations.” (Psalm 100:1-5 NASB1995)

In the United States of America, where I live, marked on our calendars is a yearly day of celebration and thanksgiving to God. Evidently, one of our former presidents by the name of Abraham Lincoln, who was later assassinated, declared it a national holiday in 1863 during the Civil War. “Lincoln’s proclamation was a way to unify the nation during the war by establishing a day for ‘Thanksgiving and Prayer’” (source Google AI). And this day of celebration will be this Thursday, November 27, 2025.

But for us who have trusted in Jesus Christ to be Lord and Savior of our lives, every day should be a day of “Thanksgiving and Prayer.” Every day we should be giving thanks to the Lord for the breath of life and for his love and forgiveness, and for saving us from our sins, and for giving us new life in him to be lived for his glory, and for his purposes, and for his praise. And this is not to be verbal only, but from our hearts of gratitude, and shown in how we live our lives in submission to God and to his purpose for our lives.

For thanksgiving to God is not in words only or it is not true thanksgiving. For if we are truly thankful that he saved us from our sins, and that he has given us new lives in him to be lived for his purpose, then we should be following him with our lives in doing what he commands. We should be walking in obedience to his commands, and sin must no longer be our practice. This doesn’t mean that we will never sin (1 John 2:1-2), or that we will never fail, but day by day we should be following Jesus with our lives.

“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” (John 10:27-30 NASB1995)

Yes! As Jesus’s true sheep (followers) we are to be listening to (heeding, following, obeying) his voice, and we should be following (obeying, abiding by) his teachings and his commandments (New Covenant). And we are those to whom he gives eternal life, and we will never perish, and no one can snatch us out of his hands and the hands of God the Father because we pay close attention to our Lord’s words, and we love and obey our Lord and his teachings, and we follow him wherever he leads us in doing what he says.

And that is the best thanksgiving and praise that we can give to God, is when we bow to him in submission to his will and we follow him wherever he leads us in doing all that he commands that we must do as his followers. Yes, I am certain that he loves to hear us sing praises to him and to give him verbal thanks and praise, but provided that our praise is sincere and that it is accompanied by genuine submission to him as Lord of our lives. For the praise that he desires most is our surrender of our lives to him as our Lord.

And this will be evidenced by us serving him with our lives in doing what he has called us to do collectively and individually. And it will be shown through our humility in recognizing that all we have is from the Lord and not of our own doing, and when we become his true and abiding sheep (followers). For true thanksgiving to God is not in lip service only, but in surrender to his will in doing all that he commands that we must do as his followers. And the Lord is good, and his lovingkindness and faithfulness is everlasting. Amen!

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

My Sheep

Based off John 10:1-30 NIV
An Original Work / June 24, 2012
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

My sheep hear me. They know me.
They listen to my voice and obey.
I call them and lead them.
They know my voice, so they follow me.
They will never follow strangers.
They will run away from them.
The voice of a stranger they know not;
They do not follow him.

So, I tell you the truth that
I am the gate, so you enter in.
Whoever does enter
Will find forgiveness and will be saved.
Nonetheless whoever enters
Not by the gate; other way,
He is the thief and a robber.
Listen not, the sheep to him.

Oh, I am the Good Shepherd,
Who laid his own life down for the sheep.
I know them. They know me.
They will live with me eternally.
The thief only comes to steal and
Kill and to destroy the church.
I have come to give you life that
You may have it to the full…

They know my voice, so they follow me.

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The Sheep of His Pasture
An Original Work / November 23, 2025
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

BelieveItOarKnot · 2025-11-23T06:25:51-0600

The "Truth," Capital T, is quite secure and not in need of the proof of anyone.

He Is.

And the surprise is we all experience Him. Most just don't know.

Have you ever loved anyone, anything? Yes, let's make it simpler. Have you ever even just loved your self?

IF you've ever had that "warm" feeling in your own heart of love, then you have "experienced" God Himself, even in some small way.

This is exactly what John the Apostle pointed to in 1 John 4:7

7 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.

Let's make it easy for others to see this simple fact, and just assume them in, OK?

Because they do know God. They just don't know it's God. But it is, whether the like it or not. It is because He Is

There really is no use trying to wrestle people to the ground and make them recite the 4 stepper prayer. They already know God. Just TAG them in that "experience" that it IS Jesus in their hearts, that God Is Love, and move on with life, and let Jesus do the work.

He Will because He IS

stevevw · 2025-11-23T06:25:12-0600

As a young Christian and someone who was into Led Zeplin, Floyd, Hendrix, and Cream ect Phil Keaggy filled that gap well. Even better as even his guitar work sounded Christian lol. I remember having the Sony Walkman and listening walking down the street or on a bus. It was great.

My favorite song was 'Time'

I love the studio version of the original album 'Love Broke Through'. But I also like this later version from a few years ago.

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Akita Suggagaki · 2025-11-23T06:24:29-0600

Oour responsibility lies in working for the Lord, whether it is in “looking after orphans or widows in distress” (James 1:27), giving to the hungry, the naked, visiting those in prison (Matthew 25:35-36), serving in our workplace (Colossians 3:22), or doing whatever we do (Colossians 3:23). And our motivation is that we have God’s own promise that our work “is not in vain” in the Lord “since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving” (Colossians 3:24).

Apple Sky · 2025-11-23T06:20:11-0600

Bradskii said:
Aren't you reading the posts? A couple of the questions I directly asked you. So please don't treat me like an idiot.

I'm not, I just literally forgot.

Bradskii said:
Just see posts 1262, 1319 and 1324.

Okay I will.

Nithavela · 2025-11-23T06:18:07-0600

Desk trauma said:
Christianity is so often reduced to little more than a revenge fantasy.

That's selling it a bit short. It has at least three more facets.

Apple Sky · 2025-11-23T06:14:35-0600

Bradskii said:
Isn't this your thread?

No, ffrind ........

BelieveItOarKnot · 2025-11-23T06:13:04-0600

NewLifeInChristJesus said:
16 I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.

Excellent citing. Shall not fulfill never said we won't have the lusts to contend with.

The lusts are in fact demonic in origin. We are all "tempted" in mind. Often quite subtly I hear. Most think it's just them, but it's not.

There's a very good reason to take "every thought" captive. Captives belong in jail.

When Paul says "bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ" just how might that apply to our adversary, the tempter (or his own unseen influencers)?

We know where the Word is sown, Satan steals, resists, tempts, etc.

So, anyone can test this theory for themselves.

How many times has any believer read Mark 4:15 and said to themselves, "that doesn't apply to you because you are a believer?"

I did, perhaps thousands of times as I've read scriptures a lot for a long time, before it finally hit me, that it DOES happen to me. Kind of an Oh Crap moment for me because, you see, I had been in DENIAL of Jesus' Own Words, openly so, and never saw it or realized that voice in my head doing the DENYING was "not me."

Welcome to the wrestling match

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