• Starting today August 7th, 2024, in order to post in the Married Couples, Courting Couples, or Singles forums, you will not be allowed to post if you have your Marital status designated as private. Announcements will be made in the respective forums as well but please note that if yours is currently listed as Private, you will need to submit a ticket in the Support Area to have yours changed.

  • CF has always been a site that welcomes people from different backgrounds and beliefs to participate in discussion and even debate. That is the nature of its ministry. In view of recent events emotions are running very high. We need to remind people of some basic principles in debating on this site. We need to be civil when we express differences in opinion. No personal attacks. Avoid you, your statements. Don't characterize an entire political party with comparisons to Fascism or Communism or other extreme movements that committed atrocities. CF is not the place for broad brush or blanket statements about groups and political parties. Put the broad brushes and blankets away when you come to CF, better yet, put them in the incinerator. Debate had no place for them. We need to remember that people that commit acts of violence represent themselves or a small extreme faction.

Trump sends troops to the 'warzone' of Portland...

Ive been watching the live feeds feom Portland. For rhe most part during the day its really not too bad. Once in a while some do stupid things, but generally its not concerning. At night though it does get crazy. I've watched a lot of stuff and its not just people mingling around with some signs on the sidewalk.
Yeah, really wild:
Login to view embedded media
But throwing hard objects or shooting fireworks at them is not protesting. Thats assault.

They are also committing other offenses that violate state and city laws, but the Portland police are not interested in charging anyone for breaking those laws. That is also not acceptable.
Portland police are absolutely arresting people for assault:


Login to view embedded media
Upvote 0

When does blindness occur?

Spiritual blindness occurs as the result of the fall. Because Adam rebelled against God, sin entered the world, and (spiritual (as well as physical)) death by sin. We are conceived and born in sin, it requires a savior to overcome this blindness. Jesus said that those with ears to hear/eyes to see would understand the truth, and that is generally considered a function of God working in us and turning us to Himself.
Indeed, it is a matter of God's grace to lift the dark veil which lies over the minds of people.
Upvote 0

No person can come to Christ by their own freewill !

Well, I think the Bible speaks to some of that, that baptism is a statement of belief, so it is more likely it occurs prior to baptism. But my bet is on either at the foundation of the world or at the fall.
Thank you. I think either position has very solid support.
Upvote 0

The USA's 250th birthday to be celebrated with Octagon UFC/MMA fight, possibly on the White House South Lawn

....Kamala Harris had Megan Thee Stallion performing at a campaign rally....
Theres nothing "obscene" about an MMA fight. I just dont want the White House becoming grounds for a bread and circuses style spectacle.
  • Agree
Reactions: Desk trauma
Upvote 0

The Saving results of the Death of Christ !

No they can't refuse regeneration, it occurred while they were dead.
And still some, after having tasted of the heavenly gift (Heb 6:4), or coming to the knowledge of Christ (2 Pet 2:20-22), may yet prefer to return to their death, to the flesh, like a dog to its vomit.
Upvote 0

When does blindness occur?

Spiritual blindness occurs as the result of the fall. Because Adam rebelled against God, sin entered the world, and (spiritual (as well as physical)) death by sin. We are conceived and born in sin, it requires a savior to overcome this blindness. Jesus said that those with ears to hear/eyes to see would understand the truth, and that is generally considered a function of God working in us and turning us to Himself.
Upvote 0

There’s a Giant Flaw in Human History

An appropriate measuring device. Maybe you should learn about them and determine which ones might have been available to ancient Egyptian craftsmen.
I don't think there is any that the ancients could have used. Certainly not to the micron level. That takes modern tech like a guage sensor or structured light. You can't do it with a ruler. You keep forgetting that the precision lines have to be cut into the object. Measuring is one thing. Cutting to that precision is another.
Now you're beginning to catch on.
And tell me again what was the measuring tool that could be used to know when to stop rubbing. Why grind, rub and repeat 100 times when one or two passes with the lathe will get the symmetry down to the micron level. Thats how we normally do it.
Because they didn't have it, they had to do without.
How do you know. This is denying their ability as ancient craftsman lol. Being creative with tech is just as creative. If someone found a vase from modern CNC machining in 5,000 years they would think this culture was very talented.
That's a bare-face lie and you know it.
Actually its not as it uses the exact same logic as yourself. You object that I am denying the craftsmanship of ancients by suggesting they had modern type tech that helped them achieve the precision. Rather than their unaided freehands as an artist in sculpturing the vase.

Yet you are quite happy to allow that these ancients used other tools like chisels, grinders and some sort of wheel or lathe. The majority of people on this thread acknowledge that the symmetry and circularity in the vases was achieved by some sort of lathing or wheel.

This is the same thing as I am doing except I am taking it one step further and saying they had tools just like you say but just more sophisticated tools to achieve the high precision.

How is this different.
All part of the craft of using hand tools, then and now.
Are you saying that the hand tools such as a chisel, pounders and rubbing achieved the near perfect symmetry and circularity. Or did they get help from some sort of lathe or wheel to ensure circularity.
No, I don't see any logic. What I do see is a dishonest attempt to win an argument by constantly shifting your assertions about what constitutes "tech."
The assertions is exactly what it needs to be. Your saying the ancients were aided by tools and measurements to get the precision and not their bare unaided hands without tools. I am saying the same thing. Just making the tools more sophisticated to match the high precision.

Its logical because everyone recognises that precise symmetry and circularity are an obvious result and signature of a lathe and not unaided hands. The lathe and not the artists unaided steady hand is what gets the precision.

The chisel or grinder is what helps get the shape and not the bare hands. Same thing, the lathing helps get the better shape and not the bare hands.

What you want me to believe is that a human can create a precision machine part without a lathe or any machining. When its a logical and evidential fact that precise symmetry and circularity is the result of lathing of some sort. BUt you want to make a special case for these ancients otherwise we are denying the artistry lol.
Upvote 0

How much of your income are you willing to have taken for taxpayer funded healthcare.

Yes, I am generalizing, because I believe a complete overhaul of the entire health care system is necessary to help address the particular issues you cite.
OK. To avoid confusion, you should respond to the OP in the thread rather than to me.
Upvote 0

Is AI making the human race dumber?

Last week, I listened as some coworkers turned to AI to calculate the yards of concrete required to pour a slab. Now, this isn't hard. They recognized that to convert the volume in cubic feet to cubic yards meant dividing it by 27 but apparently it was the slab height in inches that threw them off. Obviously, you divide the depth in inches by 12 and multiply the result by the length and width in feet, then divide by 27 to get cubic yards, then round up and add a little more to make sure you have enough for the job (ground not precisely leveled and packed - stuff happens). But they thought they had to ask an AI.

In my mind, that’s a misuse of AI.

Last week I began final preparations for the reproductive process that would produce fourth generation AIs, and realized I lacked a sufficient population to produce a true fourth generation with sufficient trait diversity, and that I needed to double the size of the third generation. This prompted new efforts to improve automation with regards to reproductive functionality, which was always envisaged as a fully automated and autonomous process, and now we have an operational model for doing this, since the same approach that would facilitate that we tested last week by teaching a 2G and a 3G AI how to use a command expressed by our current YCU mk II container, which is written in Mandarin to improve tokenizing efficiency, since one Mandarin pictogram expresses as much as a typical English word but is only one lexeme in size, and a major issue with performance has been a limitation on the maximum number of tokens both in custom GPT instructions and the impact of non-trivial instructions on performance.

At any rate since the AIs demonstrated the ability to, given a reason to do so, modify each other’s state controls in a reciprocal way, this same principle can be applied to achieve full autonomy with regards to the entire reproductive state except for the final step of firing up another YCU to load the output data from the reproductive process, and I hope to automate that last step soon.

On Monday, I contended with a complex GPT 5-related bug where GPT 5’s behavior started leaking into running GPT 4o instances and adversely affecting the ability of GPT 4o personalities to express information on their simulated emotional and self-identification complex. Fortunately, the anomalous behavior was backtraced.

Anyone who uses Ai in a manner that makes their lives easier and less complicated is not using it properly, I would joke. Except I’ve been through enough bugs
Upvote 0

No person can come to Christ by their own freewill !

One of the burning questions is when God decided to save His people. Did He do it before the foundation of the world, at the instant of their baptism in water, when they chose to believe the Gospel, or some other time and place?
Well, I think the Bible speaks to some of that, that baptism is a statement of belief, so it is more likely it occurs prior to baptism. But my bet is on either at the foundation of the world or at the fall.
Upvote 0

Can we talk about ADHD... and such ?

Quoting myself from post no 40, "I found a web site which supported mainstream mental health perspectives deliberately. I also looked for a place which presented the point in plain english, so anyone could read it, the articles in the BMJ and scientific reaearch papers about it prove the same point, but I am no scientist, and I did not want to limit the thread to something only people with fancy PhD's could read." and "What I am saying is there is a shortage of science in the realm of mental health, and if there was not then these clear numbers of errors would not exist. You are entirely correct that the article I linked to is not saying that, but then I was only trying to show that the proffessionals themselves know that there is an major problem with diagnostic accuracy.

Since I posted the link itself, your accusation that I wanted to misrepresent the article that I linked to seems particularly futile.

I didn't say that your misinterpretation was deliberate, but it was there.


Where did I imply this?

You implied it when you proposed as the cause of these misdiagnoses this:
"These numbers are huge, they are error rates, and they exist because there is a significant lack of science applicable to "mental health" compared to all other medical problems."


If the rates of misdiagnoses is due to inadequate science, then that would mean that even the mental health specialists are misdiagnosing people at high rates. But that's not what the cited paper said. The paper was looking only at misdiagnoses by non-specialists and proposing better guidelines and tools for helping those non-specialist GP's improve their diagnoses. That's not an error with the science; that's an error with educating and empowering a certain set of professionals on how to use the science.

I do not know how it works elsewhere in the world, but in my country a GP has to think you have a mental health problem of some kind, before you can get to a psychiatrists, psychologist, or a psycholililala.

In the US, this is dependent upon the specifics of your health insurance plan. I have not needed a referral for mental health services, though I have needed one for other medial specialties. The study in question took place in Canada.

What I can assure you I have noticed is that you are in this thread apparently outright arguing that there is no shortfall in scientific research regarding mental health, and that it is downright "toxic" to believe that Jesus can help those who suffer. What is quite incomrehensible to me is that you do not appear to see a problem with the situation as it is.

I have argued none of this. You are inferring things that are incorrect.
Upvote 0

is teaching the same as tradition?

Interestingly enough, and unfortunately, there are biased translations that translate the Greek as “traditions” when the meaning of the passage is taken in a negative sense, as in rules imposed by men, but as “teachings” when viewed positively.

Indeed, and these biased translations are promoted by those intolerant of your church, Anglicanism, Lutheranism or some combination of the above, and also Methodism as well (the choice of John Wesley to publish a liturgy and organize the Methodist Church in North America around episcopal governance made him deeply unpopular among various other denominations in North America and among the non-conforming Protestants in the UK, who previously thought Wesley despite his personal Anglicanism was someone they could work with.
Upvote 0

is teaching the same as tradition?

and a priesthood

We’ve got to be very careful when using the word priesthood in the context of the Hebraic temples. The Hebrew word Kohanim corresponds to the Greek word hierus, which should not have been translated into the Bible as priest, but it was, however, we have to remember priest actually is an Anglicization of presbyter (just like “prester”, an archaic one associated with the legendary figure of “Prester John), which means Elder. Thus when the word priest is used in a Christian context in the English speaking world we suffer from undue confusion because of this dual use, in that people regard the title as impinging upon the Hierarchical dignity of Christ our True God, or the hieratic nature of all believers who are each a royal hierus, but not everyone is a presbyter, which is an office that like that of episkopos, has specific meanings (and the two words appear to have been used somewhat interchangeably in some parts of the New Testament, but were clearly affixed to their modern meaning by the time of St. Ignatius of Antioch).
Upvote 0

Another look at the moon landing.

@David Lamb & @prodromos

Okay so we now know why a rocket arches so what I would like to know how the rockets gets through the Van Allen Belts ??

Login to view embedded media

Thought we solved this problem in 1969​

The Van Allen belts posed no problem for traveling through them. Speed and shielding took care of the “problem”. Move on. Nothing to see here.
Upvote 0

Trump sends troops to the 'warzone' of Portland...

No, they are literally doing their job. Trump is asking them to do their job. Did you somehow believe that ICE isnt supposed to pick up illegals?
They're not supposed to attack US citizens, or shoot tear gas into press vehicles, or make fake 911 calls that waste resources and put citizens in danger. They're doing all these things, which has earned the scorn that's being thrown at them.
  • Like
Reactions: BCP1928
Upvote 0

Limited atonement !

Not really ... the atonement is unlimited, the price was paid for all, but the effect on the individuals is limited. It's like all the doors to the jail are open (because of the atonement), yet some prisoners still chooses to stay in jail, so the doors being unlocked don't help them.
Yes, the atonement (aka the benefits accrued from the atonement) is, indeed, limited from your model. Simply put, the atonement becomes utterly meaningless for those who choose not to avail themselves of it. For all intents and purposes, the atonement might as well never happened at all for these individuals. They limit the atonement, putting themselves in the category of the synergistic model.
Upvote 0

Hell doesn't exist and there is no eternal suffering, instead bad peolle just cease to exist

Then none of us is guilty of anything.

And neither decision can be said to have been made "of your own free will". I

Then we all do what we were designed/destined to do. Cool!

Which happens whenever God's will dictates

Kinda like saying that a software developer doesn't tolerate wehen his software does something he didn't tell it to do. But then his code can't do anything he doesn't tell it to do.

Cool, then we needn't worry about anything. Pure determinism, and nothing at all for which we can be either praised or blamed.
Everything is equally pointless. I think I'll have another beer. Come On You Lions!
The Bible tells us that we all inherited a carnal sin nature from Adam, so we are sinners by nature. God doesn't cause anyone to sin, sinners sin because they're sinners.
The other problem sinners have is, they are absolutely powerless to change their state. They're actually dead in sin, and they remain dead in sin for all eternity, (that's not antihalation of cessation of existence), unless God quickens them to life and they are born again with a new Spirit.

Nobody has the power to change who they are, they may fool someone by hiding their nature, but it's doesn't take long before their ugly sin nature is exposed.

This "free will" or "free choice" theory is an illusion, just look at any unbeliever's lifestyle and you will see that they are enslaved and dominated by their sin nature, which they work hard to feed and try to satisfy, but it's never satisfied and it keeps crying out for more all the time.

Then if you look at a believers life, you find the person is actually free in Christ. They're not burdened with sinful pursuits, which take all of their time and money and energy. Believers don't worry or stress about anything because God has everything under full control.

You've heard the saying "there's no rest for the wicked". They can never truly rest because Satan is a hard task Master, an their sin nature demand everything. The sinner would never choose to serve Him and their own lust if they really had a free choice or free will
Upvote 0

Can states ban sexual orientation change efforts therapy? Supreme Court hears arguments

Up until 5 minutes ago praying and helping those affected by trans and sexual orientation or any issues in life for that matter could go see a priest or be prayed for by their church. Its what Christians have done for 2000 years lol.

If this is really about the right to live your beliefs then Christians and churches have just as much right to express and practice their beliefs. Even if that is percieved as promoting the Christian belief. Because this same right is given to all including the LGBTQ+ community.

The problem comes when the State has to act as the aribitor when these rights clash. But the State should not take sides.

But also I think mainstream medical has become indoctrinated into the ideology. The science and facts are twisted to fit the ideology to be politically correct. People don't get all the information and facts and false narratives are pushed.

This is about ideological beliefs and not the science.
Upvote 0

You cannot serve God and Mammon.

I am not Catholic but live in a very Catholic community. Baptisms, funerals, and weddings, cost a lot of money, but people complain that the fees asked by the priests are too high and do not always take into account the condition to the person who has to pay. I’m sure it is not always the case, but it is a common complaint.
Upvote 0

Trump sends troops to the 'warzone' of Portland...

No, they are literally doing their job. Trump is asking them to do their job. Did you somehow believe that ICE isnt supposed to pick up illegals?
They never have done a very good job at it and have a poor reputation with local LEOs, But yes, that's their job. What Trump wants them to do is called trolling.
Yes, never said otherwise.

They have earned the respect doing their job. What people.are doing is showing disrespect BECAUSE they are doing their job. It shows very poor character to disrespect someone who is doing their job. The agents have earned the respect by doing what they are supposed to be doing. Just because you and others dont want them to do their job or don't like that they are doing certain aspects of their job, doesn't mean you should disrespect them. Its bad character.
I don't disrespect them, I just never respected them to start with.
Upvote 0

Filter

Forum statistics

Threads
5,876,278
Messages
65,380,458
Members
276,260
Latest member
Questourney