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Spiritual Israel + End times

There is a useful tool for looking at the bible that resolves many difficulties called "right division". This is within a dispensational view. A question arises as to when the "church" begin. By this most men the present gentile church. Most would assume that this church began in Acts chapter 2. However, the people present at Pentecost were all Jewish and awaiting the return of Jesus to establish the earthly kingdom for Israel. This is what the disciples expected;

Act 1:6 When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?

Many consider that all of the promises for Israel are inherited by gentiles today often calling us spiritual Israel. A more useful lens is to consider that Paul was called to be an apostle to the gentiles parallel to the last chance Israel was given the opportunity receive the earthly kingdom.

This means that there were two parallel gospels. The national gospel of the kingdom for Israel was distinct from the individual gospel of grace for Israel.

Gal 2:7 But contrariwise, when they saw that the gospel of the uncircumcision was committed unto me, as the gospel of the circumcision was unto Peter;

By applying a difference between the promises to Israel (many of which will be fulfilled with a restored Israel.) and the promises made to gentile believers can help to clarify much.
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B flat B♭

Another of your statements with absolutely no evidence it back it up. What is your proof of such a statement?

Here read this thread, here is all the evidence you'll ever need.

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"Don't Give up the Ship"

Looking up at the clouds, you miss the trip wire. Attend to what is in front of you.

Also: When the elephants are dancing, the mice leave the dance floor.
Don't forget that the public perception of all this has been influenced by high-profile war crimes trials in which "we were only following orders" has not been accepted as a defence.
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The NEA is pushing far left teaching upon children

Of course it's an issue. It's the only substantive issue with regard to LGBT kids in schools.

Right now we are talking about cross-dressing.
LOL - the answer you gave me was in response to "gender affirming care" clinics for children in Europe and Australia shutting down for being sued for irreparable harm to kids they'd "transitioned"; sued by those kids as adults. We weren't talking about the issues this ideology is causing in schools.
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The NEA is pushing far left teaching upon children

Yes, many teens who are trans will indeed "grow out of it" if you want to put it that way. I think there is general agreement that aggressive irreversible treatments for minors like surgery is wrong.

But gender dysphoria is not the same as just being trans, it's a clinical condition which does require a clinical diagnosis and treatment.
Ehhh.... One has to have a "gender dysphoria" diagnosis to get "gender affirming care" (hormones and surgery) thus "be trans".

One can still get counseling without a gender dysphoria diagnosis. And no one is stopping males or females from "cross dressing". And it is true; (I believe you are the one who actually said this) that gender non-conforming individuals, generally dress androgynously to avoid the social issues of being too obviously... not the sex one wishes to present as.
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Can not being in the correct denomination cause someone to not be saved?

If God tells you something it is your duty to inform your conscience of it.
I see it differntly. Maybe it's just semantics. But I think the correct response to God when He leads, guides, directs, teaches, corrects, and comforts us from the intimacy of our own hearts is to believe what He says and respond as He directs. If He tells us to change denominations, then we should trust His voice and do what He says. If He tells us to not change our denomination, then we should trust His voice and do what He says. If He doesn't say anything to us about changing denominations, we shouldn't concerned about it.

There is no Bible verse that says, "Let your consience be your guide". On the contrary, there are many Bible verses that say things like "Trust in the Lord" (Pr 3:5), "Believe me" (Jn 14:11), and "Walk in the Spirit" ( Gal 5:25). Verses like these point point us to God as our leader and guide and confirm that everyone who places their trust in Him will not stumble or be put to shame (Rom 9:23).

We have an intimate personal relationship with the Lord. He lives in our hearts. There is no substitute for hearing Him and doing as He says. But doing so is not about proving ourselves to be faithful so that in the end we will obtain eternal life. It is about living out the eternal life that He has already given us. And it is about bearing fruit that enriches us and brings Him glory. Proverbs 3:5-6 sums it up well...

5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart,
And lean not on your own understanding;​
6 In all your ways acknowledge Him,​
And He shall direct your paths. (Pr 3:5–6)​
You might be saying the same thing in a different way, but it seems like informing our conscience and letting it be our guide creates a little distance between us and God.
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Church is boring

Most sermons are boring in the same way that most school lectures are boring. Pastors give sermon lectures because in seminary they had four years of lectures.

I gave a bible study at a juvenile detention facility for several years. I had started the first time to give a lecture on the Prodigal son. However five minutes into the presentation I could tell how boring it was for them so I opened it up to any questions they might have. Sometimes you have to field off the wall questions like, "Will there be cars in heaven?". This was answered by asking what use a car would be without roads or gasoline.

Thereafter I just conducted the study by asking what questions they had. In 1 Corinthians 14 one finds that their assembly was also based on a Q&A session. (1Cor 14:35)

If your church has a small group bible study, you might find it more interesting if you can ask questions.
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The NEA is pushing far left teaching upon children

Yes, many teens who are trans will indeed "grow out of it" if you want to put it that way. I think there is general agreement that aggressive irreversible treatments for minors like surgery is wrong.

But gender dysphoria is not the same as just being trans, it's a clinical condition which does require a clinical diagnosis and treatment.
So let the parents make that decision instead of the school hiding it from the parents and encouraging it.
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Tit for Tat Tariffs - The US versus the World

Congressional Budget Office Lowers Tariff Savings Estimate By $1 Trillion

Recent tariff changes will produce $3 trillion in total savings, the office said, down from the $4 trillion savings estimate it made in August.

Since these tariffs were supposed to partially pay for tax cuts for the wealthy, I guess we'll have to raise their taxes. We certainly wouldn't want to add an extra trillion to the debt, would we?

(Not to mention the debt that would come from those tariff checks)
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the myth of flat earth debunked again

That's a shame. I was hoping you could tell me why the moon appears upside down in Sydney compared to how it appears in Oregon.

View attachment 373461
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I have already answered this question from you, so why do keep asking it.
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The NEA is pushing far left teaching upon children

Because children don’t have the capacity to make life changing decisions and because a high percentage of gender dysphoria cases resolve by their late teens or early twenties.
Yes, many teens who are trans will indeed "grow out of it" if you want to put it that way. I think there is general agreement that aggressive irreversible treatments for minors like surgery is wrong.

But gender dysphoria is not the same as just being trans, it's a clinical condition which does require a clinical diagnosis and treatment.
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Trump plan for peace in Ukraine leaked; calls for Ukraine to cede additional territory, cut military forces. US Ukraine envoy to leave role

Trump has compassion for the victims of war, and is trying to save as many lives as possible. I don't know if anyone here saw his interview with GB news, but there is a short discussion of such situations beginning around 34 minutes into the interview:
That entire interview is Trump propaganda. Trump is trying to so hard to get credit for ending a war and he is in so far over his head. He is not motivated by compassion but is narcissistic ego.
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the myth of flat earth debunked again

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.

How can flat straight road curve over the horizon without going up or down ? Absolute rubbish.
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What happens if someone dies before they became a believer, is it their fault?

Neither Lucifer nor Adam "needed" a sinful nature to make a bad choice.

So if sinless beings without a sinful nature can make bad choices... how much more those WITH a sinful nature.

So much so that Rom 8 says

" For those who are according to the flesh (those who are not born again) set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, (those born again) the things of the Spirit. 6 For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, 7 because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, 8 and those who are in the flesh cannot please God."
Good Bob, but Adam and Eve did sin with only one way to sin, did they not also have a "sinful nature" if you want to call it that? They were made "very good" but that is not perfect like Christ is perfect. Selfishly wanting something you did not need nor would help them at the time, sounds pretty fleshly. Yes, all mature adults do sin with tons of ways to sin, so we like Adam and Eve need something more.
Rom 3 "All have sinned and fallen short of God's righteous standard"

It is a bent toward sin.
A predisposition to rebellion that Adam did not have.
Yes, we all sin, but what makes you think Eve on her own ability did not also have a predisposition to sin, because she did sin?
Yes in terms of category, no in terms of the detail mechanism. In other words "Jesus was not a crack baby", Was not born addicted to Cocaine. Yet he was tempted as we are, in fact even beyond what we are.

They had no "bent" toward rebellion against God, no bias in favor of sin or evil or rebellion

The New Creation of 2 Cor 5.

Adam and Eve were created with sinless natures and had free will
If Adam and Eve were created with this "sinless nature", why did they sin with only one way to sin?
Christ had free will, so that is not the cause, and I see Christ being born with the same "nature" as us, but not sinning.

To stop sinning we need something more than what we were created with (including Adam and Eve) which Christ as an uncreated being always had.
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Six Democrats urge military members to 'refuse illegal orders' in viral video; Hegseth responds

First, there are already processes in place for dealing with unlawful orders such as the chain of command and the judge advocates.
Chain of command doesn't stop illegal orders. The UCMJ lists plenty of examples of what not to do, but they still occur, occasionally.
Second, where the heck were Democrats when service members were being kicked out of the military for refusing the COVID vaccines?
We actually had a real emergency situation under COVID. An outbreak in the military could devastate our readiness to protect people in our nation. Biden was trying to save lives from a very real threat and it wasn't an unlawful order. There are lots of vaccines required by the military.
Third, what illegal orders are these democrats talking about?
An illegal order is any order which violates the US Constitution or US laws.
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Church is boring

I haven’t been going to church in a while. I feel like it’s boring. I find myself daydreaming and the sermons are good, but I really don’t like to sing or stand up. I like just saying prayers and even though the sermons are good, I don’t feel like going. I’m not really getting anything out of the Bible study, either, which is online. When I do go to church, I do tithe.
Am I falling away or is this not the right church for me? The people are nice.
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I have not been to the church (which is a southern baptist church) i grew up in, in a few years and really have no plans to go back. About the only way i would go back is if someone ask me to again teach a Sunday school class. And even then i may just would go to teach the class then go home.
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