A2SG said:

Incorrect. New York Executive Law Section 63(12) has been on the books since 1956, and has been used to successfully prosecute many cases, including Exxon Mobil in 2018 and Martin Shkreli.

-- A2SG, that was very easy to debunk, you need to do better research....

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I don't think Exxon Mobil nor Shkreli showed up to sit at any defendant's table, in this similar circumstance:

"Trump and his lawyers said his financial statements weren’t deceptive, since they came with disclaimers noting they weren’t audited. The defense also noted that bankers and insurers independently evaluated the numbers, and the loans were repaid... Trump’s lawyers argued that many of the case’s allegations were too old... The defense also contends that James misused a consumer-protection law to sue Trump and improperly policed private business transactions that were satisfactory to those involved." Trump's massive civil fraud penalty for exaggerating financial statements is thrown out by appeals court


You can do better research next time, to avoid excluding vital info.

1Tonne said:

Some who embrace annihilationism tend to focus on a complete non-existence because they are uncomfortable with the reality of eternal judgment

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A little verbal chicanery there again. You say "eternal judgement" to mean "eternal torture", which is what your lot actually teach. Actual death is just as eternal, and it doesn't requite changing any word definintions, or turing God into a pitiless fiend.

1Tonne said:

making it more about their own sensibilities than what Scripture clearly teaches.

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Funny, that's precisely my opinion of damnationist doctrines. They're unsupported by Scripture, and there's apparently some emotional satisfaction to be had in imagining those vile sinners (not at all like us) writhing in torment in a fiery hell while we're shouting hosannas in Heaven. Oh yeah, we get the last laugh!

Double

Pain

Dale said:

Many creationists firmly believe that the earth cannot be more 6,000 years old. I am not going to discuss the age of the universe but I will discuss the development of civilization on earth. … Everything we know about the history of humans on earth contradicts the claim that the earth could be only 6,000 years old.

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Since I already agree with your opening post (more or less), I will be hanging out here mostly to engage young-earth creationist defenses.

However …

Dale said:

The Bible is a source of moral and spiritual truth, but it is not a history text.

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That statement is false, I’m afraid, if it means that Scripture doesn’t narrate real events in space and time—because it does. Just off the top of my head: the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Literal history. Paul stakes the truth of the gospel on a public, datable event: “If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is futile and your faith is empty” (1 Cor. 15:14).

Large portions of Scripture are historical, from patriarchal narratives to monarchic histories, from Babylonian exile to their eventual return, and so on. Luke explicitly frames his Gospel as an orderly “account of the things that have been fulfilled among us,” including “accounts passed on to us by those who were eyewitnesses” (Luke 1:1-4).

If by “historical” you mean exhaustive chronology, neutral description, or detached analysis, then it’s not historical. Scripture is theological, covenantal, and teleological. Events are narrated because of what God is doing with and through them, never because the author is trying to reconstruct the past for its own sake.

I think it would be a category mistake to treat “history” and “theology” as competing genres. (I am not saying that’s what you are doing, but it is often done around these parts.) In Scripture, history is theology. God reveals himself through acts, and those acts are interpreted within the text itself. Natural history is the stage upon which the drama of redemptive history unfolds, while it is redemptive history that reveals the meaning and purpose of natural history, all things pointing to Jesus Christ for the glory of God. Scripture contains real history, but it’s unique as a divinely authored, covenantally ordered witness to God’s redemptive acts, narrated for faith, obedience, and worship.

As for Genesis? I would call it a historical-covenantal account with symbolic narrative elements. Adam and Eve in a sacred sanctuary God prepared in Eden? Historical-covenantal. Its eastward orientation, God “walking” there, humanity “to serve and guard,” Adam made of dust, talking serpent, guarding cherubim? Symbolic narrative elements (a lot of temple architecture and language used elsewhere in Scripture).

1Tonne said:

You should watch the video. It is only 20 odd minutes

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Pass.

1Tonne said:

, and it explains where people who believe in annihilation go wrong.

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In other words, some bloke tells you what he thinks. Pass.

1Tonne said:

(Though I do not agree with everything he says in the vid, I still think he is pretty onto it and does very well with refuting annihilationism.)

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If you're willing to simply wiling to change the meaning of words en masse to make them fit your beliefs. Still rubbish.

1Tonne said:

Those who are sent to destruction do not get eternal life.

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If not, then hell is simply a matter of roasting dead bodies, innit?

1Tonne said:

They get eternal death.

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Except then have to be alive to be properly tortured, don't they?

1Tonne said:

I think the real difference between us is how we understand “death.”

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Exactly. I use the normal English meaning, while you have an ad hoc definition to make it suit your doctrine.

1Tonne said:

We actually agree that those sent to destruction do not receive eternal life.

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Sorry, but the dead can't be tortured.

1Tonne said:

Where we differ is what eternal death means.

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No, it's just about what "death" means. I say it means "dead". Yiou say it't means "alive but being tortured".

1Tonne said:

Your view seems to treat death as a finality.

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Yep.

1Tonne said:

When the body dies (the shell), this is a finality in the physical. So, your understanding of “eternal death” is understood as extinction, the person is gone forever.

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Yep, dead really means dead.

1Tonne said:

My view is different.

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So yeah. Julius Caesar is "dead", but he's still alive, but you don't say he's alive because he's being tortured which is what "dead" really means as opposed to meaning, just, you know, actually dead.

1Tonne said:

Scripture shows that when the body dies, it is not the end of the person.The spirit/soul continues but sleeps in the grave, unconscious, awaiting the resurrection Eccl 9:5; Ps 146:4

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Funny that you'd choose those two, because the dead in those Scriptures are straight up dead. That's the OT viewpoint. John is essentially of the same view except he anticipates the dead being resurrected to face judgement.

1Tonne said:

John 5:28–29). Earthly death is therefore not final; it is temporary and preparatory.

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And the according to Scripture, the righteous will receive the gift of God, which is eternal life, and the rest will receive the wages of sin, which is not eternal life under torture, but death, as in death. You really believe that God gives the damned the gift of eternal life just so He can keep them around to torture them? He erases them from space and time. How do I know that? Easy: " I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’". If God never knew them, they never existed. That's dead dead.

1Tonne said:

Because death is not final in the first sense, I don’t see the second death as annihilation either.

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That's because you have to play games with the language to allow your doctrine to survive contact with Scripture.

1Tonne said:

It is eternal death because it is eternal ruin, eternal separation, and eternal loss of life with God

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Say so right there on your doctrine, which requires you to redefine words when they provce inconvenient. At best it's intellectualy dishonest.

1Tonne said:

, not because the person ceases to exist

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Dang, how do they continue to exist if God never knew them? Does Gos have selective amnesia? And if they are still around, why? Does God take pleasure in their torture? I ain't buying that for an instant.

1Tonne said:

. Death, biblically, can be an ongoing state of ruin, not merely a moment where something stops existing.

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Baloney. Again, that's jutst made up ad hoc. Sounds real pious, but's it's just just a matter of making up a doctrine and then making it sounds as though it kinda makes sense when in fact it doesn't, at all.

1Tonne said:

So yes, the wicked do not receive eternal life.

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Or rather they do, in your doctrine, live forever, but you don't say that they do.

1Tonne said:

They receive eternal ongoing death/ruin.

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Yeah, God keeps them around for..., what? Why would He? He's not some ancient despot impaling His enemies on pikes or boiling people in oil. He suffered torture Himself, and now now he's condemning people to eternal torture Himself? What happened to "Father forgive them"?

1Tonne said:

Eternal death is not non-existence; it is the eternal opposite of life with God.
That’s the core difference in how we’re reading the texts.

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The core difference is that you have to make up your own lexicon to make Scripture "say" what your denom needs it to in order to keep it from messing up their doctrine. I say a fig for their doctrine.

Bob Crowley said:

While it is obvious that a Moslem terrorist cell was behind this massacre,

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Why is that obvious? There are plenty of CHristian antisemites.

SabbathBlessings said:

Of course, the notion we can disobey God and thats an example of faith is not found in our Bibles. So no one should be teaching we do not have to keep God’s commandments- and let Him be the one to sort out who is doing it for the right reason because He only taught if you love Me, keep My commandments, never once taught if you love Me, don’t obey Me.

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When Jesus says, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments” (John 14:15), He is not reducing love to rule-keeping, nor is He singling out one commandment in isolation. In that same conversation He goes on to say, “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you” (John 15:12). Love, expressed in a life shaped by Him, is the center.

The New Testament consistently teaches that love for Jesus is first a matter of trust and allegiance, not perfect observance. “We love because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19). Our obedience flows out of grace; it does not create it (Ephesians 2:8–10).

Regarding the Sabbath specifically, the early church wrestled with this question. Paul writes, “One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind” (Romans 14:5). He also warns against judging one another “with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath” (Colossians 2:16–17), saying these were a shadow pointing to Christ.

Jesus Himself reframed the Sabbath: “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath” and “the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27–28). He consistently showed that mercy, restoration, and life are at the heart of God’s commands (Matthew 12:7).

So, do Christians who do not keep Saturday holy love Jesus? According to the New Testament, yes—if they are trusting in Him, receiving His grace, and seeking to follow Him in faith and love. Love for Jesus is not proven by flawless law-keeping, but by abiding in Him (John 15:4–5), walking by the Spirit (Galatians 5:22–23), and growing in obedience over time.

At the same time, Scripture allows room for conviction. If someone honors Saturday unto the Lord, that can be an act of love and faith. If another honors Christ without observing that day, that too can be an act of love. The warning is not to turn either practice into a measure of salvation or a test of genuine love (Romans 14:10–12).

We love Jesus not because we perfectly keep every command, but because He has loved us first—and that love, over a lifetime, teaches us how to obey.

The word of their testimony is their martyrdom. Their death is the "word" by which they conquer.

For who "they" is go back to verse 10; "our brothers and sisters," in context, those who have been martyred.

Oblivious.

civilwarbuff said:

Sounds as if the D's are willing to partner up with criminals in order to win elections. Isn't that something that can be prosecuted under RICO statutes?

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Gee, remind me again, in the last election, which party ran a convicted felon and which ran someone who prosecuted criminals?

-- A2SG, so easy to forget these things....

SabbathBlessings said:

my posts speak of keeping God’s laws as a consequence of faith. Rev 14:12 Rom3:31

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Do you believe that your faith is more genuine than a person who worships on sunday?

eclipsenow said:

So given how clear this is, how do you know your other "Dark Sun" passages are about Isaiah's unimaginably far, far future - when here he is clearly writing about the Assyrians (in previous chapters) and Babylonians and Persians?

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Because: other than the smoke from their rape and pillage, the sun was not darkened when the A's, B's and P's, conquered Israel and Judah.

When we see a specific Bible verse saying the sun and moon will do something unusual and unprecedented, as Isaiah 30:26a does, is it right to just fob it off as 'it must have happened in the past', or 'it's just allegorical and meaningless'. ?
People who do that are guilty of playing fast and loose with scripture. Making it suit their preconceived beliefs.

eclipsenow said:

15 Then the kings of the earth, the princes, the generals, the rich, the mighty, and everyone else, both slave and free, hid in caves and among the rocks of the mountains. 16 They called to the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! 17 For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can withstand it?”
Note that they are NOT saying "Oh no - look what the sun has done!"
They're saying, "Oh no - GOD is here!"

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The great Day of the wrath of God and the Lamb comes and people dive for cover. Why? Because they see the approaching mass exploded out from the sun. Ezekiel 21:7 is a verse which tells us how people will be terrified as they see what is about to strike. They wet their pants in terror.
Rev 6 never says the people actually see God on His Throne.
We too, are warned to get under shelter, from the extreme temperature, earthquakes, storms and tsunamis. Isaiah 26:20-21

SabbathBlessings said:

Not anything said by me or even remotely insinuated, my posts speak of keeping God’s laws as a consequence of faith. Rev 14:12 Rom3:31

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That is what your posts reflect when speaking to others who say we are saved by grace but are not keeping the commandments the way you feel they should. Unless I misuderstand you. Are you willing to agree that Christian brothers and sisters who worship on Sunday can be saved by grace if they accept the gift of perfection from Christ?

NxNW said:

DOGE found so much fraud that nobody was indicted for fraud.

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Remember at the Musk voter money give away rally where he announced impending fraud indictments?
He even stated while on stage, "Yes. In fact, I believe someone is going to be arrested tomorrow,"
That never happened either.

SabbathBlessings said:

Of course, but I knew what you were saying was incorrect, so due to time, I had Chat summarize it.

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In Steps to Christ, Ellen G. White presents salvation as a loving gift from God, not something we earn by our own efforts. Salvation begins with God’s love. Long before we seek Him, God reaches out to us through Jesus Christ, offering forgiveness, healing, and new life.

The book emphasizes that we are saved by grace through faith. No amount of good works, obedience, or moral effort can save us. Instead, salvation comes from trusting fully in Christ’s righteousness rather than our own. When we accept Jesus by faith, our sins are forgiven, and we are justified before God.

Repentance and confession play an important role in this experience. True repentance is not something we create ourselves; it is a gift from God that leads us to turn away from sin and toward Christ. When we confess our sins, God promises forgiveness and peace.

Steps to Christ also teaches that salvation is both immediate and ongoing. Justification happens the moment we believe, but sanctification is a lifelong journey. As we continue to surrender daily to Christ, He transforms our hearts and characters. This growth comes through prayer, studying God’s Word, and constant dependence on Jesus.

Obedience, according to the book, is the natural result of salvation—not the cause of it. When we love Christ because He first loved us, obedience flows from that love. It becomes evidence of a changed heart rather than an attempt to earn God’s favor.

Ultimately, Steps to Christ assures believers that confidence in salvation comes from trusting God’s promises, not from feelings or personal performance. Salvation is found in a daily relationship with Jesus Christ, who alone has the power to save and sustain us.

Thi si a much different stance than she took in her earlier works.

Factotum said:

Yes, the largest and most-criminal city in the Western Hemisphere --with the most loan-securing businesses in USA history... had never before, in 105yrs, experienced this type of crime until Trump was charged with it.

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Incorrect. New York Executive Law Section 63(12) has been on the books since 1956, and has been used to successfully prosecute many cases, including Exxon Mobil in 2018 and Martin Shkreli.

-- A2SG, that was very easy to debunk, you need to do better research....

1Tonne said:

the other is a conscious state of loss, separation, and ongoing ruin. They ‘live’ in the sense of conscious existence, but only the righteous share in eternal life.

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You can't expect people to buy this argument where you are clearly mudding the waters about what life and death means?

Besides that, you mention separation here as a feature of being in hell. Okay. Totally fair. As a conditionalist I see the second death as separation, too; if one is is separated from the Creator Who gave him life in the first place, then his can he be anything but dead? .... So how then can you honestly use Revelation 14:10 as a pro-verse for eternal torment, when that passage describes the torment with fire and brimstone as being IN the presence of the Lamb, not out of it? How then is part or all of the torment in hell, in your view, coming from being completely separated from the Lord?

mark46 said:

"Each other" means other Christians for so, so many.

Many don't believe that is what Jesus taught. Many do.

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I don't know what you mean to say.