RileyG said:

I think we can still respect human beings while respecting our borders.

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The offer for self deportation is very respectful, and merciful. They pay for their return trip, with money in their pockets. This leaves these people with an opportunity to return legally in the future.

RileyG said:

I don't think the Holy Father said anything wrong, IMHO.

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I do.

Clare73 said:

Not a dime's worth of difference. . .

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These posts are just kinda sad.
And now you'll reply trying to suggest my posts are also sad.

And the wheel will continue while we turn...

BNR32FAN said:

Yeah well that freedom goes both ways. If I hire an employee I should have the right to observe that employee to make sure that he or she is doing what I’m paying him or her to do and doing it according to company policies that I’ve put in place.

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Agreed, however with the upcoming technology, it's right and just that we distinguish the boundaries alongside the technological advancements, so as to maintain a healthy society. If you look back into history, at the beginning of the industrial revolution, we see that initially, boundaries were not made, and we see how rivers and streams were flooded with toxic chemicals. We saw lax safety standards, and a lot of other factors that were overlooked.

Today, we have a new situation that deserves evaluation and dialogue amongst people. We should take into account the opinions, hopes and fears of the people today, while simultaneously preparing for what's to come.

ThatRobGuy said:

Is there a chance, just a slight chance, that their video was specifically intended for drawing this reaction of out him and the predictable "Truth Social Frenzy" that would undoubtedly go along with it?

Obviously it was foolish for him to take the bait (and doesn't demonstrate level-headed leadership)

...but I'm not sure that we're living in the best time for "hey, lemme stir the pot just to rile up the other side so everyone can see how crazy they are"


That aside, is their video implying that every military member is qualified to make constitutional judgments for things that haven't even been officially decided by actual judges yet?


If the shoe was on the other foot, and another contentious issue was the focal point - guns.

If a bunch of republican congressmen made a montage video telling local police officers (who, like most servicemen, are not constitutional experts qualified to make some of these types of judgement calls) "Hey, you all swore an oath... the constitution clearly states that people have the right to bear arms, so if those governors in California and New York are trying to get you to enforce their gun control restrictions, you can, and in fact...have a duty to, refuse to enforce those, and if you see someone carrying a gun without permit, you can let them go"

Would that style of activism be well-received by the left half? (hint: no it wouldn't, because that actually happened in Oregon with Measure 114, where various state leaders in law enforcement agencies publicly declared that they were going to ignore it because they personally thought it was unconstitutional, and instructed their officers not to enforce it - the left in Oregon was none too pleased about that)


Here's how this little PR stunt they did actually plays out in the real world:
They're needlessly going to provoke and paint a target on some peoples' backs
And
Well-intentioned (but misguided) servicemen are going to get court marshalled and/or dishonorably discharged and lose their benefits


Interpreting whether or not an order from a commander-in-chief to the military is unconstitutional is rarely is something so simple and clear cut that a 19-23 year old kid can make an accurate on-the-spot judgment call.

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Not a PR stunt. This is one of the premises for the video:

Military Personnel Are Quietly Seeking Counsel on the Legality of Trump’s Caribbean Operations​

The question of legality led to the Southcom Commander quitting.

wing2000 said:

Tell that to the millions of Americans enrolled in the ACA. Tell that to the Americans who will no longer be able to afford health insurance come January 1st.

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Tell it to the millions of Americans who were lied to about how it would save them money and would be able to keep their plan. And it only cost more.

I know a few of those Americans. They got on the plan. It cost them money and didn't cover anything. It was junk.

AV1611VET said:

To get back on track in this thread:

Abiogenesis isn't science.

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It's a scientific hypothesis, as in a scientific idea, which means that it is science. Just not science with massive overwhelming evidence to have it become a theory.

AV1611VET said:

What you're displaying against Mr Hovind is called an "ad hominem".

From the Oxford Dictionary:

An argument or reaction directed against a person rather than the position they are maintaining.

It takes the focus off of what he's saying, and puts it on his character.

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And as has been shown by anyone who uses the internet and has the eyes and ears of use, they know that what Hovind says it fraudulent and outright lies.

BPPLEE said:

Which is more believable
A. Life came from non life by random chance
B. God created life

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It depends on what you mean by "random chance."

I believe that life came from non-life by an orderly biochemical process which (in principle) can be characterized by science in terms of material causes. I also believe that God created life. Consequently, I reject "A" on both theological and scientific grounds.

Stopped_lurking said:

This appears to be a half-truth, from their response regarding the measurement method and the threshold. Your text seems to be tendentious.

https://www.ipcinfo.org/fileadmin/u...C_Famine_Classification_in_the_Gaza_Strip.pdf

If using the weight-to-height measurement it is still 30% to call it a famine. With the upper arm measure the threshold is 15% (and that as it has been previously, MUAC has previously been shown to underpredict hence the lower threshold). It is not a newly deviced measurement either. See the quote.

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On Aug 22, 2025, a famine was declared for the city of Gaza based on the IPC for food security. Three months later, there are increasing signs that this classification was greatly exaggerated. The global system for classifying hunger and malnutrition lists ‘famine/humanitarian catastrophe’ as the last and highest alert level on its scale. One criterion is that in such a case, the mortality rate exceeds two deaths per 10,000 people per day.

Paradoxically, none of the available surveys, neither the IPC's own figures nor those of Hamas, come anywhere close to this figure. For the classification of ‘famine’, around 188 people would have had to die every day in Gaza City alone. However, Hamas reported an average of six deaths per day caused by hunger during the same period across the entire Gaza Strip. The terrorist group is not suspected of wanting to gloss over the death toll. It even reported people suffering from serious illnesses as ‘victims of hunger’.

The accusation that Israel wants to ‘systematically starve’ the Gaza Strip is one of the main pillars of the genocide charges against Israel. In the spring of 2025, Israel imposed a highly controversial three-month blockade on aid deliveries, thereby establishing a new distribution system. Since then, goods have been distributed in such a way that Hamas is no longer involved. Apart from this period, enough food always reached the Gaza Strip in absolute terms. The main problem has always been the Hamas-controlled distribution.

That is why it is important to note that Israel has demonstrably done more to protect "Palestinians" in the Gaza Strip than any other state has ever done for the lives of civilians on the side of an enemy warring party. The casualties among the suffering civilians, especially children, are tragic, but very low compared to other urban wars against terrorists and guerrillas. To accuse Israel of genocidal intentions is an anti-Semitic lie.

Just to try to haul this back closer to the OP, US Muslims look pretty similar to US Christians in terms of how important religion is to them.

Also with attending services and belief in God.

Servus said:

The Democrats had 4 years to both release the Epstein files and develop a better health plan.

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Unlike the GOP, Democrats didn't have conspiracy theorists driving anything Epstein. Despite the circus when it's all said and done, the files won't reveal anything substantial. Nor has anyone Democratic claimed they have a better and cheaper healthcare plan than what exists today.

fhansen said:

And we must freely paricticipate in that work of His as we are now debtors due to God's gift, obligated to overcome.

"Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live." Rom 8:12-13

IOW, while true believers are not perfectly sinless in this life, they must still overcome sin.

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That is done in the power of Holy Spirit who now indwells them.

No overcoming means no Holy Spirit.

Apple Sky said:

Well I've never seen the earth revolving around the sun & I doubt that billions have either.

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Billions have seen films, but hundreds have seen it with their own eyes.

Fervent said:

It's a long-range question, but the biggest threat is fundamentalist muslims using the west's own tolerance against it. I've already pointed out that there's a battle plan that is laid out in both historical occurrences and the way Islamic jurisprudence works in general. First is play up the peaceful verses and create allies who choose to be ignorant of Islam's history and theological core, then move towards a privileged position for Islam under the guise of protecting them as minorities, then outright warfare and violent subjugation of anyone who doesn't submit to an Islamic state. It's how Muhammad operated from the pre-exilic Meccan period to the Medina period, followed by the period where the Muslims overthrew Mecca and finally began full on offensive warfare against the Khaybar and beyond.

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If that is the threat you perceive, what do you suggest we do about it? And what does it have to do with why people are losing their religiousity? Certainly you don't even present religiousity in a good light.

Clare73 said:

The Holy Spirit in the born again generates the overcoming of sin.

Wanton, willful and grave sin are evidence of no Holy Spirit; i.e., no rebirth.

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And we must freely paricticipate in that work of His as we are now debtors due to God's gift, obligated to overcome.

"Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live." Rom 8:12-13

IOW, while true believers are not perfectly sinless in this life, they must still overcome sin. If a believer had no choice, on a moment by moment basis, to be either a slave to sin or a slave to righteousness, then he would never sin, he would always be a slave to righteousness. Instead, Paul exhorts us to remain slaves of righteousness. Because “the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.” Rom 6:22

BNR32FAN said:

When does a person become a child of God? Is it before or after they are born again? Or is it simultaneously?

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Saving faith results from the sovereign rebirth, which rebirth is the going from eternal death into eternal life, becoming a child of God, by the sovereign will of the Holy Spirit.

AV1611VET said:

You're displaying a form of prejudice call "character assassination."

From AI Overview:

The user is describing a form of prejudice or bias where a person's past actions are used to automatically invalidate their current statements, regardless of the present facts.

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Hovind assassinated his own character by being a lying, fraudulent conman. He needs no help from me.

Again, it's all easy to find online, and the only reason you lap up anything he says is because you agree with him regardless of anyone actually telling you and showing you that what he's said is wrong, incorrect, inaccurate and untruthful.

BNR32FAN said:

One of the biggest problems with total depravity is that as soon as you actually dig into the implications of it the Calvinist idea of sovereignty goes right out the window.

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"Total depravity" is total inability to live a sinless life (Jn 8:34).

And the implications of it do not drive sovereignty right out the window.

Clare73 said:

The Holy Spirit in the born again generates the overcoming of sin.

Wanton, willful and grave sin are evidence of no Holy Spirit; i.e., no rebirth.

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When does a person become a child of God? Is it before or after they are born again? Or is it simultaneously?

RDKirk said:

Your point may have some arguable philosophical validity, but it has no legal validity.

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Would you, under the present circumstances, regard an order to invade Venezuala as legal?

dms1972 said:

Total Depravity (the first of the five points of Calvinism)

I've heard Calvinists like RC Sproul and say "Total Depravity" can be misunderstood, and a better term might be "Total Inability".

What is the biblical basis for Total Depravity or Total inability.

And what can a person do before they become a christian.

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One of the biggest problems with total depravity is that as soon as you actually dig into the implications of it the Calvinist idea of sovereignty goes right out the window.

fhansen said:

So this means you must distinguish between gravity, etc, of sins in order to even be able to identify who is likely to be regenerated and who is not. Otherwsie wanton, willfull, and grave would be meaningless terms. Therefore, while a reborn person does not overcome sin perfectly, they must yet overome sin-sufficiently to even be a regenerated person.

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The Holy Spirit in the born again generates the overcoming of sin.

Wanton, willful and grave sin are evidence of no Holy Spirit; i.e., no rebirth.

Nursing Home

Landon Caeli said:

There's nothing wrong with that. Or with cameras in general, or with protecting your home... In this thread, I'm referring to the use of AI, and where we do, or don't want it to go in the future, as far as 'being controlled'.

Liberty is the state of being free from oppressive restrictions and having the ability to act and speak freely. It means having the freedom to make personal choices about one's life, behavior, and beliefs, as long as they are lawful and not harmful to others.

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Yeah well that freedom goes both ways. If I hire an employee I should have the right to observe that employee to make sure that he or she is doing what I’m paying him or her to do and doing it according to company policies that I’ve put in place.

Larniavc said:

Do you mean God is deceptive?

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Isaiah 8:14-15