Maria Billingsley said:

Of course Allah exists for the Muslim just as G_d exists for the Jews and it is the same God that the Christian's worship however, the big difference is access.

" No one can come to the Father except through me". Jesus Christ of Nazareth

No access, not heard.

What you need to be concerned with is your attempt to test your Father through other means in other words, you think there is power where there is none and more egregious was your attempt to cause harm to yourself for proof.

Sorry to be so candid, your post was very unsettling.

Be blessed.

Click to expand...

Thank you for your answer, Maria, and sorry to cause your trouble.
My only aim was for the sake or truth, and to avoid people getting lost in Islam.
I have not pulled back my prayer to muslim Allah, nor shall i do, for the same reasons
Hope my benevolent motives'll help you accept the whole thing

Crickets. @SabbathBlessings and @BobRyan

Any comments?

And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so. Genesis 1:7

stevevw said:

Good to see you are still with us besides the smiley faces lol.

You point out an important destinction. Well actually overlook it and assume its all make believe. I assume your talking about believing at face value what the ancients say themselves. What their experiences and beliefs are saying in the myths, legends and stories they tell.

This is a different kind of evidence to material science and especially the hard sciences like physics, engineering and chemistry in relation to the works.

But its not just make believe either. So its an important part of the evidence.

My main point was that this knowledge exists and its part of the equation in working out whether the ancients had alternative and advanced knowledge. Your can't just measure this by material science such as chemistry or physics. This does not tell us how they gained the knowledge.

Click to expand...

Laughing faces, not smiley faces. Means that I find your commentary laughable and hilarious, light on facts and evidence.

You want to post commentary on a forum for physical and material science, then don't be a child and start winging petulantly because no-one takes your claims about 'advanced knowledge' and other such BS seriously without actual evidence.

Your entire line of logic is exactly as I said; you make claims and expect people to take them as fact just because you say so. That's not science in anyway shape or form. It's wishful thinking from you only.

Mercy Shown said:

I agree that Christians are not called to apathy or indifference toward suffering. Scripture is clear that love for neighbor matters and that faith expresses itself through love (Gal. 5:6). At the same time, the New Testament places a clear priority on the mission Christ actually gave His church.

Jesus’ earthly ministry was unique and unrepeatable—He came to reveal the Father and accomplish redemption (John 1:14; John 17:4). After His resurrection, He did not commission His followers to reform every social evil, but to proclaim reconciliation with God through Him (Matt. 28:18–20; 2 Cor. 5:18–20). The apostles lived under brutal injustice, poverty, and oppression, yet their primary calling remained the preaching of the gospel rather than organizing political or social movements.

That does not mean Christians should ignore suffering or refuse to help where they are able. Scripture encourages generosity, mercy, and care for those in need (Matt. 25:35–40; James 1:27). But it also cautions us against assuming that we can—or are called to—carry the weight of every global injustice. We are finite, and God has not entrusted every cause to every believer.

Our role, then, is not to “do nothing,” nor is it to shoulder every moral crisis of the world. It is to walk faithfully in the good works God has prepared for us (Eph. 2:10), while keeping the gospel central. Social good can flow from transformed hearts, but it is not a substitute for the message of reconciliation itself (Rom. 1:16).

In short, Christians are called to act in love where God places them, without losing sight of the primary mission Christ gave His church—to bear witness to Him.

Click to expand...

I think we can't separate proclaiming the good news from doing good for others, from fighting for victims against injustices done. Love simply calls for both. And, yes, the great commission is primary and we can only do as much as is possible for us to do but, if somehow we had the capability of reforming every soical evil then it would be incumbent upon us to do it. And in Matt 25 Jesus actually defined a criteria for salvation, separating the sheep from the goats, according to what they did "for the least of these".

Either way, as social beings who're responsible for being our brother's keeper, I'll definiterly come down on the side of nodding to the need for a soundly worked out social justice plan that correctly defines social justice such that coordinated efforts can be made to strive to right wrongs as the needs arise.

SabbathBlessings said:

Just like we are adopted in and part of the promises Gal3:26-29. Israel was never meant to be literal but represented God's people who He called Israel His son Exo4:22, if it was literal that would mean Adam.

Click to expand...

So the people calling themselves Israel that waited at the bottom of the mountain and that Moses addressed were not Israel?

What is not literal is Exodus 4:22 even though Israel was indeed Gods first born but it does not refer to Adam.

SabbathBlessings said:

And yet you teach that those who follow Jesus do not listen to His words Mark2:27

Click to expand...

Nope. Never taught that but you do as you ignore verse 28. You refuse to give up your legalistic ideology.

SabbathBlessings said:

or follow in His example Luke4:16 1John2:6 or believe His own written and spoken Testimony Exo31:18 that He promised not to alter His words Psa89:23 Deut4:13 why He says to hold fast My covenant Isa56:6 not toss it aside.

Click to expand...

Already addressed these.

SabbathBlessings said:

How does one address an argument that doesn't exist in Scripture. Trying to reason with someone who thinks their words are the same as God's words, is not fruitful.

Click to expand...

Exactly. Your argument is not scriptural. You read your doctrines into the scriptures and then pretend that error works. You need to actually read what the result of Jesus redemptive sacrifice means and what the actual definition and application of justification is.

SabbathBlessings said:

This usually goes into the same place, and we are not able to reason together, so I am moving on. God will sort this out soon enough.

Click to expand...

We can’t reason together because you are a hostage to your legalistic doctrines. The Bible is super clear that the law is not part of the new covenant and that Christ nailed it to the cross. But you want believers to return to the law that profits nothing so that they can save themselves and become slaves again.

I know that you are not moving on because you can’t stand it not having the last word. Another trait of legalism.

Say it aint so said:

Again. So says Paul.

Click to expand...

Actually, it's alledgedly Peter who said it. Paul just thought he was writing letters of advice to his various congregations. What Peter actually said was, "...just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him" which actually undercuts the notion that Paul's words were actually God's words. It doesn't help that while Peter's authorship of 1 Peter is regarded as established, the authorship of 2 Peter in which that quote occurs has been debated since antiquity.

dogs4thewin said:

yes, but he is trying to address the illegal version very different from the stuff used in hospitals and otherwise under medical direction.

Click to expand...

I find this whole thing rather meaningless. Trump cuts funding for addiction treatment programs to cover the tax cuts, and then makes this rather meaningless proclamation. No different than supply side economics, it's not supply that creates demand. It's the demand that creates the supply. We can't control what cartels do in other countries, that's a game of whack-o-mo. Shooting boats that aren't even headed to the US is just the nonsense Trump's Chief of Staff just laid out. We do however have the power to effect what happens within our own borders.

truthuprootsevil said:

Not sure what you're saying. You seem to be saying the Lord will send his wrath "like a thief" and the return of Jesus will not be like a thief.

Click to expand...

I think Keras believes there will be a "day of the Lord" - which was what OT Jews were looking forward to - aka outpouring of God's wrath, THEN Jesus will return.
I haven't worked out how our Lord's return will be "as a thief in the night" and on a day and hour that no one is expecting, and be in about 15-20 years time after certain other things have happened.

No doubt Keras has some sort of explanation; whether it is Scriptural, is another matter.

eleos1954 said:

• Grace & Law: Grace isn't freedom from God's law but power to keep it. Christ's sacrifice made atonement, allowing believers to live righteously, not by earning salvation but by receiving God's imputed righteousness through faith.

Click to expand...

You didn’t finish the circular logic. As long as we keep the law and are obedient. So you add to salvation by the grace of God through faith. Now it us salvation by faith and works if the law.

Tell me, did the law showed the way to repentance?

rjs330 said:

I've only repeated truth that has been going on for many centuries and are demonstrable facts. Facts that continue TODAY among the Islamist belief systems that have been and still are functioning in rhe world around us TODAY.

Are you just ignoring things on purpose? I think you are. Because I have said exactly what you just did. But you just ignored that.

I most certainly am not wrong about Islamists. They are the most dangerous groups in the world today. And they have been coming to the west in droves trying to alter our societies.

Denmark finally work up to the situation and others are starting to.

Click to expand...

The problem is the repeated, constant conflating all Muslims with Islamists.

timewerx said:

Sadly, Christians and Jews are hated for the wrong reasons. Not for being Christ-like. The most damning reason of hatred of Christianity is hypocrisy.

Click to expand...

I can only give the reason quoted from the Bible.

When I look at mankind as a whole there is hatred for certain nations of people who are not fully Christian or not Christians at all, who may be a different color, or cultural difference. Power hungry countries who will step on less fortunate countries, no love, or liking of any kind there. The world is full of hatred!

Blessing to you

Meet Saint Bartolo Longo: A Satanist Freed by the Rosary

Bartolo Longo was born in 1841 in the Italian village of Latiano. His parents were devout Catholics and prayed the Rosaryevery day.

A Young Radical

However, the sympathy of the young Bartolo lay with the revolutionary Italian nationalists. This radical group advocated atheism and Masonic practices. They viewed the Catholic Church as an obstacle to the unification of Italy. The sovereignty of the pope in the Vatican was a thorn in their side. The nationalists, therefore, wanted to abolish the papacy altogether.

Supported by many intellectuals and inspired by the military victories of Giuseppe Garibaldi, the nationalists gained prestige among students. One of them was the law student, Bartolo Longo.

The nationalist struggle against the Church in the 1860s had a spiritual aspect. Occultism was advancing. Séances invoking the spirits of the deceased gained popularity. Longo participated in these practices. Eventually, he had himself ordained as a satanic priest. The fight against Catholicism dominated his life.

Continued below.

durangodawood said:

That all assumes the initial prop 8 campaign was pure citizen outpouring with no "usurpers" playing the money game.

Click to expand...

There were plenty of outside usurpers.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints ... also publicly supported the proposition. LDS members contributed over $20 million, about 45% of out-of-state contributions to ProtectMarriage.com came from Utah, over three times more than any other state. ProtectMarriage, the official proponent of Proposition 8, estimates that about half the donations they received came from Mormon sources, and that LDS church members made up somewhere between 80% and 90% of the volunteers for early door-to-door canvassing.

Other religious organizations that supported Proposition 8 include the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America,[92]Eastern Orthodox Church,[93] a group of Evangelical Christians led by Jim Garlow and Miles McPherson,[94] American Family Association, Focus on the Family[95] and the National Organization for Marriage.

SabbathBlessings said:

The animal sacrifices that were attached to the annual feast days and annul sabbaths were literal sacrifices according to Scripture and were a shadow pointing forward to Jesus. So if we keep the Passover or other feast days, we would not be keeping them according to the Bible because animal sacrifices ended at the Cross and Jerusalem where these feasts occurred was destroyed. So if one was still keeping them, they would be according to a new tradition, not according to Scripture, but I will not judge anyone if they wish to keep them.

Click to expand...

Yes, that is what I said. The Feasts of the Lord didn't become old and vanish, the literal animal sacrifices become old and vanished. The Day God sanctified and made Holy by God, is still sanctified Holy to God, and was also still Holy to the members of God's First church under His New Priest. It was never about killing animals, in my view, just as "Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn", was never about the Oxen, in my view.

Jerry N. said:

You are still limiting God to what you can understand. He could have done it in a million different ways our little minds could never comprehend.

Click to expand...

He could have but he didn't.

Revealed: Pro-Trump group scored an additional $1 billion in taxpayer dollars​

The America First Policy Institute (AFPI), a pro-Donald Trump think tank run by his former chief of staff, helped secure a $1 billion Department of Homeland Security contract tied to new planes for Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.

On Wednesday, the Washington Post reported that the fast-tracked contract is closely linked to AFPI’s top donor. That donor, William Walters, runs the company that received a separate $140 million Noem-approved contract to buy six Boeing 737 planes for use in deportations, as the Post reported last week.

DHS claimed that the nonpartisan federal officials ensure the legitimacy of contracting decisions. Indeed, they do, but not in this case. The Post obtained emails exposing that it was the political appointees who chose the Meadows outfit for the $1 billion contract.

[Again, this is one reason why we want people hired in an apolitical process for the rank and file jobs in the government.]

The main contract went to an Arlington-based firm, Salus Worldwide Solutions, incorporated in 2023, which advertises expertise in coordinating international travel, disaster relief, and security facilities. It has never previously held a federal contract

Michie said:

Bishop Hicks is Theologically Orthodox & Protects the TLM – Damian Thompson on X

Click to expand...

I'm hoping this is more true than that he is a friend and ally of cardinal Cupich.

Here's hoping and praying that cardinal Cupich gets his much desired retirement post haste.

Bradskii said:

I refuse to believe that you didn't know or can't accept that she was telling the truth. What's the big deal? Almost everything she is quoted as saying were the facts of the matter. Yeah, the 'spin' from the admin's point of view was omitted. But what on earth can you complain about? Even Vance admitted he's a conspiracist. And then moronically qualified in the way he did. Which was like saying that he didn't believe in ghosts...except for the ones that do exist.

Click to expand...

To have to deny the obvious. To have to defend the indefensible. Simply because it's Trump, Is what Trump Derangement Syndrome actually is.

Bondi Beach terrorism suspect Naveed Akram charged by police after massacre that killed 15 innocent victims

He has been charged with 59 offences, including:

• Commit terrorist act
• 15 counts of murder
• 40 counts of cause wounding/grievous bodily harm to person with intent to murder
• Discharge firearm etc intend cause grievous bodily harm
• Cause public display of prohibited terrorist org symbol
• Place explosive in/near building with intent cause harm

bling said:

Jesus was “tempted” while here on earth, so why can we not be tempted in heaven and not sin like Christ avoided sinning?

What you are saying: “Satan caused Adam and Eve to sin”, which takes the “blame” for their sinning away from them, so how is that what you are saying? Satan did not tell Eve to eat, but Eve did what she was wanting to do and satan helped her to justify what she wanted to do with lies.

You do not know that. Why not: “If not satan than someone else?"

Do you know how not to sin?

Have you ever been around a group of Christians who know how to keep from sinning?

So is satan (the tempter) here on earth the only reason you sin?

Click to expand...

All of Mankind inherits a rebellious nature because of the fall and because we are born into a sinful world ... ALL will indeed sin.

Humans didn't receive a "sinful desire" directly implanted by Satan; instead, they were tempted to choose sin, and the consequences of that choice the sinful nature and became part of their heritage ...

the desire to sin will be gone in heaven because glorified believers will be completely transformed to be like Christ, free from the sinful nature, and in God's presence where sin cannot exist; we will have free will but only to choose what is right and holy, with no temptation or internal pull towards evil. Our nature will be purified, our wills aligned with God's, and the ability to sin will be removed as part of complete redemption, similar to how God Himself cannot sin (no we will not be gods, not suggesting this)

God gave Adam and Eve a clear warning and a choice (free will) .... if you eat of the tree you will die ... satan said you will not surely die. Eve believed a lie (deceived). Eve allowed Satan's lie to overshadow God's truth, believing Satan that she wouldn't die but become wise like God. There won't be any lies in heaven.

John 1
8If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10If we say we have not sinned, we make Him out to be a liar, and His word is not in us.

We are constantly being sanctified by the Lord, with His help we can do much better but we will never be perfect (without sin) until Jesus returns

True sinless perfection is only achieved at the Second Coming when believers are glorified, but this doesn't negate the present call to grow in Christ by the Holy Spirit, striving for character transformation, and being "perfect" (complete) in Him now*,* through faith, even while acknowledging our ongoing struggle with sin until the end. It's about a present, empowered process of sanctification, not a future, human-achieved state, emphasizing dependence on Christ for completion.

** Imputed Righteousness: Through faith in Jesus, believers are clothed in His perfect righteousness, making them legally perfect in God's eyes.

Philippians 1:6

AMP
I am convinced and confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will [continue to] perfect and complete it until the day of Christ Jesus [the time of His return].

"Jesus was “tempted” while here on earth, so why can we not be tempted in heaven and not sin like Christ avoided sinning?"

True .... tempted by who? Satan .... Satan (the tempter) will be destroyed and God does not tempt anyone. Jesus was the only one who did not fall unto temptation that's why he is our savior ... He never sinned.

Again, satan is the tempter ... NOT God and satan will be completely destroyed and when we are glorified we will have a complete sinless perfection

Now think about this ... If Adam and Eve had never been tempted ... would we be in this mess? No we would not.

Im getting shortness of breath with the caplyta. My blood oxygen is fine and ive been monitoring myself all night but I do notice a much bigger change in mood and its helping me so im hoping that the shortness of breath side effect goes away because caplyta is a very helpful med.

The Liturgist said:

The Episcopalian parish of which I was a member, until the retirement of my friend Fr. Steven, a priest with disposition and hieratic dignity, most graceful and pious, who used Eucharistic Prayer A and Eucharistic Prayer C primarily, the latter in the fall, Eucharistic Prayer B in Lent, and who tried to avoid D due to the fixed preface,

Click to expand...

Interesting given that Prayer C doesn't have a preface at all! Prayer D is my favorite due to its beauty and catholic nature. But it sure is looooong.

The Liturgist said:

at some point I’ll probably post a thread in Liturgical Theology on ecclesiastical vexillology since I’ve done liturgical colors, vestments and a few other subjects.

Click to expand...

I learned a new word today -- thanks!!

Postvieww said:

Some found a way out by stealing government funds.

Click to expand...

So all of them are "garbage" and should be deported. Got it.