Most of our present day Christian preachers teach against the Law, Prophets and most important Jesus Himself. By making statements such as, "we don't have to keep that old law its been nailed to the cross." These preachers use the books of Paul to make that statement. If that were true, that would mean no one would be able to sin. Why? Paul says in Romans 5:13 (For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law. In other words if there is no law there is no sin. Sin is not imputed or no blame can be accredited to any person when there is no law

Now, let’s see what Sin is according to the Bible in I John 3:4 it states, "whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law." So if the law was nailed to the cross that would mean its okay to use the Lords name in vain, put other gods before HIM, make graven images and bow before them, pollute the Sabbath day, steal, commit murder, commit adultery and bear false witness. If all these things are okay to commit, then we might as well throw the Bible out the back door and do what ever feels good to us.

1Tonne said:

I’d also add, wearing a cross or attending church, while good things, do not in themselves mean someone is saved

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That’s true, since one might be attending a heterodox church that makes use of the cross and someone might be a hypocrite. However challenging people who appear to be Christian as to the status of their faith by demanding to know “Are you saved?” is deeply offensive and is not compatible with the Golden Rule. It is also not a question that an individual believer who is faithful can necessarily answer. Metropolitan Kallistos Ware nonetheless did charitably indulge the strange woman who was accosting him on a train about his soteriological status with this lovely answer “Using the present tense, but using the continuous form of the present tense, I trust that I am being saved.”

Catholic World Report has done a great service to readers today, by dipping into the magazine’s archives and posting an article by the late, great James Hitchcock, Conservative Bishops, Liberal Results. Originally published in the May 1995 issue (when I was serving as editor), the article explores a phenomenon that still puzzles many faithful Catholics. Why is it that so many good bishops—bishops who have the enthusiastic support of Catholics loyal to the perennial traditions of the Church—fail to bring about any discernible changes in the actual working of their dioceses?
Although Jim Hitchcock died only two months ago, a long struggle with Parkinson’s disease had silenced him for years, and younger readers may not be familiar with his work. For them, this article from Catholic World Report is a must. He was an extremely perceptive observer of Church history, who thought and wrote with unusual clarity. His analysis offers cogent answers to the questions that many Catholics are still asking.

The terms “conservative” and “liberal” are always somewhat misleading when applied to Catholic controversies. But in the absence of more accurate alternatives (which would require a fair amount of explanation), they provide a simple way to summarize the tensions that have beset that Catholic Church in the years since Vatican II. By 1995, when the Hitchcock essay appeared, the “conservative” Catholics—those devoted to the defense of Church doctrines and disciplines—had suffered through three decades of tumultuous change, while the “liberals”—those pressing for more dramatic change—were pressing their advantage.

The destabilization of the Catholic world—and with it, the precipitous decline in the number of people actively practicing the faith—was most evident during the 1970s. The election of Pope John Paul II gave the “conservatives” a burst of hope, a belief that the chaos might be over, sanity and good order restored, and what another historian, Paul Johnson, described as the Catholic Restoration might be underway.

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Servus said:

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It seems this thread is moving slowly enough to tempt me into conversation.

Whatever solidarity his supporters may feel with the lamented Charlie Kirk, they will never be Charlie Kirk. None of them nor TPUSA are trained public speakers ready to take up his singular promotional style. Nor are his ad hoc positions, taken up and abandoned at his personal whim, a moveable feast set for successors to carry on.

Arguably, not even Charlie Kirk could be Charlie Kirk.

From the million students who famously never showed up for Trump 2020 to the 80 buses that were never needed to deliver the 350 students he recruited to support the "Civil War" he promoted for J6 when Trump lost. Kirk was a critic of college education who dropped out before attending a single class.

Silencing MLK didn't stop the Civil Rights Movement because it gained appeal with a majority of Americans.

Kirk's TPUSA has not gained appeal with even a majority of the college students who Kirk would know, if Kirk had actually attended college, actually set the tone and politics on campus for their professors, and not the other way around.

The Chicago Statement on Free Expression was created to preserve academic freedom under assault from a more liberal — some would say more coddled — student body, because that has always been the dominant force on campus.

Servus said:

I was specifically talking about an audience listening to a debate. Anything outside of that is taking what I said off on a non-sequitur tangent.

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Does anyone remember Trump’s behavior or performance in the debates he participated in! It seemed to be more insults and condescending pejorative name calling than truth. And yet look who we awarded as victor.

Servus said:

The left applies their continuous accusations of racist fascist with a broad brush.

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Yes, many do but you use the same broad brush to paint the left guilty.

Servus said:

Which is why it's continuous and ubiquitous.

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Unless you stop doing the exact same thing you charge your opposition with.

Many on the left and right are actually sane.

o_mlly said:

The issue is, "how did that diversity come to be?".

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While we can never prove that anything isn't the result of some kind of miracle, we can ask whether what we observe is the sort of thing we expect to occur naturally, given the processes we know about. When it comes to genetic differences between species, what we observe is very much what we would expect if the differences were the result of random mutations. There are multiple lines of evidence leading to this conclusion; I've described one of them here: Testing Common Ancestry: It’s All About the Mutations - Article - BioLogos

o_mlly said:

The evolutionist's claim is that only mutation is un-directed; selection is directed (toward survival and reproduction), no? So in any hostile environment, for sentient animals the complex sense of sight provides an advantage for survival. But since "there are too many directions that selection can take", a gradual change evolution theory cannot explain the necessary complexity of an evolved functioning eye?

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I'm not sure what you're asking. What I meant was, some other change might be more important than a slight improvement in eyesight for a particular species, and might take precedence, or some other change to the eye might be more important, or there might be some developmental constraint that makes a particular change to retinas be difficult to achieve. Organisms are too complex and their interaction with their environment far too complex for us to intelligently model the way a specific trait is going to evolve.

o_mlly said:

So, how many mutational routes are available? If the number of random mutational routes is not significantly smaller than the number of possible random mutations before selection weans them then I don't see much progress in the discussion on gradual evolution explaining the functioning eye.

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Mutational routes to what? Again, I'm not sure what you're asking. To achieve a small change in some particular trait, there might be anywhere from zero to thousands of random mutations possible, while the total number of possible mutations is in the billions.

o_mlly said:

However, the evolution of a functioning eye via accumulated micro-evolutionary events needs evidence. The rate of change is not that evidence.

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In the absence of any reason at all to think there's a limit to how much change can accumulate, yes, the rate is indeed evidence. If the question is whether I could have gotten here from a hundred miles away today by natural means, the fact that I'm in a car that routinely drives at 70 miles an hour is relevant information.

o_mlly said:

So, what is the bais for the claim that "all the evidence (observed effects) ... to date indicates that abstract thinking evolved"?

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The evidence that abstract thinking, very much including language, is a product of brain activity, coupled with the evidence that our brains evolved.

o_mlly said:

What are life's characteristic manifestations? What are its chief forms? What is the inner nature of the source of vital activity?

Vegetation manifests the universal and basic phenomena of life: nutrition, growth, and decay. The second kind of life, the animal kingdom, adds sentience and locomotion The highest kind of life is mind or reason, exerting itself in thought or rational activity. This last properly belongs to man. The source of vitality in all creatures resides in its soul, its animating and harmonizing principle.

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Restating an Aristotelean understanding of life doesn't answer my questions. How old are the Hawaiian Islands? Was life specially created there, or did it arrive from elsewhere?

o_mlly said:

Micro-evolution.

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That's a heck of a lot of change for microevolution, including the kind of change that creationists insist is impossible.

This is exactly what authoritarian regimes do, heavy-handed policing of the law against ones political opponents.

The death of Milad Farakh, a member of the Melkite Greek Catholic community from the village of Kafra in Syria’s Valley of Christians (Wadi al-Nasara), has stirred controversy on social media. About two weeks after his arrest and transfer to the Balouna Prison in Homs on charges of selling spoiled meat, reports emerged recently that he had died under torture, based on leaks.

A local source told ACI MENA, CNA’s Arabic-language news partner, that the “spoiled meat” charge (Farakh was a butcher) was merely a cover to prevent unrest in the region. The source added that the security services themselves admitted Farakh had died under torture and issued an official apology. The officer responsible for interrogating him was also detained.

At the same time, the source stressed that media claims of “persecution of Christians” in Wadi al-Nasara do not reflect reality.

“We have never felt any direct targeting. Relations between the local community and the security services are built on coordination, especially with the church authorities. Speaking of persecution here is inaccurate.” He summarized the main problems faced by detainees during investigations involve three things: denial of communication with their families, lengthy interrogation periods, and the use of torture.

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childeye 2 said:

I'm sure that we're all called to be charitable, to care for the needs of others.

I'm using it in this context:

Luke 18:21-23​

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King James Version​

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21 And he said, All these have I kept from my youth up.​

22 Now when Jesus heard these things, he said unto him, Yet lackest thou one thing: sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me.
23 And when he heard this, he was very sorrowful: for he was very rich.

childeye 2 said:
To me he's describing what one must do to be the perfect servant, or in other words, perfectly selfless.

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I never said we are not to be charitable. I am asking if every Christian is supposed to give up all as were those called to be his witnesses? There may come a time that we will be persecuted and this is upon us to do. Many people are being persecuted and being killed today in some places.
But again, in every instance are all supposed to not have any earthly goods?

A New Dawn said:

It means nothing that you keep repeating that. Partisan courts making partisan decisions on command of a corrupt DoJ is not a surprise.

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Sorry that you don't like facts. A partisan court has nothing to do with a guilty plea negotiated by the defendant and the court. It also has nothing to do with the jury's decision. The J6er' lawyers agreed to the jury selection.

A New Dawn said:

There were, MAYBE, five people who actually committed a crime in all that went into the Capitol that day who were rightly tried and convicted, the rest were invited in as the video evidence shows and should have received nothing more than a warning instead of the years in jail that they spent on misdemeanor charges.

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Almost all those arrested were not invited in. They forced their way in and videos confirm that. One door on the left side of the Capital building was opened by guards but only those that damaged offices were charged with crimes, from those.

There was video evidence of all those charged with crimes unless officers witnessed and arrested them on site.

Pope Leo XIV led an ecumenical commemoration of the martyrs and witnesses of faith of the 21st century at Rome’s Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls on Sunday, stressing that “even though they have been killed in body, no one can silence their voice or erase the love they have shown.”

The Sept. 14 liturgy brought together Orthodox, Eastern, and Protestant leaders, along with ecumenical organizations and Vatican officials.

“Through his cross, Jesus revealed to us the true face of God, his infinite compassion for humanity,” the pope said. “He took upon himself the hatred and violence of the world, to share the lot of all those who are humiliated and oppressed.”

Pope Leo, speaking on the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, said that many believers still share in Christ’s cross. “Like him, they are persecuted, condemned and killed,” the pope said, pointing to women and men — religious, lay people, and priests — who have died for their fidelity to the Gospel, their fight for religious freedom, and their solidarity with the poor.

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Illuminated drones reproduce Michelangelo's "Pietà" over St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican on September 14, 2025. | Courtney Mares

St. Peter’s Square became the stage for an unprecedented spectacle on Saturday night, as tens of thousands gathered for Grace for the World, a massive concert closing the third World Meeting on Human Fraternity.

The event opened with breathtaking symbolism: more than 3,000 drones illuminated the night sky above the basilica, tracing the image of Pope Francis, framing Michelangelo’s dome and Bernini’s colonnade in light. The display, a first for the Vatican, drew reverent silence before the crowd erupted in applause.

Illuminated drones portray Pope Francis above St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican on September 14, 2025. Eva Fernández

The moment was accompanied by a stirring duet of "Amazing Grace" performed by world-renowned tenor Andrea Bocelli and American singer Teddy Swims. Their voices rose over the hushed square, blending with the faint hum of the drones in an atmosphere of solemnity and awe.

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Generally monks don't eat meat, but otherwise celebrate. Feasting doesn't necessarily mean eating a ton or even all that richly, so if you're not feeling like stuffing yourself, that's fine. You should generally enjoy yourself and have a respite from labor (as possible). The most important part, of course, is the liturgical celebration, particularly participating in the sacrament of communion.

However, if you're talking about this specific commemoration, the Exaltation of the Precious and Life Giving Cross is a fast day because it's a commemoration of the cross, though it does collide with the Sunday.

Michie said:

Texas A&M University (TAMU) has fired a senior lecturer and two administrators after a Republican lawmaker shared a video of a classroom discussion on gender identity in violation of state law.

The controversy erupted after state Rep. Brian Harrison shared a hidden-camera video online on Sept. 8 showing English lecturer Melissa McCoul dismissing a student who objected to the lesson, which was discussed as part of a children’s literature course.

In one of the undated videos, an unidentified female student is engaged in a discussion with McCoul over content related to gender identity. “This also very much goes against not only myself but a lot of people’s religious beliefs. And so, I am not going to participate in this because it’s not legal and I don’t want to promote something that is against our president’s laws as well as against my religious beliefs,” the student says in the video.

“If you are uncomfortable in this class, you do have the right to leave. What we are doing is not illegal,” McCoul responds.

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Texas A&M fires lecturer, administrators over classroom gender discussion caught on video

Texas A M University TAMU has fired a senior lecturer and two administrators after a Republican lawmaker shared a video of a classroom discussion on gender identity in violation of state law

www.christianpost.com

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The course description:

Is gender identity not a genre or movement in literature for children?

Chesterton said:

He sets up a tent, provides a microphone, and anyone who wants can step up and discuss whatever they want. You don't get more actual dialogue than that. If the people he spoke with often made fools of themselves that's on them.

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That's an intellectually dishonest framing of how most people encountered Charlie Kirk, which was as an algorithmically mediated presence on a screen, and Kirk and his billionaire backers counted on that algorithmic outrage loop.

Defenders of Kirk really need to do a better job looking at Kirk in his wider context, and not merely focusing on the idealized image they have of him as some kind of chivalrous knight defending "truth".

Michie said:

Thanks for the white knighting on behalf of another but it came off as cheap and vulgar. But I guess that’s allowed here in these parts.

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Before posting he should have asked "Is this comment helpful?"

I guess he got backlash from his statement. So, he had to apologize, because he was afraid, that he might lose his job. But I'm sure he wants that to happen to the homeless. And a lot of people do too.

Gregory Thompson said:

Government is an institution. It consists of people, but the people in it act according to something similar to mob rule, not as individuals.

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It consists of seats of power. These people are just as prone to human nature as the rich people whose wealth they have taken. Thats is it. It is power put in the hands of another group of people.

Gregory Thompson said:

Ideas are just ideas, people act according to what they're really thinking. The ideas are molded into an ideal image and not representative of how humans operate.

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People are people, and have human nature alike, and think like humans can think..

Gregory Thompson said:

The set up applied to the world that existed at the time of the founding. Since it is outdated, amendments will not change that.

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Human nature is what it is. The founding fathers knew this. When men think of their own nature higher than it really is comes to no good end. We will never reach perfection in this world and this life. But many fathers being deists acknowledge Human rights given by God. And created a government to limit power in our branches of government.

caffeinated.hermit said:

So you used AI to break down AI's conclusions? And AI agreed with what AI had originally proposed? Or did you run this idea by another human engineer?

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I have tried to run this down with human engineer/scientist back in 2009 (without AI obviously) with a completely different design back then. The talk never progressed beyond, the possibility of harnessing molecular energy from ambient temperatures..

He never bothered to look. I gave up on it not long after.

So I'm not going to make the mistake again of showing it to another person at least not until I build the working prototype.

The theory is simple enough that scrutiny of every aspect of it didn't take long and it was easy.

If things got complicated, that couldn't be simply resolved with formulas, chatgpt would recommend me to use a 3rd party app like Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) software. IN this case, it never did.

Have you actually used AI before like really use it heavily like analysis tasks at work? Or just repeating what other people said about AI?

Some of these "rumors" are true but had to be treated under certain context. If you don't supply AI with every possible detail that can affect its analysis, it can make a wrong analysis of the situation and give the wrong advice. You need to have good knowledge and experience of the topics you're discussing with AI so you can still scrutinize its output than blindly believing everything it's saying.

iluvatar5150 said:

https://www.cnn.com/2025/09/13/business/charlie-kirk-death-fired-comments

The Charlie’s Murderers site, whose domain was registered anonymously and which says it is not a doxxing site, claims it has “received nearly 30,000 submissions,” according to a message on the site’s front page on midday Saturday. Currently, there are a few dozen submissions published on the site. “This website will soon be converted into a searchable database of all 30,000 submissions, filterable by general location and job industry. This is a permanent and continuously-updating archive of Radical activists calling for violence.”​

Expose Charlie's Murderers

www.charliesmurderers.com

Looking over the first handful of entries, it seems their idea of what constitutes “supporting political violence” is… extremely broad.

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Ah, so we’re on that phase of the regime now. Cool.

Some churches have disagreements over matters of consequence — doctrine, governance, or leadership. This article is not about such cases.

We’ve encountered some strange reasons for church conflict.

• There was the time a church fought over the appropriate length of the pastor’s beard.
• Or the case of a church fighting over whether to build a children’s playground or to use the land for a cemetery.
• We witnessed a conflict over people leading worship with their eyes closed during a portion of the song.
• One church held two business meetings to determine which weed-eater to purchase.
• Lastly, a church had a 70% affirmative vote to excommunicate a deacon who threatened to kill the pastor. The running joke was, “30% of this congregation wants the pastor dead.”

Some of these examples may seem petty. Well, they are. And all of them could have been avoided. Just about every church has multiple examples of fights over inconsequential matters. What leads to this point? The problem is too pervasive to ignore.

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Richard T said:

Working in the USA on a tourist visa is illegal. Trump gave them special permission to stay but after being detained one week most of them did go on the plane back.

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According to them, many were not here on tourist visas, but limited work visas.

Richard T said:

Not with handcuffs as normally would occur, and they also are NOT going to be considered blacklisted three years for their immigration offenses.

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They had already been chained and shackled. Since South Korea flew them home, there would be absolutely no reason for them to fly handcuffed, in humiliation.

Richard T said:

My only question is that since many even Trump now pity the plight of the S. Koreans, why not pity the plight of the poor Hispanic that works in the meat packing plant?

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I think the general feeling about the plight of the S. Koreans is outrage, not pity. Many do pity the plight of the poor Hispanic that works in the meat packing plant.

Richard T said:

Hiring all these agents is not about rounding up the worst of the ones working or staying here illegally, it is about a show of force to I suppose be a deterrence. So now it worked. The S. Korean President said they will have to rethink new USA investment.

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Yeah, I don't think that it will be only the S. Korean government reconsidering investing here.

The air was clear, the leaves on the forest trees were beginning to change and a cold front was pushing towards the nearby Blue Ridge Mountains.

It was a perfect day for flying for Ed Moran.

The transitional deacon climbed into his four-seat, single-engine aircraft, a Cessna 172 Skyhawk — not the fastest, but sturdy and ideal for flight training. That day, however, his passengers weren’t aviation students; they were parishioners: middle and high schoolers at St. John the Evangelist in Waynesboro, Virginia. After a safety briefing with their parents, Deacon Moran strapped them in for takeoff.

From Eagle’s Nest Airport, Deacon Moran steered the plane out of the Shenandoah Valley, above the surrounding forest and mountains at a height of just 800 feet, then over the town where the passengers could spot their houses below. After 30 minutes of breathtaking landscapes, the aircraft returned to earth, leaving a lasting impression on each teen.

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