prodromos said:

I would think that anyone put in prison for committing crimes against citizens, should have their own citizenship revoked for the duration of their incarceration, thus they have none of the civil or religious 'rights' afforded to law abiding citizens

Click to expand...

Felons do have their voting rights removed while incarcerated. They can get those right back after they have finished their sentence and parole. For the most part we do not take away religious rights, even for peote if it might be part of a recognized religious ritual.

I don't think you can at this point. This has been cultivated for a long time and now some are doubling down on the extremism. This is being made an 'Us and Them' situation by the language used. These are fighting words being spoken. Theres no doubt about that.

I think since the election some on the Left have doubled down on the same language they have been cultivating for a decade or more. That the right, conservatives and by extentions now Jews and Christians are the enermy that needs to be stopped even by violence.

We can trace the connections to other groups including foreign radical groups who hold these Marxist ideas of radical uprising against the establishment. Now its become mainstream Left politics. The radicals are rising to the top and this is evidenced by the rise in the use of violences as a means to take out political opponents and overturn the establishment.

Some commentators liken this to how radical violence was cultivated in nations like Ireland with sectarian violence. It begins with the rhetoric and demonising and the 'us and them' mentality. It always ends in violence. This will get worse before it gets better. If it gets better.

By the way this is not just a US problem but happening across many western nations and in the world such as the Palestinian and Isreali conflict. Its all blurred into one ideological world war that may turn violence on a world scale in the same way its happening in more and more nations.

Rather than the free nations overcoming the crazy radicals we use to thank God were far away. The crazy radicals are winning and turning free nations into divided ideological conflicts to the point of killing opponents. Conicidently just as radical Islamist do because we don't agree with their ideas and beliefs. It all comes from the same mindset.

In a way I believe the Islamist knew this and took advantage of the instability in western nations and furthered the divisions. We have been fools in the west and now we are paying the price.

You are enduring much indeed but none would know if you hadn’t admitted it and what an example that is. Favored one of the Lord! You’re demonstrating the truth in your stance and what a blessing it is to witness.

“You will keep in perfect and constant peace the one whose mind is steadfast [that is, committed and focused on You—in both inclination and character], Because he trusts and takes refuge in You [with hope and confident expectation].

While your infirmities are great something greater awaits and you’re earning it as we speak. The blessed award for your obedience is more than the hardships. Hold fast to your crown and delight in its forthcoming. Many expected to receive the same but you’ve run the race and your reception will be marvelous. Well done good and faithful servant.

~bella

I got AstraZeneca twice - and then the alternatives the next 2 times.

AZ sucked - 2 days in bed - but hey? Maybe it stopped me getting LONG Covid or dying?

I sent an email to my priest who’s also the pastor of my church.

Vambram said:

Nope. I am putting forth the truth. I know that the truth makes sense.

Click to expand...

You think shipping drugs to willing purchasers is tyranny?

I discovered the principle of shabbat at a synagogue I attended years ago. We were taught the concept holistically with attentiveness in the physical, spiritual, communal and so on. The bickering I see on the subject among christians is baffling. My memories include classes with others like myself followed by the service, communion and a meal. If we attended Friday evenings we had service and communion followed with a blessing and the meal. In both instances our unity and fellowship were foremost. We weren’t arguing or comparing notes of the holiest. That’s ridiculous.

We shared our preparations at home and practices and reflected on the text (parashah) as a group and delighted in the insights that followed. We were strengthened by our experiences and what came forth in our walk with the Lord as we were being transformed. Some developed affinities for prayer, worship, differences in dress and appearance, hospitality and so on. Once we learned about shabbat they took us to a restaurant so we could experience it together and replicate the same at home.

Washing my hands while praying in hebrew and blessing the food with others felt different. The oneness evoked a level of emotion we hadn’t experienced before. We dined with other families for shabbat and holidays too to reinforce the same. There were moments when I rushed out to get donuts for hanukkah and greeted others doing the same with a knowing laugh and the same was true for rosh hashanah. It’s a connection we shared.

When I see these conversations I’m confounded. It doesn’t inspire curiosity or welcome. If you’re the ambassadors for the subject you’ve failed. You’re not drawing people in. It’s just another debate and that‘s sad. But maybe it isn’t your job and He’ll raise up others instead. You don’t draw people to the Lord with conflict. Christ led with love but it seems you’ve forgotten.

~bella

Guojing said:

What Christ was pointing out was that, since entering the kingdom required faith and obedience to the Law, its better to get rid of body parts if they are causing you to sin, and thus missing out on the promised kingdom.

Once they made it into the kingdom, they will be healed anyway, as predicted in OT passages like Psalms 103:3.

The entire sermon of the mount was preached to the nation of Israel, not us gentiles. We can learn from reading those passages though

Click to expand...

As you have tacitly pointed out. Law keeping is often in the mind of the keeper. We see the law, interpret it to our comfort level and then pronounce ourselves law keepers. I don't want the baby then I declare that abortion is not murder.

Anyone familiar with Barth enough to say where in his Dogmatics he talks about repentance

There has been ongoing debate about who is the best guitarist with the likes of Jimmy Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, Stevie Ray Vaughan ect. Who do you think is the greatest guitarist. I think all the above are great each in their own way.

But I am also interested in other guitarist not as well known who may even be better. Even Youtubers or buskers. Whoever. I love the guitar and not just lead but also rythm, bass and all sorts of stringed instruments. The Banjo is great as well.

In recent years I came across Derek Trucks. He is actually the nephew of the late Butch Trucks, drummer for the Allman Brothers. So he grew up around the band and that era of blues and rock guitarist.

Derek plays the slide guitar which I love and think of Gilmor in classic songs like the Great Gig in the Sky. Its great because not only is the note played but all sorts of notes inbetween are bent into each other. Its almost like a violin and yet he still comes back to classic blues rock guitar.

Enjoy.

Login to view embedded media

I actually really hope Mamdani wins and is able to put into place all his promises. I obviously think they will fail, but what I think is irrelevant. Maybe they won't. Maybe us conservatives will all be proven wrong.

Either case, we should be able to put to rest the idea of theae kinds of policies, one way or another. Does this kind of socialism work? Or doesn't it?

Yeah I know we can show in other places that it didn't work, but its not NY. The left can say over and over again that the other places didn't do it right. I think with NY we can finally say, it does or doesn't work.

Fantine said:

The middle class will not have tax increases.
I have cousins in NYC and they'd never live anywhere else.

Click to expand...

Says who?

NxNW said:

if banks fail across the board, I doubt having some pretty metal in your safe is going to be super helpful.

Click to expand...

Monetary metals aren't particularly useful, in the face of an economic collapse; when people are competing for food. Lead is more useful during those periods, for hunting game, or defending oneself from cannibals.

Monetary metals serve to store wealth. In the face of a starving population, money is of little use; if no one is selling food.

However, monetary metals still serve to store one's wealth, until society rebuilds, the trucks begin running again, and food sales resume.

Zimbabwe notes are useful for cooking fires.

timewerx said:

That's my plan too but without cooperation, it wouldn't work and it didn't worked for us.

Click to expand...

What do you have in mind?

timewerx said:

But who knows, this could have been the best option for us even though we ended up in debt. Considering everything, I could have ended up dead with more free time or missed out on other things that could have mattered hugely even if they don't have any real world value. But I also lost the taste for life/living in the process uncertain if I'll ever get it back.

Click to expand...

I think you will and you’re showing signs in your discussion of Ai and your project. The spark is there.

timewerx said:

Might have to do with "gentrification" and how the idea is strongly pushed in all media outlets.

Click to expand...

True. But when I was growing up many of the popular dramas featured multi-family homes or properties and they had means. That’s the image we were shown in shows like Dallas, Dynasty, Falcon Crest and more. We saw similar themes in soap operas as well. Perhaps that’s why it took root in me more than my relatives. I was younger and more impressionable. My aunt told me I’m a lot like our relations in the south. Watching me brings back memories of her childhood and their grandmother and aunts who did the same. When it comes to things like that I know what to do. I can’t explain it but the answer is there. Maybe it‘s ancestral.

timewerx said:

It's ironic that hollywood nowadays often have to shoot their film outside USA like somewhere in Eastern Europe or even Australia even though the story's location is in USA! They can't seem to find older houses, older neighborhoods that didn't looked run down in USA anymore and things are trending towards older things! The numbers are showing one thing but probably because people have limited choices to watch in terms of new content but deep down desiring something else or even hating them but since there's nothing else available.

Click to expand...

But a few years ago they were calling Atlanta the new hollywood and going there in droves. Trump put a tariff on American films produced overseas. But the other side of that is private equity’s entrance in the market with hedge funds which reduced supply and drove up prices. They went overseas to find something cheaper.

And the elephant in the room is migration. They’re so focused on illegals and never considered the other. When there’s a lot of uncertainty and unrest people don’t remain if they can leave. They’re not reporting it openly. Lest they encourage citizens to follow suit but it’s happening. They can go elsewhere with less instability, a lower cost of living and their money goes further. By the time the majority realize what we’re becoming it’ll be too late.

~bella

Continuing to observe.

sjastro said:

It is completely meaningless the volume of an n-ball in n dimensional space is given by the formula:

View attachment 372194

Г is the gamma function and has a known value Г(1/2) = √π.

For n= 2 dimensions

View attachment 372195

Г(n) = (n-1)! hence Г(2) = 1! = 1

V₂(r) = πr² the area of a circle.

For n = 3 dimensions.

View attachment 372196

Г(5/2) = (3/2)! = (3/2)(1/2). Г(1/2) = 3/4 √π using gamma recurrence.

V₃(r) = [π³´²/Г(5/2)]r³ = [(π√π/)/(3/4)√π]r³= (4/3)πr³ the volume of a sphere.

If π²¹ is a term in the equation we would exist in 42 dimensional space.
If you are a 'Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy' fan where 42 is the answer to everything this might have some significance but I doubt it.

Click to expand...

I knew it! Douglas Adams was right all along. Thanks for the explanation.

I really thought I was a christian at least at one point in my life but I would have understood things more along Barthian lines.

What you describe with the man sounds different. What I experienced was like a strong move of the Holy Spirit to get me to put my trust in Christ. Did that come from reading John Owen?

It just seems to me on reflection perhaps, there's a sort of disconnect - between head and heart, I think I am agreeing and believing when I read but deep down my in my heart I am not. So this was quite a number of years ago, nowadays I am not really sure what I believe.

Increasing I am thinking one can have an understanding of theology, but not really have faith. And that its easy to mistake one for the other. One's "faith" may be based on having picked up a particular understanding reading theological book.

I worries me what will be the result if I can't put my trust in Christ. Do I need to better understand my need of Christ?

MarkRohfrietsch said:

Hi ChubbyCherub,

Not quite right; what you are questioning is the second lesson which is read directly from Romans 3:19-28 (ESV); please note in particular, the last two verses which I have highlighted; what it says is we are only justified by faith, not the law. This doctrine of justification was one of the corner stones of the reformation as the Catholic Church at that time was, and two a lesser extent today, still teaches that we can cooperate with our salvation. It was the book of Romans that brought this to light for Martin Luther. It seems that St. Paul was a Lutheran.


19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. 20 Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin.

Righteousness Through Faith​

21 But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22 This righteousness is given through faith in[h] Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 25 God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement,[i] through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— 26 he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.

27 Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. Because of what law? The law that requires works? No, because of the law that requires faith. 28 For we maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law.

Click to expand...

Thank you!

FaithT said:

You’ve got that right.

Click to expand...

I get so frustrated with it as my sister and sister in law deal with these issues. That whole system needs to be updated where people can actually get the care they need to live more normal lives.

NxNW said:

Start your own thread on that. Stop trying to change the subject.

Click to expand...

I honestly haven't read this entire thread, but somewhere, we got WAY off topic from some teacher celebrating Charlies death to narco terrorists being killed. For which there is already a thread.

Can we please get back on topic or has it been exhausted?

I think over history we have seen acceptence of violence and use of violence from both sides. I think each era has its own reasons but fundementally it is a battle of the established and traditional as opposed to the liberal and progressive.

Fundementally liberal can mean different things and I believe traditionally in the true spirit of Christianity that it is quite liberal in that there is no political identities and offers fullness of life as the bible claims.

But I think liberalism can easily be skewed and become defiance. An objection against authority that is natural and necessary because people disagree ideologically.

I think at least for most of history we were grounded in God and Christs liberty. Though there were still some who abused this with their positions of authority. But still generally this moored us to some greater good that human ideas.

Things changed and we exposed the hypocracy of the church and its abuses. This brought about the beginning of reflection and getting back to the true spirit of Christ.

While at the same time the public square was progressing further away from this fundemental truth and replacing this with human made ideologies. Now we are seeing the end result of progressive ideologies on the extreme end of the political spectrum after being cultivated for decades.

The ultimate idea of liberal and progressive ideas is to defy the status quo. Which is good. But like anything if its not grounded in something beyond humans then by nature humans rebel against God. It will become liberation from God.

iluvatar5150 said:

Everyone? You obviously don’t.

Click to expand...

What are you talking about? Obama didn't do that? Were all the newspapers and media lying about it?

iluvatar5150 said:

It does matter if you want to point to Obama as having been the one who initiated it.

Click to expand...

No it doesn't because he and Michelle were the ones who spent the money and did the remodeling. Certainly you are denying that. Why are you fighting that so hard?

Like I said, I don't really care if he dis or didn't. Thats not the point I was making. The point was he did it on taxpayer money and no one on the left or in the media gave a clap.

But when Trump does with private funds suddenly the left and the media cares deeply and wants to criticize it. Its patently ridiculous.

Obama did it, I don't care, it probably needed to be done.

Trump is doing it, I don't care, it sounds like it needed to be done. AND he's not using taxpayer money to do it.

impressedquote194 said:

What is it like? is it a glorified city in the stars? i personally think it is an immaterial place that existed before god created the material universe. it is gods presence and spiritual in nature.

Click to expand...

There are a number of self-proclaimed prophets who claim to have been there, and have described it in some detail. I heard from one on Elijah Streams, and thought it interesting. I have no idea how real it is, or if it's symbolic, or whatever. But Paul did claim to have gone to the 3rd heaven, whatever that is.

Personally, I focus on the New Earth, which I think will be somewhat like the present earth because we've been told that the present earth will exist forever. But it will become a "new earth" at some point, indicating some major changes.

The new earth will have an enormous city of Jerusalem, reaching up into outer space. But again, this could be symbolic. I'm interested in comments....

johansen said:

probably lost to history,
google doesn't return the search result anymore but you've been around long enough to have found it already.
there is a long list of failed biblical prophecies on a certain website, it is well researched, and there really is no way to make it all work.

much of what prophets pickup on and write down is conditional and they don't have perfect knowledge of that when they write down what they hear or see.

so some perspectives are such that much of Ezekiel was conditional on Jesus being accepted in his time. thus, never crucified.

and i think it could have worked out that way.

to bring back Sodum would require some kind of almost magical dna restoration of a people group that lived about 3500 years ago.

Click to expand...

The interesting thing is that those who believe in Universalism have an easy answer !!!