Oompa Loompa said:

Another example on just how effective guns are, and another example of guns saving lives.

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Unfortunately, sometimes guns need to be used for protection. I don’t like guns, but I respect the rights of RESPONSIBLE gun owners.

BNR32FAN said:

If you apply all that science teaches us to scripture then you can’t believe half of what is written in it.

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I'm not sure what you mean by this. Miraculous occurrences are by definition outside of the domain of science. The issue comes when rather than accepting that YEC is entirely based on faith, advocates push muddled "science" that isn't science at all.

FreeinChrist said:

Yep, it is English based, but many of the signs are based on French words because it started in the US when T.H. Gallaudet and L. Clerc brought French sign language to the US. Signed English is a bit more difficult and most deaf folks know ASL instead.

Deaf folks don't get jokes based on puns or noises. But they have their own way of joking that leaves out the hearing folks.

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Do you work with deaf folks?

RileyG said:

Thank you

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absolutely

Don't remember a constitutional insurrection?

FAILI

What is it?

GoldenBoy89 said:

Is tobacco/nicotine also a weapon of mass destruction? How about alcohol. How many lives are destroyed by that substance every year? How many violent crimes committed under its influence? How many needless highway deaths?

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Is nicotine and tobacco and alcohol illegal for adults?

Shane R said:

Probably. Christmas has been so thoroughly marketed as a family day and taken over by football and basketball that a lot of churches, even liturgical churches, cancel anyway. I haven't presided a Christmas Day service since I left Virginia; no one wants it. The last time Christmas fell on a Sunday there was some snow out but not a lot. I had a terrible time finding somewhere to take my kids. The Romans had pared down there usual 3 Mass schedule to only 1. I ended taking them to a Lessons & Carols service at the local Methodist Church.

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It's interesting how different we are culturally. Australia is a much less churched culture, but cancelling Christmas would be unthinkable in churches here.

Now that I'm not "in charge" somewhere, it feels really strange to me to realise that I only need to do one Christmas service; normally, there's the carols, and the crib service, and the midnight (or as late in the evening as the congregation will tolerate), and probably two on Christmas morning...

Grow an inch next.

NCHF

“Tis the season to be jolly.” Peace on Earth and Goodwill to all men. These are sayings associated with Christmas, the day that Jesus the Christ was born; or was it? Certainly this could be a description of Christmas. Celebrations such as these were taking place among non-Christians centuries before Jesus Christ was born! Such customs do not come from the Bible. They have nothing to do with the birth of Jesus Christ. Jesus did not originate them, nor were they observed by the prophets (Old Testament) or the apostles (New Testament). We're going to examine Christmas, its origin and customs, and see if in fact Christmas is of God or Pagan. Should it be Celebrated or Rejected?

Peace on Earth and Goodwill to all men. Why, because we feed and shelter the less fortunate on this one day called Christmas? Shouldn't we care for the less fortunate all year long? Retailers increase the prices on merchandise, to try to recover from poor sales from the 1st three-quarters of the fiscal year.

Christmas (December 25th) is taught to be the day that Jesus the Christ was born. The fact is Jesus was not even born in the winter season. When Jesus was born, "there were shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night." (Luke 2:8). This could never have occurred in Judea in the month of December. The shepherds always brought their flocks from the mountainsides and fields and corralled them no later than October, to protect them from the cold, rainy season that followed. Notice in Songs of Solomon 2:11 and Ezra 10:9, 13, that winter was a rainy season and typically the herds would most likely not be out in the rainy winter season. "It was an ancient custom among Jews of those days to send out their sheep to the fields and deserts about the Passover (early spring), and bring them home at commencement of the first rain," says the Adam Clarke Commentary (Vol. 5, page 370, New York ed.) Continuing, "During the time they were out, the shepherds watched them night and day. As..the first rain began early in the month of Marchesvan, which answers to part of our October and November (begins sometime in October), we find that the sheep were kept out in the open country during the whole summer. And, as these shepherds had not yet brought home their flocks, it is a presumptive argument that October had not yet commenced, and that, consequently, Jesus was not born on December 25th, when no flocks were out in the fields; nor could He have been born later than September, as the flocks were in the fields by night.

Therefore, to celebrate Jesus' birth date on December 25th is not scripturally sound. Any encyclopedia will tell you that Christ was not born on December 25th. The exact date of Jesus' birth is entirely unknown, as all authorities acknowledge - though by reading the scriptures, it strongly indicates His birth was in the early fall, probably September, approximately six months after Passover. This can also be found in the Catholic Encyclopedia 1967.

Some may say, "It does not matter when He was born. I am just celebrating His birth."; whereas others may say "Jesus is the reason for the season." Is that really the case? If Jesus is the reason for the season, then why didn't He let us know when to celebrate his birth? We claim we love Jesus so much but why don't we observe his death as he commanded us. Luke 22:19, "And he took bread, and gave thanks, and break it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me."

Valletta said:

They call it "mostly peaceful" in Minneapolis. At least one ICE agent went down, ICE used pepper spray to fend off the rioters and they tased at least one guy.

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Sounds like excessive force on protesters. There was no riot.

I have always understood the word “damnation” to be of an everlasting condemnation. What this involves I don’t claim to know. Although I believe the Lord’s forgiveness is wider than many of us may realize ( Matthew 12:31-33 etc.), it is not absolute. There is sound reason to fear as we are told in Matthew 10:28.

The word “damnation” appears 11 times in the King James Bible as per a word search on Biblegateway.

Brightfame52 said:

Jesus is the one who gives repentance, causes it as Savior Acts 5:31

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I agree, but you still have to get in that water and be baptize in the name of Jesus. "And he said unto them, go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned." (Mark 16:15-16).

Anyone that is not baptized is a person with their sins yet upon them, because it is the baptism that washes away our past sins. "And now why tarriest thou? Arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord." (Acts 22:16)

Around age 21 I came across a quote from C. S. Lewis from my office. It piqued my interest, and I checked out Mere Christianity from my local library. I had never understood my sin fully until near the end of the first section "...we know that if there does exist an absolute goodness it must hate most of what we do."

This hit me hard. I got up and knelt in front of my couch, remained silent, and I felt a presence in the room above me. I think it may have been the Holy Spirit, but I don't know for sure. That's why I made this thread in TAW.

Anyway, it was a powerful experience, but I soon forgot it, and the next two and a half decades were run of the mill debauchery. But I remained somehow weakly sympathetic to Christianity.

Later in life I was with a girl in the morning after a drugged-out weekend. We were sleepily surfing TV channels and stopped on some type of TBN televangelist channel. Just out of curiosity, I asked her "Do you think Christianity is true?" She scrunched up her nose, shook her head and said "No, the world's too weird." To this day I think that was a very interesting answer. I might have expected her to say that Christianity is too weird, but instead, she said the world was too weird. I think she, accidentally or not, hit the nail on the head.

9Rock9 said:

How do you understand verses that imply the kingdom is already here, like Colossians 1:13?

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As I said God's Kingdom is eternal, past, present, and future. He is always "King" over all of His Creation. When the Prophets spoke of the coming Messianic Kingdom, they were referring to a particular application of God's eternal Kingdom. I call it the Eschatological Kingdom. That Kingdom is near, but not yet here.

RDKirk said:

I'm not sure the US government can effectively enforce that without having the power of revoking citizenship of a naturally born citizen. I don't think that's a road we want to step out on.

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I think that's located down the road we're already on.

Seems like this website was or is plagued with posts making assertions without evidence.

Ahmed, a Muslim, arrived in Australia in 2006 from Syria. The 44-year-old tobacco shop owner is the father of two daughters aged five and six.

Muslim extremists claim that all Christians are racist pedophiles, even as white supremacists professing to be Christian, claim all Muslims are terrorists.

Mercy Shown said:

One has to take it in the context of the argument that Hebrews is makeing

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Yes exactly, which is OT. This passage is telling us why those who came before us did not enter into their promise land of rest, due to disobedience Heb4:6 and we are told plainly what they disobeyed that kept them out Eze20:15-16 and told not to follow in their same path of disobedience Heb4:11 why this is promoting Sabbath-keeping which remains for the people of God Heb4:4,9,10, not Sabbath-breaking. God's people keep God's commandments the way God said Rev14:12

Mercy Shown said:

. At any rate, since you insist that Exodus 20:8-11 is spicifically calendric and must be observed as such and that those who rest in Christ as their sabbath are still disobedient to God then how can you dismiss Exodus 35:1-3. Any argument that you can think of for ignoring God's unchangeable law in this case can also be applied to Exodus 20:8-11. No one gets to have their cake and eat it too.

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I think you might be confusing the law, with the judgment of the law- the wages of sin is death. We are no longer under a theocracy, Judgement is now on the last day. John12:48. There was a death penalty for murder and adultery as well, it doesn't mean we can do these things either, without repenting and expect not to hear these words on that Great Day Mat7:23 if we continue in that path Heb10:26-30, if we love Jesus why would we not want to do what He asks, that comes with the power of His blessings and sanctification. I personally would recommend more effort if doing what God asks and less time arguing about it.

essentialsaltes said:

It's 'just' a freestanding monument like the Arch of Titus or Arc d'Triomphe.

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I'm skeptical.

Presumably there will be various inscriptions. In Times New Roman, of course.

It's a concern. Trump's dementia symptoms are getting worse and worse. And this time, his staff and appointees are not controlling his impulsive actions.

Pray The Holy Spirit spreads Jesus Christ's Gospel as the primary cure in battling mental health illness especially in light of the killing of Hollywood director Rob Reiner & his wife by their mentally I'll son: