eclipsenow said:

I just amazes me that Trump is so dedicated to rewarding his billionaire mates with tax cuts that he will shut the government down rather than guarantee the bottom 16 million will not be cut off healthcare!

Talk about stealing from the pool to give to the rich!

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The Republicans voted "yes" to fund the government and keep it open. The democrats (led by Schumer in the Senate) voted "no", and continue to do so.

boughtwithaprice said:

Six months is good enough to say if it works, do it. It’s when one gets only a few days or week and has to keep going to the chiropractor that I would start to think of it is really working or wasting money.
Especially if it helps you to live a good life during those six months.
Some people nothing else works and they need pain medications. For them, I tell them that the first two letters of morphine (all opiates are related to morphine, even heroin is diacetyl-morphine) are M-O, same with the word move.
Pain medications are to be used to help you move. They don’t treat the pain, but distract you enough so you can do other things. I do not give patients opioids to sit and watch TV or play video games and smoke cigarettes. They need somewhat of an active lifestyle to have to pain medications be effective. If they have an active lifestyle or want to obtain one, they can come to me for pain medication management. I do not look down on them as addicts or second class citizens.

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A very useful post. I only had opioids when I was in hospital. It was wonderful, but I was “wandering behind the little animals.” The feeling was nice, but it scared me, and I have avoided them ever since. Aspirin worked the best, but I became a bleeder. I was very active as a farmer, and the best situation was moderate pain killers, like aspirin, and a brace. Periodic therapy with limiting myself to tasks that reduced bending over allowed me to get work done until I retired. I still use both the brace and pain killers, but to a much reduced amount.

We don't deserve dogs.

slaney3 said:

Whereas faith without works is dead only in the eyes of men, not in the eyes of God.

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That's not what scripture says, that's your interpretation trying to fix the issue, but I can see where you're getting it from because you say...

slaney3 said:

If that is the case, how is faith made evident according to what other parts of scripture says about the fruit of the spirit? Most people believe that the fruit of the spirit (or works)

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The fruits of the spirit wouldn't classify as works.
Galatians 5:22-23: But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

How is love in itself a "work"? I can show love by works, but love in and of itself isn't a work. A fruit grows, this is why the analogy was used and why we can know them by their fruit. If you see someone producing love, patience, or kindness, you can say that they are displaying the fruit of the spirit. So James's point of "“You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works." Is literally the display of what you are producing. This is why you have the verse:

Luke 6:45: "A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks."

So the concept is the same. If you are saved, you will produce good fruit (the list from Galatians) and it will be shown via your works. It is PROOF of your salvation. Not that the works save you (displaying the fruit of the spirit by actions), but you are saved already and the works you do prove you are saved. You can have faith that doesn't save (faith that just believes Jesus is God, just like the demons and angels) or you can have faith that DOES save and that is shown by proof in your actions and how you conduct yourself. Paul also argued this:

Romans 6:1-4: "What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life."

How can you live a "new" life if you're still doing the same things you did in your old life? Still living in sin?

Matthew 7:18: "A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit."

So someone who is living in sin, cannot bear (produce) good fruit of the spirit. Sin corrupts your heart and it corrupts your mind. This is not a law argument because otherwise you would be saying that we don't have to uphold any of Gods rules and I can just murder, steal, beat people and it's totally fine. Jesus after every person he healed, told to go and sin no more. It matters... why? Because it matters for salvation AND protection. So this isn't an argument of requiring to follow the law as salvation, it's an argument that if you are truly saved you will WANT to follow the law (the moral law 10 commandments, not the Jewish law of a million rules). The bible is so clear on sin, it's everywhere. Here are some other verses that talk about it.

1 John 3:6

• "No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him."

1 John 5:18

• "We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the One who was born of God keeps them safe, and the evil one cannot harm them."

Psalm 119:11

• "I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you."

Romans 6:12-14

• "Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace."

James 4:17

• "If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them."

Then There are Parables:

The Parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32)
The Parable of the Unmerciful Servant (Matthew 18:21-35)
The Parable of the Wise and Foolish Builders (Matthew 7:24-27)
The Parable of the Rich Fool (Luke 12:16-21)

Ophiolite said:

True, but I was thinking of the longer term 26,000 (?) year cycle related to precession of the Earth's poles that alter which star is the pole star, while at times there is no bright star close to that position at all.

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I knew you were, but I just wanted to point out something shorter term about the unsteadiness of the North Star. (My favorite Cepheid. Doesn't everyone have one?)

stevevw said:

Hum dictionary meaning of metrology (the scientific study of measurement).

They are math, numbers and science. You cannot speculate about a measure like that shown in the last post on a guage sensor. It is what it is.

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This might be the most inane comment you've written. It was in response to this statement:

"Measures themselves are not science, they [sic] speculating on the skills of egyptian artisans is not science."

The vase people are measuring things. They are not studying how measurement works and the mechanism of measuring tools. It would be really good if they knew how those tools worked and what kind of data can and cannot be extracted with them, but their measurements of objects are studies of the objects not the measurement tools and methods.

Let's think of an analogy for a moment -- a simple wrench turning a nut on a bolt. The wrench (and the threaded bolt/nut combo) is built on simple physical principles and machines -- the kind students learn about in primary school. Knowing some of those principles will likely improve your utilization of a wrench, but using the wrench is not studying simple physics it is using a wrench to do a task.

Your vase people are using scanning tools to measure objects and analysis tools to extract information from the measurements. Neither of those is "metrology". An awareness of metrology is useful to know when a tool is appropriate just as a knowledge simple machines is useful for understanding the limits of ones wrench. After all a wrench makes a lousy hammer and a hammer makes a lousy wrench.

Given what others have posted here, some of the measurements and analyses seem to be inappropriate. This is the kind of thing that a methods section of a formal paper would clear up and a peer reviewer would raise questions about if any bits of it were missing. Important questions like "how was this setting set?" and "how was it calibrated?" and "how did you determine the reference value (mean,median, etc.)?".

Finally, measuring stuff isn't science. Science is hypothesis testing. The hypothesis seems to be "did predynastic Egyptian stone artisans have advanced tools not found in the extant archeological record?".

"The science" is testing that hypothesis including designing and documenting experimental protocols, using appropriate materials for the experiments, cross checking against alternative hypotheses, etc. This is where the vase people seem to be lacking the most.

Carl Emerson said:

Is anyone else concerned about the rise of 'modern' conditions that grip lives and ensnare them in pharmaceutical dependence at great expense ?

Am I the only one concerned about this ?

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Late to the discussion but I am concerned that the medical establishment has replaced Christ for a lot of people.

My own mother talks more about conditions than she does about Jesus Christ. She is obsessed with 'health' but does nothing to improve it beyond asking for pills. I have witnessed her trying to convince doctors that she has diabetes and has found reasons to ask for medications e.g. diuretics because she wants no accountability for her own conditions. In the meantime, she scours the internet for medical information so that she can find a way to fear it or make it pertain to her. It's disgusting to see.

People don't seem to see how nefarious the medical system is and assume that everyone who is in the field is in it for good and honest reasons. It is a business that society has put on a throne.

In short, yes, I'm concerned and beyond disgusted.

Here is another tidbit about Rep. Corey Mills.

The AFL-CIO gives ratings for members of Congress. They give a “Lifetime Rating” to Rep. Mills of 0%. Apparently they never agree with him.

https://aflcio.org/scorecard/legislators/cory-mills

The apostle John (also known as John the Evangelist) was one of the four gospel writers as well as an author of two other main books, including Revelation and his epistle, that became the final chapters of the New Testament. John covers several areas in his gospel that speak about the life, teachings, and truth of what Christ did to redeem his people within the events, death and resurrection that took place on earth.

In John’s Gospel

He tells how you must be born again to inherit the kingdom that God opened up for us through his son. Whoever is born of the flesh is equal to flesh, John states in chapter 3, when Jesus replied to Nicodemus, saying, “ye cannot enter the kingdom of heaven unless he is born of water and spirit” (v. 4-5). How one can enter through the spirit is taught by examples of what Jesus did and explained in his teachings.

When Jesus healed a man born blind, he proved that he was about to give sight to others who have been blinded — those who could not see spiritually. Jesus came into the world to die for them so that they may have light. But judgment also came into being for those who could see would become blind. Jesus was able to heal the blind man because he wasn’t able to see physically, but spiritually, he believed in him as the Messiah.

It’s important to realize that those who do see spiritually and understand that he is the way, the truth and the life, will be hated for his name’s sake. But it is also important to keep his commands, as stated in John’s gospel:

“For if you love God, he will give you another helper, and that is the holy spirit which dwells with us, of whom the world does not receive, because they cannot see him until he is discovered” (14:15-17).

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Already have we been made clean because of his word, so if we abide in him as one of his branches, ask whatever you need, and it will be given to you, for he is the vine who holds authority, that we may also bear fruit. However, since we have been called out of this world and are no longer of it, you will be persecuted and reviled against. As long as we continue in the spirit of truth, the helper will come for our aid. By bearing witness to his name, even in front of one another, he will protect you from the wrath of the enemy.

Before Jesus had ascended into heaven, he said to his disciples: behold, the hour is coming that you must believe and not question me, for in the world you will have tribulation, but in him you will have peace. And be sure to take heart that the father is with you because he has overcome the world for us. Many false prophets will rise up in the end times, and we are to test the spirits to see if they are from God.

In John’s Epistle

Anyone who does not confess Jesus as lord is of the Antichrist, and they will fall into destruction because they have not received the true gospel that has been given to us. They have followed after their own pleasures — involving a passion and desire for the world — because they have preferred the things that are within it: This could be drugs, sexual immorality, satanic music, or anything else that is from the occult.

These are instrumental ways that can either pull people away or deceive them from the necessary means of truly believing in God. But if we choose to trust him, we do not altogether refrain from practicing what is sinful, but learn to avoid the implications and consequences of what they can do to our lives, physically and mentally, and even spiritually.

Since He overcame our deeds for us, take heed that you are under his wings through the spiritual direction that’s been given to us. If you do not love the world, you can have victory in Christ through having faith. God is pure, but we cannot manifest anything holy in life without being made perfect through the propitiation of our sins. So we are protected on the day of judgment by what he did for us because of his grace and our desire to live with him. For whoever loves God remains in the son, but those who prefer the world instead, do not hold the truth of the father in them, and therefore, they will not see life. The word of God is greater than men, and this is the testimony that John gave to us:

We who know the father will keep his commands; for those who are in him do not love sin that leads to death . . . so do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed into the renewing of your mind, having faith that leads to life in Christ our Lord.

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Our faith continues through knowing him, not by carrying a heavy weight because of what we’ve done, but by what he did at Calvary. Do not be eerie on what you’ve done in the past or present time, or what you will do in the future, but look forward into his plan for your life to come. Time is running out until he is coming again, very soon!

In the Book of Revelation

John was also given a vision that speaks about the scrolls which open up into seven seals:

• The White Horseman — Its rider comes out to conquer wearing a crown and carrying a bow
• The Red Horseman — Its rider who removes peace from the earth, having people slayed by his sword
• The Black Horseman — Its rider holding a pair of scales in his hand
• The Pale Horseman — its rider’s name was death to kill one fourth of the earth with famine and pestilence
• The Fifth Seal — the souls who are slain for becoming Christians at Armageddon
• The Sixth Seal — representing a great earthquake that falls upon the people awaiting refuge
• The Seventh Seal — representing the second coming

The Seven Trumpets

These events can be compared to the seven trumpets that will take place during the 7-year tribulation period. The first trumpet represents hail and fire mixed with blood falling upon the earth. A third of it will become burned to ashes, much like what took place in the book of Exodus. This trumpet causes agricultural chaos in the earth, while the second trumpet brings destruction upon the seas, turning its oceans into rivers of blood. During the third trumpet, wormwood will have fallen from the sky, causing the water to be polluted, almost undrinkable, where famine will begin to occur more rapidly.

Then there was the fourth and fifth trumpet where the sun and moon become darkened, and locusts will have been released from outer space. At the sixth trumpet, there will be four angels released from heaven who kill over a third of mankind. Final judgement will then occur at the seventh trumpet, when the second coming of Christ has been revealed, and the destruction of evil has taken place, to set up his kingdom against those who did not repent of their works (Revelation 9:20-21).

bibleoutlook.net

For relaxation, Mom meditates.

MSTS

Larniavc said:

I blame those people who would rather shut down the government to sack lots of government workers instead of letting the worse off getting health care.

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I read a news story, that a lot of people on Obama care live in Red States. So, I don't get why they vote against them selves.

Dan1988 said:

The only problem with that is, 100% of believers fail to persevere or abide in Him. Because we are fallen creatures, we don't have the power to persevere. Our lust still cries out to be satisfied and it never stops crying out, until we die. This is why Jesus paid for the past present and future sins of His people.

We are not saved by keeping the law, we are saved because Jesus kept the law on our behalf. The good soil are Gods elect, whom He chose to save before the world was created. Each and every one of them will be saved not not a single one will be lost, no matter how much they sin.

It sounds like your still under the "covenant of the law" which they observed under the old covenant. But we are under a new covenant known as the "covenant of grace"

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No, we must continue to covet that grace, the heavenly gift we've tasted, and to desire it more and more; we must overcome our lusts to whatever degree He deems appropriate as per Rom 8:12-14. We can't possibly do it alone and yet He doesn't want automatons so He's structured salvation such that we must at least cooperate, we must at least do our part even if it only represents .001% of the effort necessary to begn with. Because in that way we're truly on board and in that way He's truly creating something grand, something greater than He began with, something that has chosen, and grown nearer in likeness to, the Ulitmate Good, not without the help of grace.

That willingness, opposed to the unwillingness of Adam, is exactly what He's after-what He's cultivating- in us. That's where our justice/righteousness lies. To put it another way, to sum up God's purpose, He's cultivating love in us, a love like His own, a love identified by the greatest commandments. And love requires freedom, in order to be love. Salvation is not just about making it to heaven by the skin of our teeth but about fulfilling the purpose that humans were created for. And at the risk of over-repeating a favorite quote:

“If we turn away from evil out of fear of punishment, we are in the position of slaves. If we pursue the enticement of wages, . . . we resemble mercenaries. Finally if we obey for the sake of the good itself and out of love for him who commands . . . we are in the position of children.” St Basil of Caesarea

River Jordan said:

I don't think the creationists here fully appreciate how, after seeing your above opinion, the reaction from just about every scientist would be something like "So?" Kind of the same reaction you'd get after showing geographers some of the flat earth threads in here.

Of course the reality is 99.99% of scientists will never even know about your opinion in the first place. I guess I'm mostly wondering if you think your opinions on this matter are noteworthy?

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So

Given the track record of far too many American bishops over the last 40 years, distrust and wariness on the part of the clergy---especially traditional, conservative clergy---should be expected.

Poodles

FaithT said:

What about church schools, k-8th?

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I assume so?

Michie said:

Login to view embedded media
Investigators say 23-year-old Robin Westman, who opened fire at Annunciation Catholic Church and School in Minneapolis, was obsessed with killing children. The attack during the school’s first Mass of the year left two children, aged 8 and 10, dead and 17 others injured. Westman, a former student, fired 116 rifle rounds through stained-glass windows. Police uncovered chilling writings, videos, and a manifesto revealing violent fantasies, regret over gender transition, and plans to target kids.

10:12

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God has judged him justly.

Trump unveils deal for AstraZeneca to cut Medicaid drug prices and join "TrumpRx" site​

Spiritual Jew said:

You need to re-read what you posted there. It talks about the need to endure. It says He won't ever deny Himself, but it says "If we deny Him, He also will deny us". Why do you act as if that isn't possible? You don't think it's possible for the following to occur?

Hebrews 10:26 For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, 27 but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries.

The Greek word translated as "received" there is "lambanō" and it means to accept the truth in this context. So, this is talking about someone who has accepted the truth of the gospel of Christ and has repented of their sins, but they later decide that they don't need to be repentant of their sins anymore, so they now are sinning willfully without any remorse. This lines up with other passages like Hebrews 3:12-14 and Hebrews 6:4-6 that talk about the possibility of someone who is saved/born again departing from God and falling away.

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The belief and teaching that a born again child of God can become un-born again and cross back over from life to death. Is an evil, satan based belief and i will not discuss this any further.

What it all boils down to is that too many couples spend an enormous amount of time and effort into planning "the wedding", and almost none into planning "the marriage".

A lot of it has to do with the wedding industry in this country, which represents big bucks for vendors, caterers, bakers, dress designers, etc.; but leave a couple's preparation for married life together completely out of the picture.

There are signs of hope here and there.

If our culture can avoid being destroyed by the Islamo-Communist Left, then I think it might---just might---recover from the current wave of insanity that we have been immersed in since the 1960s.

Future generations may look back at this time period and view it as an aberration, a sidetrack where Western nations reveled in the benefits which the primarily Christian/European civilization produced, all the while rejecting the moral and social foundations which gave rise to those same benefits.

This is, of course, predicated on the assumption that there will not be a nuclear war, a radical jihadist takeover, an economic collapse, a natural disaster of stultifying magnitude (think of Yellowstone blowing up; the San Andreas fault cracking loose from the continental shelf; an asteroid the size of Manhattan impacting the Earth; advent of a new ice age, etc.), or numerous other horrifying scenarios.

Ancient Chinese curse: "May you live in interesting times."

Chesterton said:

Muslims are. Muhammad instructed women to breastfeed adult men (who are not their husbands).

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Islam doesn't teach that Muhammad instructed women to breastfeed adult men who are not their husbands or that women should breastfeed adult men.

Clare73 said:

Good for God. . .he knows who are the elect.

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Of course; He foreknows who will persevere.

article said:

While decent human beings gathered to mourn the innocent souls slaughtered and the hundreds taken hostage by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, other groups assembled for a very different purpose. They did not gather to advocate for peace, or to support President Trump’s ceasefire agreement. Rather, they chanted for Oct. 7 to happen again, screaming "Glory to our martyrs" (rapists and baby killers) while waving jihadist flags adorned with machine guns.

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It's mind-boggling. These idiots out there are calling for the destruction of the Jews----and yet, they call conservatives fascists.

Dear liberal morons: Hitler was a Fascist. Hitler was the one trying to exterminate the Jews, the same goal that you have, apparently. Trump brokered a peace deal between the Jews and the genocidal, jihadist radical Muslims, who also want to exterminate the Jews.

So, the Nazi fascists, the Muslim jihadists, and you useful idiot liberals all have one thing in common: you all want to destroy the Jews.

Who are the real fascists here, imbeciles? Because it dang sure ain't Trump or the conservatives.

MSN