.Mikha'el. said:

You can have my share of the world's snow all to yourself if you want.

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Can I have it all?

I've been fortunate to have two hobbies that truly enriched my life.

I began making music for fun in the 60s, then played for church services in the 70s, and added gigging in bars and clubs in the 90s and early 2000s. While I haven't played for pay since about 2006, I still play for Mass 3 weeks a month and attend a jam session or two each month. I still have a lot to learn about playing the double bass, and I continue taking 2 or 3 lessons a month from a local pro. I practice at least 6 hours a week to stay sharp and overcome RA and other medical issues.

My other hobby was/is bicycling. My wife and I always enjoyed rides around the block, running errands, or taking the kids out for 15-mile runs to help them work off excess energy. When the kids left home, we started throwing panniers on the bikes and heading out for multiday, multi-state rides. That led me to get involved in bike safety advocacy and safety education. The RA put an end to the long-distance rides, but we still get out for a few hours during good weather. She is still on her touring bike, but I had to switch to a recumbent trike.

I've been blessed not just with hobbies, but with two lifelong sources of meaning, identity, and connection. Music provided community, service, expression, prayer, and decades of growth. Cycling provided adventure, family bonding, travel, health, and a way to help others through advocacy and training.

Hi I see this chapter as the Isaiah 53 of the second coming of Jesus and regardless of where ancient Azal is or what happened in Hezekiah's day the literal nature of this passage taken as whole is the best way to approach it. On this day all the nations are gathered against Jerusalem. In Revelation they stage at Armageddon. Jerusalem is being overrun badly and the taken with half the city being captive with the houses rifled and the women raped. This earthquake coincide with the LORD coming with all His saints. This earthquake is going to be massive and create a valley and river that ill flow year round and in Ezekiel 47 this river mentioned here heals the Dead Sea and not the salt marshes. The LORD melts the invader Indiana Jones style and on this day it is dark in the daytime and light at night showing that this is a literal single day event. On this day the LORD is king over all the earth. Rev has the angels proclaim the kingdoms of this earth have become the kingdoms of our God and His Christ and He shall reign forever. It shows this river flowing year round so a clear continuation of life on earth after the 2nd coming of Jesus. It shows the nations which are left (this implies some nations wont exist anymore) will be require to come to Jerusalem to worship the King and keep the feast of Taberacles or they will get no rain. Rev 15 says
Prelude to the Bowl Judgments
1 Then I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous: seven angels having the seven last plagues, for in them the wrath of God is complete.
2 And I saw something like a sea of glass mingled with fire, and those who have the victory over the beast, over his image and over his mark[fn] and over the number of his name, standing on the sea of glass, having harps of God. 3 They sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying:
“Great and marvelous are Your works,
Lord God Almighty!
Just and true are Your ways,
O King of the saints!
4 Who shall not fear You, O Lord, and glorify Your name?
For You alone are holy.
For all nations shall come and worship before You,
For Your judgments have been manifested.”

It is here in Zech 14 we see the Nations now coming to worship before Him. We see the promises in Luke one Jesus taking the throne of David to order and establish it forever happen on this day. We see Isaiah 9
For unto us a Child is born,
Unto us a Son is given;
And the government will be upon His shoulder.
And His name will be called
Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
7 Of the increase of His government and peace
There will be no end,
Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom,
To order it and establish it with judgment and justice
From that time forward, even forever.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this. This is when the government comes on his shoulder with justice and Judgment and the peace promised in many places will come when the LORD Jesus reigns. In that day they will say the LORD is one. Zech 14 shoes Israel now calling Jesus LORD and the blindness has come off and they have entered the new covenant . I could go on and on for pages of all the glory that comes on this day of all the bad that is over and all the good that has come and you guys are arguing over things that are technical and in a way that brings no glory, praise, edification or sanctification. When we pray thy kingdom come thy will be done this is the day that brings in the kingdom. There is so much to glory about in this chapter and who's right about Azal now or what happened with Hezekiah is certainly not the meat in this chapter and when it happens being right tor wrong on these matters are of little consequence. Love one another encourage us to not be divided over matters that do not profit and walk in the unity of the Spirit. I quite coming to this site due to all the pop up adds and all I can't stand it and have not been on for years but was researching chapter 14 and saw a link to this convo. I probably won't be back for another few years so God bless you all.

Landon Caeli said:

AI Overview

Morphic resonance is
a theory proposed by biologist Rupert Sheldrake that suggests all natural systems, including organisms and crystals, have a collective memory that influences their form and behavior over time. This proposed mechanism of "formative causation" claims that past forms and behaviors of similar systems create a cumulative, invisible influence that shapes the development and patterns of present systems, rather than being governed by fixed physical laws alone. It implies that nature is habitual and that new behaviors can spread more rapidly through a species because of this shared, non-physical memory.

Key concepts

Collective memory: Each species, from animals to plants, possesses a collective memory that individuals can access and to which they contribute.

Habitual nature: The theory suggests that the regularities of nature are more like habits that have been reinforced by repetition, rather than being immutable laws.

Similarity: The resonance is based on similarity. The more similar an organism or system is to past ones, the greater the influence it will have.

Behavior and form: Morphic resonance is said to influence both the physical form and the behavior of a system. For example, it is proposed to explain instincts and how certain patterns of behavior, like a new trick learned by rats in one location, can be learned more quickly by other rats of the same breed elsewhere.

Individual memory: The resonance of a system with its own past is also suggested as a way to explain individual memory, where memories are not entirely stored in the brain but are accessed through a resonance with the brain's past states.

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I have a personal life principle similar to it based on something I've observed for many years.

It gives me certain advantages I prefer to keep. The vast majority don't care enough so I have no intention of sharing it.

Rescued One said:

PLEASE don't forget to pray for Andrew!

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Thank you, Pop D.

I've just re-dedicated my life to God. I know this might sound a bit odd, but for some reason, I've never been charged with a single crime in my life. I feel like, God is responsible for that. Like he's watched me over the years. Like, my devotion to Christ, even if I fell away later, God kept me there. He's the only Reason I'm here to be anything. Thank you Lord God. Thank you, Immaculate Womb. The Pope, I haven't even begun to really grasp the Pope yet. Yes, but, God bless you. edit- When I say I re-dedicated my life to God, I mean, I had some things happen during the 'Protestant' version... and however it went, God was proud of me. God came to my life with those events you can't explain lately. I just woke up suddenly.

Bradskii said:

It's exactly the opposite of what you think.

From here (albeit from 12 years ago):

'In fact, over the course of the last two decades, warfare has been quietly disappearing from the planet. The world in 2012 is a less violent, less belligerent place than at any time in recorded history.

Although it may seem counterintuitive to those whose historical perspective has been warped by the twenty-four-hour-news cycle, levels of conflict, both in terms of number and magnitude, have been dropping steadily since the end of the Cold War. A series of empirical analyses done in the United States and Canada have consistently shown that the number of wars of all types—interstate, civil, ethnic, revolutionary, etc. —declined throughout the 1990s and into the new century. The risk for the average person of dying violently at the hands of enemies has never been lower.'

And as regards Israel's attack on Iran, from here: https://www.reuters.com/world/middl...es-hit-site-iran-abc-news-reports-2024-04-19/

'Iran's foreign minister said the drones, which the sources said Israel launched against the city of Isfahan, were "mini-drones" and that they had caused no damage or casualties.'

If that's what you want to propose as a definition World War III then maybe you need to look up the word 'hyperbole.'

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Statistically you right, I think the elevated status of war is because nearly everyone is spending more and there are far more rumours of war going on now. Let's hope the causualties go down instead of ramping up.

Bradskii said:

This one thinks it's excellent. My wife and I made a point of putting a little extra into our super fund over the years via what is called Salary Sacrifice. That's where part of your salary goes into your super and you don't pay tax on tax on it. So we retired with quite a decent amount. And we don't pay tax on the super fund when we access it.

Employers contributions are mandatory and you can pick your own fund managers or DIY. Our fund manager is doing a great job. We live very well on it. We've been drawing on it since we retired 7 years ago and there's actually more money in the fund now then there was when we retired. Not being able to spend it fast enough is just the sort of problem you want.

The federal pension is not accessible to us as it's means tested. So a decent super fund means you're totally self sufficient. That seems fair. If people do spend most of it (maybe I'll get that Harley and we'll start flying everywhere first class) then the government eventually steps in.

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Wait. So you never have to pay tax on it? Good grief that is much better then our system. As a government employee I have a Pension and a tax deferred 457B but I have to pay taxes on any money I get from them.

Aside from the differences between Catholics, Orthodox and Protestants, things that divide the Protestant denominations seem not so egregious that I cant worship with them. I practically abhor calvinistic doctrine, but I do love and fellowship with the Calvinist friends I know. I am very dogmatic about most of my beliefs, but I still talk and can share a bible study with those whom I disagree.
The things that divide most denominations are trivial when compared to all the things they agree on.

The few things that divide us aren't worth the dividing of believers into separate denominations and buildings. Most people in my neighborhood wouldnt dare go to a neighbors church, sometimes even if its just another non denominational(!). So sad, all the other believers you may never get to know, simply because we are taught 'those others' believe differently, yet most persons in a denomination have little understanding of what it is they believe differently. Sometimes people in a denomination are taught to look down on think less of the other denomination. That is a real evil - the inability to reason over simple views of doctrine, and the idea that talking with another believer who has a different take on a verse is going to lead you into hell, or something.

That is the smokescreen of denominations, and it all comes from the hierarchical structure to keep you in your seat, and get your tithe. Rather believers should be able to reason thru their beliefs with others. bible study should give you a chance to show understanding, grace and self control as you and your friends wrestle through scripture together, and with someone who has a different understanding on something. Bible studies should be growing us all to be well versed in scripture - educating and building you up so you are confident in your beliefs, where you can learn to have a friendly debate instead of huddling in some group think cult...

.Mikha'el. said:

I have been feeling sick lately, dealing with a stubborn cold.

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Feel better soon!

Yikes!
Forgive me for the double post glitch via my device --I think it was an angry Jimi Hendrix! LOL

• Adriana Smith was declared brain dead in February, but kept alive to deliver her baby in June due to Georgia’s strict ban on abortion
• After nearly four months, Smith’s baby, Chance, is still hospitalized in the NICU
• Smith’s mother, April Newkirk, asked for prayers and said baby Chance’s lungs are still underdeveloped

I do hope this baby can eventually have a normal life.

Mark Quayle said:

Do you believe that being born again ("regeneration") is the result of the Spirit of God taking up residence within one (which is what I take you to be referring to as "spiritual baptism"), or is it the cause of the Spirit of God taking up residence.

In other words, do WE generate valid faith, or does God (the Spirit of God) generate it within us, fully valid? (The amount of faith is another question, not related to its validity).

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Derf said:

Do you not think God set out to destroy Nineveh in 40 days? If not, why did He tell them He was going to destroy them in 40 days? Does He have to lie to get them to repent?

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It was not a lie. It was a threat. And, indeed, if they had not repented, he would have destroyed them. (By the way, if he had not intended that they repent, why would he go to all that trouble to send Jonah in the precise way that he did?

Derf said:

Correct, God did not set out to redeem all mankind, but He is not happy about the result that all mankind will not be saved.

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That's a side issue. I'm not saying he's happy that most will perish.

Derf said:

Are you saying God is not capable of making us entirely free to choose without being caused/compelled to do so?

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No. I'm saying that it is a logically self-contradictory notion. (Nobody but God is entirely free). So why would he even consider it? It's not that he can't. It's that it is a non-thing.

Derf said:

If one chooses to repent, from a corrupt spirit, is it not still a valid choice to repent, even if the power to accomplish perfectly it is lacking? Were the people of Nineveh then not really repentant, and God's mercy not the right response, since it was a corrupt and faulty repentance?

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The story of Nineveh and Jonah is not about salvation, by the way, so it is not the same sort of repentance. I can go to the fridge to get cream cheese for my bagel, go to the living room where my bagel is, and when I open the cream cheese, it has gray hair growing in it. I repent of my course of action. I go back to the kitchen for something else. The people of Nineveh were wicked, God demanded they change their ways or else. This is not repentance concerning their sinfulness. It is simple repentance of what they were doing. Would you claim they loved God after that repentance? It was still corrupt. But, at least, and for a time, they stopped what they were doing.

Derf said:

So God can't make a being that can make a free choice. God can't do it at all, since only He is the first cause?

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Define free choice. Uncaused choice? That makes no sense. Only God chooses, uncaused to do so. If you like, we can into the details of that. Can you show me how anything happens uncaused to do so? Only God is uncaused.

Derf said:

Why not? What prevents God from making a person that can then reject His will? Yet you are saying that no one can reject God's will--it is impossible for God to make such a creature.

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Does the capability of rejecting God's commands, and even God's offer of forgiveness and salvation, imply free will? Demonstrate to me that there is anything we do entirely spontaneously. For starters: Is there anything we do that we don't most want to do at that instant of decision?

Derf said:

Which means that no one ever has acted against God's will, right? So everyone, for all time, has been completely within the will of God, and therefore God punishes people for doing His will, exactly as He wants them to do.

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Here and above, you consider "God's will" as only one thing. The implication is that God fully intended that we all be holy as he is holy; yet, somehow, only Christ Jesus has been able to do that.

The law —all of it God's will—was given to demonstrate our sin and our need for him, because we are unable to obey it perfectly, and so we deserve death. We need his mercy. Even you don't believe that is all that his will is. He also wills for things to happen quite apart from his law. And those things are a little harder to know. So there are at least two things that are called/considered the will of God. The one thing is not the same as the other. If you think God never intended for Lucifer to rebel and Adam to sin, then why did he bother to make us? He made us to be the Bride of Christ, the Body of Christ, the Children of God, the Dwelling Place of God, his People with Him in a way the angels can never be. And THAT would not happen, but for Redemption.

So everyone has acted against his command (his revealed will), but none of us can ruin his plans (his hidden will). He doesn't fly by the seat of his pants to accomplish some general end. Read the prophets where repeatedly God used foreign kings to punish Israel —even refers to one of them as a tool— and then punishes them for doing so. They were not obeying. They were only accomplishing what God had planned for them to do. Do you think that Satan will not have to pay for what he did to Job? Yet God put him up to it, fully intending that that beautiful book would be read by his people.

Valletta said:

"All" scripture, not "only" scripture.

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Can you expand on this please.

Doesnt seem to make logical sense. Like saying all apples, not only apples. What else is there

ViaCrucis said:

If we end up with Trump as a forever president, as dictatorships go (though at his age "forever" is a stretch) don't worry you'll probably get your dream of imprisoning political opponents and dissident voices.

And all of us anti-Trump folk will get to live out our lives in concentration camps and reeducation centers.

Daddy Trump will make the "leftists" pay for exercising their constitutional guaranteed free speech. Because in Trump's America, dissent is the same thing as treason.

MAGA utopia at its finest.

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Why is it that people on the left didn’t bat an eye when Obama broke the law and spied on his political opponent, or when Biden unleashed the power of the federal government against his political opponent, but when those very same people are being held accountable for their crimes, all of the sudden Trump is the dictator with nefarious plans for the country when he did absolutely nothing similar to all that nonsense in his first term?

Projection at its highest.

Ellesmere said:

Even before Trump took office, the U.S. was producing more oil and gas than any nation on the planet

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Yet everyone is praising China for its progress in renewable energy. I could probably say that the US is responsible for all the pollution in the world with no need for reference.

A recent article in the Maoist leftist Nation magazine tells us China is the world’s climate champion. Yet, right in the middle of their article they admit China is the largest emitter of carbon gases in the world and responsible 90% of the growth of CO 2 emissions since 2015.


Per the Maoist Nation article:


China’s advances are especially good news, because China is the world’s biggest emitter of carbon gases—and by a long shot: The country is responsible for 90 percent of the growth in CO2 emissions since 2015. Today, its share of total emissions is 32 percent, far ahead of the US (13 percent), India (8 percent), and the EU (6 percent).



Maybe China can mine 99% of the coal in the world in its transition to “clean” energy. If Trump mines less than 1% of it, the anti MAGA, international federation can blame conservative Americans for the next natural disaster that can only be a result of maga induced “climate change.”

I wouldn't be surprised if he's seen as a hero, by many within GenZ, who since the killing of Charlie Kirk, have taken the stance that politically motivated violence is "acceptable".


Gen Z is headed down a path that could threaten the future stability of American democracy and society," said Jordan Schwartz, student chair of the Harvard Public Opinion Project.

The Barbarian said:

I certainly hope it was a joke. She's not the brightest person in the world, but that would be world-class stupid, wouldn't it? My first impression was that it was satire. Apparently not.

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When I listened to the conversation, the room broke out in laughter when she said that part. She is dumb but I would say that she was joking.

ThatRobGuy said:

You're point on number 1 is interesting, and admittedly I hadn't initially considered that.

However, when you mention that there wasn't much political talk when you were in college,

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Graduate school. I was writing about graduate school. The topic I commented on was the "more liberal with more education" and the shift over time from "moderate" to "liberal" among the graduate school attending cohort.

ThatRobGuy said:

that was was my experience as well, but the polling I linked would indicate that the environment may have changed a bit.

72% of College Students Believe Professors Influence Political Views - Intelligent

54% of students say some or many of their professors express their political views in class

www.intelligent.com

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That survey doesn't really seem to capture graduate students. 18% were in community college. all were 25 or younger. 20+% were in private 4-year colleges.

ThatRobGuy said:

Results like this:
When asked if they have professors who talk politics during class, 32% of respondents said that they have a few professors who do, 41% say they have some professors who do, and 13% say they have many professors who express their political opinions in class. Of these 85%, two-thirds say their professors occasionally (52%) or frequently (15%) express these ideas.

I don't know that I could tell you any of the professors' politics from when I was in college (I mean, you can make guesses, but they never went out of their way to discuss it). Even in a Poli-Sci elective class, the instructor in that course obviously talked politics in a general educational sense, but I don't know that they ever overtly made clear which "side" they were on, on the various issues.

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What we can't tell is what the surveyors or the respondents thought "getting political" meant. My freshman Eng. lit class professor discussed lesbian themes in the 19th century works we were reading in that part of the class. Is that political? I don't know, and we can't know if students taking the survey would think so. (I'm not sure if I had taken the survey at the time how I would have responded.)

ThatRobGuy said:

The fact 85% of students are reporting that their professors are "getting political" marks a shift away from the college environment you or I were in. (assuming that we were in college around the same time)

View attachment 373990

I would've been in that circled demographic, during the time where the biggest share of the pie was still the "mixed" category. (even among the post grads in 2004, the "mixed" group is still the biggest.

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I was supervising two graduate students in 2004, both were republicans and one was baffled that I was undecided on my vote a month before the election.

ThatRobGuy said:

The only social catalyst I can think of during that time period would've perhaps been that Bush 2 was a bit of tumultuous presidency (although, people seem to see him as "one of the good ones" in retrospect), and I do recall in the mid-2000's, there was a certain "coolness" associated with being Anti-Bush among some of the younger crowd.

For those who remember these that came out in late-2004:
View attachment 373991View attachment 373992
(and it was actually a pretty star-studded line-up on that)

But my time in college was drawing to a close for that period...so who knows, maybe 2006 would've been a very different environment on campus.

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Which has nothing to do with a claim of "professor political activity".

Sorry I’m old school. I have a 6.5x57 Mauser. But I like shooting jhp in it. Not lead. The old jackets they had were thin steel or something. They keep up pretty good now with modern stuff. New riflings? A cut above.

samaus123456789 said:

Yes new heaven, and earth then the new Jerusalem comes down to it. By the sound of it it is not made of periodic matter like we have now carbon nitrogen etc as the gold is clear sheets which does not exist in our world. So the new heaven, and earth is not made of periodic matter whatever it is made of. You never answered my question- are you IO preterist?

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No I am not.