Always in His Presence said:

BTW - I'm not a dude - I don't work on a horse ranch

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That sounds like a line said by a city slicker in a comedy movie.

Lukaris said:

I have found trying to conform my conscience to the Lord’s commandments useful for daily living. I need my conscience for necessary functional living and I need the Holy Spirit as my counselor. When, for ex., I read John 14:15-18 this seems very clear to me. I believe what Paul tells Timothy in 1 Timothy 1:5 can be applied here on an individual level although their discussion is on a pastoral level.

When I refer to the Lord’s commandments, of course I refer to Matthew 22:36-40, Matthew 7:12 per Matthew 7:1-12, Matthew 19:16-19, Romans 13:8-10 per Romans 13:1-14 etc. The basic way to live this is to try to practice basic charity & prayer ( see Matthew 6:1-13, Matthew 9:36-38, 1 Timothy 2:1-6 etc.).

Probably most believing Christians are already doing this but not seeing the whole picture & feeling something might be missing. Paul tells us realize that the Lord’s grace given to us is sufficient ( 2 Corinthians 12:9) & not to get confused by things we may not be able to handle ( 2 Corinthians 12:1-9).

I believe challenges continue to face us as we live. When I read Galatians 5:1-25 ( for ex.), I see the bigger picture but I am still, as with others, moving along ( see Philippians 3:12-16). I see myself more towards the slower end of the line but my faith moves me along.

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When reading Romans 13 I think it’s important to point out that God has indeed appointed authorities, but this is not the same as anyone who appoints themselves as authority is from God.

The only thing I’ve ever been absolutely right about is knowing I can be wrong.

Its good to be wrong sometimes, it helps us to learn humility, which even many Christians ignore.
Don't ignore it, embrace it --- It is the Queen of virtues.

WordSword said:

It's ok of course but we just differ in our understanding concerning the Law and the OT. God bless!

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Almost all the verses I quoted of the Law of God including the original Text James2:11 is NT.

As God’s Testimonies are sure. Psa19:7 Exo31:18 Deut4:13, heaven and earth will pass, but not God’s word which He uses interchangeably with His commandments.

Mat 25:35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away..

Mat5:18 For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.
Luke 16:17 It is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than for one tittle of the law to fail.

Mat 15:3 And He answered and said to them, “Why do you yourselves also break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? 4 For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother,’ From the Ten Commandments
Mat 15:6 he is not to honor his father or mother.’ And by this you have invalidated the word of God for the sake of your tradition.


Mat 7:13 And in vain they worship Me,
Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’

8 For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men

Which commandment?
‘Honor your father and your mother’ (from the Ten Exo20:12 Deut4:13)

13 making the word of God of no effect through your tradition which you have handed down. And many such things you do.”


The entire Bible is about the testimony of God through His prophets and apostles. John5:39 and which one of these have a greater testimony than God Himself? Exo31:18 Deut4:13 Heb8:10 2Cor3:3, not one.

God bless!

eclipsenow said:

Acts 2:

I will show wonders in the heavens above
and signs on the earth below,
blood and fire and billows of smoke.
20 The sun will be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood
before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord.
21 And everyone who calls
on the name of the Lord will be saved.’

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The phrase "great and glorious day of the Lord" has a very specific meaning in the OT, you can check that out.

eclipsenow said:

So again, what evidence do you have that the Apostles were thinking of Daniel 9 specifically?

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I already said, the Acts 2 church followed Luke 12:33 literally and sold all their possessions. They were expecting the Mark of the Beast anytime soon, that is why they did that.

Do you think they were doing that "for fun"?

JohnB445 said:

I asked AI about forgiveness, it said it's a good thing, but not good to forgive those who are not remorseful, and who are still malicious.

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Hi John, I'm still doing my best to wrap my mind around Ai, but it's hard to do so because, unlike the search engines of old, how Ai answers what we ask it seems to change daily (so, I wouldn't put a whole lot of stock in what it tells you, not just yet anyway).

That said, I'm surprised that it told you what it did, to ~not~ forgive those who remain remorseful/those who have not asked to be forgiven, IOW. Could the way that you questioned your Ai have given it the sense that you were looking for a Biblical answer to your question?

Whether it did or did not, the answer that it gave you could certainly be understood as coming directly from the Bible, because it was the Lord Jesus Himself who gave us the following commands concerning forgiveness,


So, why do you think that Jesus gave us these commands, particularly the ones above about 1) rebuking those who sin against us and then 2) withholding forgiveness from them until they chose to repent and ask to be forgiven?

Do you think that withholding forgiveness in this way can be understood as a benefit and/or a blessing of some kind to one or both parties, and if so, how?

JohnB445 said:

I would find it hard to forgive those people, and very hard to forgive someone who took pleasure in hurting me.

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@eleos1954 mentioned, "attitudinal forgiveness", and I think that is an important stance for a Christian to adopt, that of always being "ready" to forgive someone, because once someone has done that the ball is back in your court and the next step that needs to be taken is yours.

There is much more to consider (including your concern about what we should do in the case of violent, life-changing sins, like rape and murder), but this is enough for now

God bless you!!

--David
p.s. - finally, one thing that you may want to figure out is the reason, purpose or endgame that each side has for teaching the kind of forgiveness that they do, because I believe that doing so will shine a very bright light on all of this for you!

The Liturgist said:

If the concept was important to salvation, it would have appeared in the Nicene Creed, the Apostles’ Creed or the Athanasian Creed and in the writings of the early church fathers.

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This is where we're just not going to agree because when I read scripture, I see something differently and don't trust in any of that ^. I can agree with the statements, but I don't form my beliefs around those statements.

Freth said:

Noticeably absent in this declaration is tradition. In fact, Jesus warned against tradition.

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This is false.

The same saint you’re quoting, St. Paul, endorsed tradition explicitly in 2 Thessalonians 2:15 and 1 Coirnthians 11:2, and indeed in 2 Thessalonians 3:5 St. Paul tells us to avoid those who reject the Apostolic tradition.

Christ our True God, in the context of the pericopde you’re quoting, is not condemning Christian tradtion, which was received from Him, and includes such important things as the contents of the New Testament, the Nicene Creed, the doctrine of the Trinity, the rejection of Pelagianism and certain other misreadings of the New Testament such as Docetism, but rather, a specific tradition of the Pharisees.

The Pharisees had a belief in a man-made tradition, one specific part of which is referred to here, which contradicted the Holy Tradition of the Prophets which by the time of Christ few believed in (St. John the Baptist being one example, St. Symeon another, St. Lazarus another, St. Joseph of Arimathea, another, and which was rejected by the Sadducees and other Jews (but the Sadducees also rejected a belief in eternal life, which the Pharisees correctly believed in, so each group was in error in its own particular way, since they had rejected the Holy Tradition of Moses in favor of their own man-made traditions).

If Christ rejected all tradition, then St. Paul would not have commanded us to follow the Apostolic tradition in 1 Corinthians 11:2, 2 Thessalonians 2:15, or to avoid those who reject it in 2 Thessalonians 3:5 (on which basis we avoid fellowship with Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses).

I have a problem with hermeneutics that selectively quote the Apostles and demand we read some verses in a literal manner, applying as broadly as possible, while rejecting a literal interpretation of other verses, for example, John 6:53-55.

And I am not alone on this. The relelentless criticism of traditional churches is extremely hurtful to members of this site who are pious and devout Christians, members such as my excellent Lutheran friends @MarkRohfrietsch @ViaCrucis and dear @Ain't Zwinglian , my dear Anglican friends @Jipsah @PloverWing @seeking.IAM and ShaneR, and my pious co-religionists in the Orthodox Church @prodromos @FenderTL5 @jas3 , and my gallant Roman Catholic friends such as @Xeno.of.athens and @RileyG and @chevyontheriver , all of whom have over the years been so kind to me, even as other members have questioned my faith, or accused me of teaching false doctrine, or said unpleasant things, because, for example, I use an Orthodox icon of our Lord and the Theotokos as my avatar.

it is driven by a false dichotomy of Roman Catholicism vs. radical Restorationism, a kind of extreme anti-traditional Christianity that opposes the teachings of Martin Luther, John Wesley, John Calvin, Thomas Cranmer and the other actual leaders of the Protestant Reformation, and even those of the Radical Reformation and the early Baptists. Historically, Restorationism originated in the 19th century, and some Restorationists embraced tradition, whereas others rejected it, but all shared the belief that the doctrines of the early church had been forgotten and needed to be “restored.”

David Hunter said:

I'm back with another Sermon on the Mount Series, and this time we'll look at what Jesus says about knowing a tree by its fruit! And... the most scariest words He spoke...​

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Thanks for including the info on the "Christmas Groove".

I found a link to the livestream event ...
will be watching tonite at 7pm!

Servus said:

1 John should be required reading.

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I agree. Every believer sins. But every believer does not walk in sin. Scripture teaches us that we all commit sins and it teaches us that we should not walk in sin, or continue in sin. Christians should walk in continual repentance. Which does not mean walking around in sackloth and ashes. It means always recognizing when we fail asking for forgiveness and then changing our life with the power of the Holy Spirit and not make excuses to continue in the practice.

06 December 2025 – Iran​

Pray for God’s blessing on two Christian converts who fled Iran after each being sentenced to 12 years in prison on charges related to the possession of multiple copies of the Bible. Mehdi Rahimi, aged 49, and Kia Nourinia, 55, were sentenced in April after raids by intelligence officers on their homes in Tabriz.

05 December 2025 – Iran​

Children in Iran are indoctrinated by state propaganda and hatred in school from a young age. Pray for those growing up in Christian homes who hear such contrasting views from their parents and teachers, and for whom saying the wrong word in class could lead to their parents’ arrest.

04 December 2025 – Iran​

Our partner asks for prayer for its team in Turkey and for those Iranian Christians there who face threats of deportation, regular harassment from local authorities and discrimination in their schools and workplaces. May God soften the hearts of those who are mistreating them.

03 December 2025 – Iran​

Pray for the training events run by our partners in neighbouring countries to equip and encourage the leaders of Iran’s house church movement. Without the infrastructure of established churches, these networks and their leaders need regular training and opportunities to meet safely.

02 December 2025 – Iran​

Give thanks for the impact of multiple media ministries that transmit the gospel into people’s homes, bypassing government attempts to repress Christianity. Pray for those working to translate the Jesus film, The Chosen and other evangelistic material into Iran’s many indigenous languages.

01 December 2025 – Iran​

Pray for Christian Mehran Shamloui, aged 37, who was arrested on his arrival in Iran after being deported from Turkey in July. Mehran had been sentenced to a total of ten years in prison following his arrest in Tehran in November 2024. In connected raids on homes, two other Christians, Abbas Soori (48) and expectant […]

30 November 2025 – Philippines​

Praise God for the church denominations that are supporting workers in dangerous locations and are prepared to adopt new methods of evangelism and church planting that are sensitive to the local culture.


For email prayer alerts: info@releaseinternational.org

I have had good experiences with refurbished electronics over the years. I can't think of a bad experience. Refurbished items do have a manufacturer's warranty, so there is no real risk involved if it comes with a decent warranty period. Most of the items I've purchased as refurbished I even forget that they were refurbished, and find out years later when I find an old receipt. Every one of the refurbished products I have owned have outlived their warranty and had a long life, or are still going to this day. I wouldn't be afraid to buy refurbished.

Obsolescence is a concern when buying old hardware. I myself have three tablets (one Apple and two Samsung), and none of them are being updated anymore.

My Samsung Tab A tablet is still great for e-book reading and playing music through Bluetooth in my vehicle. I don't use it for much else.

My Samsung View barely plays YouTube videos these days (sluggish frame rate, laggy interface). The YouTube app is no longer being updated/doesn't open anymore, so I have to use a browser. Browser cache gets too large and chokes performance. I have to clear cache on a regular basis.

I have a second generation iPad that runs great, and still has all of the apps I purchased, but isn't good for much these days. It can still be used as a versatile musical instrument if I plug it into my PC and use my music apps in conjunction with my DAW software (Digital Audio Workstation). Otherwise, it collects dust on a shelf.

It depends on what you want to do with your iPad. If it is just going to be an e-book reader, I would suggest a much cheaper Samsung or even an Amazon tablet made for that purpose. If you're going to use it for various things, then it depends on what those things are, and whether updates are going to benefit you. If you know you're going to need support and compatibility updates, then I would buy new. If not, then refurbished. Might as well save some money. Apple is expensive.

CRAZY_CAT_WOMAN said:

Democrats are concerned that RFK has no idea what he's doing. He have no medical knowledge to be making huge dangerous decisions on babies and people heath. He needs to be fired as soon as possible. The same with Trump. Sadly, that won't happen.

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Fired for what? He and the committee literally changed the recommendations and schedule to directly match the entirety of the civilized and developed world. The new recommendations are identical to almost every European country (some of them go even later to 5 months before it being given), and the countries of New zealand, Japan, etc.

So what, precisely, is the 'dangerous decision' you want to claim he is making?

rambot said:

Still more likely to be your uncle or cousins.

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This newspaper article says that in the city of Glasgow 1200 females have been treated for Female Genital Mutilation. There may be an issue there.

prodromos said:

What about his "absolutely right"? What does an "absolutely right" describe anyway and how does one obtain such a thing?

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I don’t know the social landscape of Finland but this sounds like if a Christian has a traditional understanding of sin to be repented of ( Matthew 4:17), all of a sudden it might be heresy. I’ll try to post again as soon as possible.

Please pray for her peace and strength of mind. She is getting where she is not sleeping and is in the midst of trying to adjust to some new meds. She keeps thinking in loops and is obsessively worried about everything. Usually when she gets like this she ends up in the hospital. Please pray for her peace and strength of mind where she can get through this without the hospital stay.

Thank you!

Hmmm...
"Often the resistance against bank robbery is oftentimes because the robbers are from a different country, a different race, a different religion."

Or it could just be against bank robbery.

Australian influencer Sam Weidenhofer tracked down Ed Bambas at Michigan supermarket​

More than $1.7 million has been raised to help an Army veteran retire after his story went viral online and a GoFundMe drew thousands of donations from strangers.

Australian social media influencer Sam Weidenhofer first learned about Edmund Bambas, 88, from a comment on one of his videos. Weidenhofer then worked with influencer Mike McKinstry to track the veteran down at the Meijer supermarket in Brighton, Michigan, where he works, WXYZ Detroit reported.

"May I ask how old you are?" Weidenhofer asks in the video.

"I'm 88 years old," Bambas responded.

“Why do you have to keep working?" Weidenhofer asks.

Bambas, who served in the U.S. Army in 1966, explained that he retired from General Motors in 1999, but everything changed when the automaker filed for bankruptcy years later.

“ I retired from General Motors in [1999]," Bambas says. "In 2012, they went bankrupt, and they took my pension away from me."

The veteran said his financial situation worsened when his wife became seriously ill.

"The thing that hurt me the most was my wife was real sick, and when they took the pension, they also took the health care coverage and all but $10,000 of my life insurance," Bambas said, "So, I sold the house, sold the property I had and we made it through."

Continued below.

d taylor said:

-
​

How is the creature brought to life in the book.

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No big deal. He somehow does it in his apartment when he is still a student. Doesn’t make much sense. Nothing like any movie.

Aryeh Jay said:

650 word essay for college? Man, I went to the wrong school.

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Hyphens don't count.

That makes 9

I had put making games on the backburner, although I had not given up on it.
One reason is, I wasn't finding the right tools that met my desires, and also, I wanted to make life easier for myself, by making a program that builds a model in a matter of second, or just a few minutes, because to me, making assets is the most time consuming part of game making.

Recently though, someone helped me make up my mind on a game engine that could work for me, and I made up my mind to get back to game making.

I still have the assets I made for a couple games I had planned, so I will retrieve those, but now, with AI, I found a tool online that does what I want... generate a model withing a few seconds, to a minute, and optionally can rig it as well. It can retopologize the model, also.
The models I have generated so far, looks great, and all I had to do was tell the AI what I wanted.

Is there anyone here, who might have held back from making games, because of not having the skills to make artwork, or models?
Would you be interested in game making, if you could get all your models made for you, for free?

timewerx said:

I do laps around the two metro parks near me on rollerblades. Doesn't feel the same as the one on the mountains.

The cost is not what's stopping me but time. There are mountain forests within 40 miles of my place and I reach them by bicycle but the round trip takes 5 to 6 hours without stopping and I can't be away from home more than 2 hrs. I used to do this every weekend when my sister lived with us as she can watch over my mom.

I don't bring money on these long trips by bicycle. If anything went wrong that my tools can't fix, I can't just call Uber and I have no one I can call to pick me up. I don't even bring food or snacks, just one half liter bottle of homemade electrolyte drink for the 60 to 80 mile trip.

It was nice while it lasted but I get the same fulfillment with rollerblading now. I figure, it's just a different "forest". In fact rollerblading has become my primary mode of transport around the city. It used to be bicycle. I don't do it because its easy but because it's hard!

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See if you can get a group to do it together. Maybe a church group. Sometimes public busses have a rack on the front to place a bike. Something to maybe look into.

GoldenBoy89 said:

Well, if there’s an official looking plaque on a wall then it must be official.

Wait… what’s that? It’s not officially called the Department of War?


Glad we could clear that up!

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Secretary Hegseth is just using his preferred pronouns.