Bradskii said:

Yeah, that is actually the point. It really does sound like something made up that you'd read in The Onion. But he really did say something that made him look ridiculous.

Did you only just realise this?

Click to expand...

Like I have said, repeatedly, sandwich guy should have been charged with disorderly conduct or let go with a warning.
The testimony was ridiculous

Freth said:

I didn't that Paul said everyone is chosen. I said, "Ephesians 1 indicates that we are chosen to be in Him before the foundation of the world", which is a paraphrase of, "He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world."

Click to expand...

You said that "all names are in the book of life until they are blotted out." I took that to mean you were suggesting all are chosen, but whether our predestined status is "actualized" is conditioned on our response. I apologize if that's a misrepresentation.

But help me understand the difference. You said: "Ephesians 1 indicates that we are chosen to be in Him before the foundation of the world. Predestined. Whether we choose to or not is of our own free will." (My emphasis)

So, "we" are chosen, but, you say, whether or not that predestination is actualized(?) is conditioned on our own choosing.

Am I understanding that right?

Who, then, is "we"?

If X is chosen, but only a subset of X exercises their free will in accepting that predestination, then presumably you're suggesting that those who are initially "chosen" is a larger group than those who actually come, correct?

Freth said:

"...that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love..."

How is a person without blame? Repentance, forgiveness, obedience, which requires voluntary action on our part. And with God's help we are able to be holy and without blame, before Him in love.

Click to expand...

It sounds like you're conflating means with cause. It's certainly true that believers act, repent, obey, and walk in holiness. The question isn't whether human response occurs; it's why it occurs.

In Eph. 1, the purpose clause ἵνα ἦμεν ἅγιοι καὶ ἄμωμοι ("in order that we should be holy and blameless") describes the intended result of God's choosing, not its precondition. "He chose us" (ἐξελέξατο ἡμᾶς) for this purpose: "in order that we should be holy..." (ἵνα ἦμεν ἅγιοι...).

Holiness, repentance, and obedience are therefore the fruits of divine election, not its grounds. Paul doesn't say "He chose us because we were holy," but "He chose us in order that we would become holy."

Freth said:

I may have worded that poorly. Either you're in the book of life or you're not. If you're not, you're blotted out.

Revelation 3:5 He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.
Action on our part. "He that overcometh..."
Righteousness. "...the same shall be clothed in white raiment..."
"I will not blot out his name out of the book of life" is hinged on, "He that overcometh."

Click to expand...

Again, Rev. 3:5 is a litotes. A litotes is a figure of speech that affirms something strongly by denying its opposite. In English, we use it all the time: "He's no fool" means "He's very wise." "That's not bad" means "That's quite good." The denial of the negative functions to underscore the certainty of the positive.

Rev. 3:5 figures that category precisely. The structure is conditional:


The second clause ("I will not blot out / wipe away") is paired positively with "I will confess," forming a rhetorical reinforcement. It's not describing two possible outcomes (kept or erased), but one assured outcome (secure and confessed). The "not blot out" phrase functions as litotes; a denial of the negative to strengthen the assurance of the positive.

If John intended to warn believers about potential erasure, he would have written something like ἐάν τις μὴ νικᾷ, ἐξαλείψω τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ ("if anyone does not overcome, I will blot out his name"). But that's not what we have. The conditional structure of what he wrote focuses entirely on the overcomer, and the promise is one of reward and certainty, not risk.

Freth said:

According to Revelation 20:12, the book of life is one of the books opened at judgment. Why open the book if a person's status never changes? Notice, "...according to their works."

Click to expand...

The fact that the Book of Life is opened at the final judgment does not imply that names are added or removed at that time. Opening the book is a literary and judicial device. It allows God to reveal the eternal status of each person publicly, in accordance with their works. John's point is about manifestation, not the origination or alteration of the list.

"According to their works" refers to the public display of God's judgment, not to the grounds of election itself. The works demonstrate the fruit of God's prior choice or rejection. Human self-determination does not alter the divine decree.

So the opening of the book is analogous to a courtroom unveiling of a verdict. It shows what has already been true. The "never written" status of the wicked and the "blessing of the overcomers" reflect God's eternal appointment, not a mutable ledger.

Apple Sky said:

Yes I did announce it on here with some lovely replies, this is the reason that I never posted on here for a good few weeks.

Click to expand...

I'm so sorry; I didn't see your announcement.
Thinking of you.

SabbathBlessings said:

Anyone who is in a covenant relationship with God is part of God's Israel and part of the promise. It was never just literal, as I showed this to you a few times previously through Scripture. I can provide Scriptures, I can make one believe them.

Click to expand...

We’ve been through the scriptures before and I don’t agree with your interpretation. Scriptures are clear though that Israel is in a state of unbelief by rejecting the Messiah. We have the promises based on Abraham‘s seed which is 430 years before the law was given. So our promises do not include the Mosaic law that Israel could not keep but led to Jesus sacrifice of the cross in order to fulfilled it.

Landon Caeli said:

Hey, I thought I saw this on the news somewhere.

Click to expand...

Well, a man was arrested for kidnapping and rape in Chicago. That's certainly newsworthy.

Meanwhile, also in Chicago - 238 people were shot and killed at a Popeye's Chicken location within the span of five minutes. When pressed for answers as to how so many people could be killed at such a small restaurant in such a short period of time, Cook County homicide detectives replied "We're looking into it. They just keep getting more creative every day".

boughtwithaprice said:

Yes I said this is a theological debate. Mary is human, not something different. We say she is immaculately conceived, you do not, although you still agree she is sinless, correct?

Click to expand...

Yes, our hymns even declare her to be immaculate.

We take the scripture which says in Adam, all died, to mean original sin, as it is sin that brings forth death.
Mary was spared this condition, and she always chose the good.

Click to expand...

We reject Pelagianism and follow the doctrine of original sin of St. John Cassian, which your church also used to follow, rather than the Augustinian model, although we do absolutely venerate St. Augustine as a saint (by the way, the feast day for St. John Cassian is February 29th interestingly enough, which shows how highly we regard him - in those years that are not a leap year, and leap years are every fourth year on the Julian Calendar, the typikon makes the unique provision to celebrate the service for St. John Cassian that would be celebrated at Matins at Compline, the only saint so honored; thus St. John Cassian is one of only a few saints to receive special treatment in our liturgy, the others being the Theotokos, the Holy St. John the Baptist, the Holy Apostles, St. Joachim and Anna, the holy angels and archangels, and St. Nicholas of Myra, with the the Angels, St. John the Baptist, the Holy Apostles, St. Nicholas and the Theotokos being subjects of weekly veneration in the hymns of the Octoechos, part of the theme of Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday respectively, with Wednesday and Friday focused on the Cross and Sunday on the Resurrection).

Sin is a disease that afflicts humanity, that the Theotokos through the aid of the Holy Spirit was able to resist, although she still required salvation as she was still mortal. Our view is that the immaculate conception creates a problem, because if the Theotokos were conceived under unusual circumstances, Christ our God would not inherit our mortal human condition and thus not be able to die and rise again on the third day.

Likewise, if the Theotokos were immaculately conceived, she would not have been mortal and thus her bodily assumption into heaven on the occasion of her repose, which according to the ancient sources did follow her death, that her body was miraculously taken up, thus she along with St. Elias and St. Moses is one of only a few people to be physically taken up into heaven), would not have happened.

Thus in rejecting the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception we are disagreeing neither with the idea that the Blessed Virgin Mary is sinless, nor with the concept of original sin having infected all humanity and causing mortality - indeed we are affirming both concepts, and protecting them, by adhering to the more carefully developed theology of original sin of St. John Cassian, which was the consensus of both the Eastern and Western churches for centuries.[/quote][/QUOTE]

Strong in Him said:

Enjoy your 120th birthday in the Holy Land, offering animal sacrifices.

Click to expand...

I sincerely pray that whatever the Lord wills to be done, will be done.

The Liturgist said:

But the New Testament specifically says He will come like a thief in the night - your argument that He will not be seen contradicts that.

Click to expand...

The Day the Lord sends His fiery wrath, is not the same Day as the glorious Return.
Proved by Prophesies like Amos 5:18-20, and the given sequence of Revelation, with the Sixth Seal. Rev 6:12-17, being several years before Rev 19:11

The Liturgist said:

That seems very unlikely, particularly given that ICBMs are smaller than the dimensions given,

Click to expand...

Zech was just estimating a distant object. We don't know the exact length of a 'cubit'.
I maintain my stance, that what God showed Zechariah, was a nuke missile. A Prophecy that will soon be a reality in Iran.

The Liturgist said:

Indeed the Christians of Iraq are among the most righteous and persecuted in the world,

Click to expand...

The Lord will save and protect them on His terrible Day of vengeance and wrath. Isaiah 43:2, 2 Peter 2:9

Ed Parenteau said:

For the Lord God does nothing
without revealing his secret
to his servants the prophets.

Click to expand...

He did, - all the end times events and things to happen are clearly detailed throughout the Bible.
The problem is peoples understanding of it all. Especially when the Lord has blocked it from all who have chosen to believe false theories. Isaiah 29:9-12, Matthew 11:25 & 13:14-15

stevevw said:

I have been thinking about this since you mentioned it. Its a different way to look at free will. Not from the freedoms humans demand like individual right to self determination or autonomy. We constantly here about individual and group rights to freedoms.

But from the other side of the coin. When humans become too rightful of their own self rights and will. To the point that it leads to actual bondage and loss of freedom.

Then its a case that we have to admit defeat and realise we are really not good at knowing what is freedom at all. That its actually by surrendering that we gain true freedom and control. Its paradoxial to this world.

But I think its a truth principle in life and it stems back to Christs example of His sacrifice in overcoming sin and death that we can be truely free.

Click to expand...

Freedom is a different subject all together.
Free will does not require true freedom. It is simply the freedom to make and act on our own, regardless of the consequences.
So, anyone can exercise their God given gift of free will, and be in bondage.

Atheists for example may not submit to God, but they can still choose not to give in to the temptation to wait in a back alley and hit their annoying neighbor on the head with a hammer.
They can, and do choose not to molest their girl child. etc.

Having true freedom is something gained when one submits to God's will, even though, as Paul said... "16 I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, that the Law is good. 17 But now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin that dwells in me. 18 For I know that good does not dwell in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. 19 For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. 20 But if I do the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin that dwells in me." Romans 7:16-20

Bradskii said:

What he actually inherited was a lot more than he admits to.

Click to expand...

As important as the millions were, he also benefited greatly through his dad's political connections.

We went to a science place today that had all sorts of neat things to see, do, and learn but when we got to their gift shop they had all kinds of stones including rough amethyst crystal stones that I was drawn to. As you know, many years ago I was dabbling in New Age stuff, especially the use of crystals, which I was interested in for meditation. I meditated with them some but mostly read about the subject. I’m just drawn to their beauty and I guess their mystery. I held a couple of the amethyst ones today but didn’t buy any. Is it against Catholicism to buy these and display them in your house under these circumstances if I don’t use them for meditation purposes?

Health fads come and go.

Classical music

DaisyDay said:

Post #94

Click to expand...

“Right. When the morality of the left becomes absurd then so are the analogies. Your side defends crime. No thanks.“

This is not an insult but a fact. Progressives are the ones fighting for bond reform which releases criminals, sometimes multiple violators and violent criminals, on no cash bonds regardless of their danger to the public. Normalizing crime is spitting in the faces of the victims.

DaisyDay said:

Your analogy was a dismal failure that proved my point while ruining yours.

I have not defended a murderer for murdering but you have condemned a person who paid for her crime and turned her life around. You have deemed her unfit for an office which has nothing to do with murder while condoning a man holding office which does have quite a bit to do with the office he holds.

Your disparaging my morality is based on your misrepresenting my stance on murder and with conflating me with every other leftie you disagree with. You shown no grasp of logic in your bad arguments and you don't seem to be able to follow mine (unless you are misrepresenting them for your own purposes, but I'll assume you're more moral than that unless you tell me differently).


You haven't demonstrated any twisting, so your claim is mere assertion. Good day to you.

Click to expand...

Again, not worth replying to.

peaceful-forest said:

Can you post the article here for us to read?


I've never heard that criminals use it. But it's possible. My experience has been they use Gmail or they try to make their email address look like it's from a legitimate source (like Microsoft or a bank).

I have Proton myself and I love it. I have one of the paid versions and I have multiple email addresses just for one account. I know on one of the paid subscriptions, you can do a custom email domain if you want to. You can look into that.

Click to expand...

I read several articles some months ago, I don't remember exactly what they were, but it was stuff similar to this:

Benaiah468 said:

America must wake up. Your nation is at a crossroads, and alarm bells are ringing in NY City.

Click to expand...

lol

Larniavc said:

Then what you are saying is that bachelor equals diddler. Which is simply not true. My point was that the priest is unfairly judging you as something that you are not.

Click to expand...

You mentioned judging people by their "lifestyle"; my point was about U.K. immigration policy. England should be more judgmental, if it has any interest in remaining England.

The Barbarian said:

Gerrymandering is a very old form of political corruption. Elbridge Gerry gave his name to the practice, after an extremely odd-looking mapped district was thought to look like a dragon and was deemed "the Gerrymander" in his honor. But the principle that voters should pick their leaders, as opposed to leaders picking their voters would be the rule in an honest system.

Click to expand...

I believe the district resembled a salamander, and the portmanteau was the cobbling together of the esteemed gentleman’s surname and the aforementioned creature.

Go extract xylem of plants.

PLNTS

We have been digging on the Beatles Channel on SiriusXM for about a week. Pretty good because they are commercial-free and feature interviews with the boys between songs.

Michie said:

No I do the same. My priest blessed all my Christian jewelry.

Click to expand...

So did my priests.