SabbathBlessings said:

They do not have Jesus saying we do not need to keep the Sabbath commandment and you know it otherwise you would simply produce the verse. God knows it too, who we can't hide anything from Ecc12:13-14

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Sure it does. You just refuse to understand that the 10 commandments are part of the Mosaic law and was never repeated into Jesus two love commandments. Second, I don’t have to prove a negative, you do. There is no mention of the 4th commandment being part of the new covenant so you have to show where it is part of the new covenant. Third, the law was NEVER given to the gentiles collectively so it wouldn’t apply anyway. This is the reason that Jesus repeated the moral commandments into His two love commandments. You have to show that the gentiles were given the law also. This is you burden of proof not mine.

rambot said:

I mean you are in no position to adjudicate anyone on that bit...

But just so long as we agree Republicans don't want to help the poor...sure.

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Republicans don't want money being forked out hand over fist to people who can work but won't and illegal aliens. Strange as that may seem.

Stopped_lurking said:

So the risk of suicide is almost double in veterans than in older gender minority adults. That is a good argument to avoid the military I guess.


In the longitudinal studies comparing pre- and post-surgery risk collated in this review, the risk for suicide are reduced after gender affirming surgery.
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/26318318231189836

However the risk is still elevated compared to the population in general, but that is not strange. Living as a trans persons is of course another potential hardship.

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The writers of the study you cite were all from a "gender affirming care" clinic in Portugal. (Can we say "conflict of interest"!)

The data I posted was 10 years of collection from Medicare and Medicaid data. Which is millions of people; not just 31,000 participations whom your data even says; half the data collected was just psychological treatment data. Doesn't say anything about chemical or physical alterations to the body. Plus the majority of the data collected in the study you presented; did not surpass 5 years post treatment.

And besides; you misread (probably intentionally) the Medicare / Medicaid data. I presented.
Of people who get "transgender care" including cross sex hormones and surgeries; between 7 and 10 years post "transition" 20% of those patients commit suicide. 40% attempt suicide.

Of everyone who's ever served in the US armed forces. (Again millions of people) during times of war or peace; 14% of ALL veterans commit suicide. 20% of a population is more than 14% of a population.

POPE LEO REVERSES POPE FRANCIS AND POPE BENEDICT: HIS HOLINESS DOES NOT PRAY IN THE BLUE MOSQUE—WHAT DOES IT MEAN? I REALLY DON’T KNOW???​

Just imagine how much more dignified this close-up photo would be with the papal coat of arms on the papal sash! Just sayin’!

Crux is reporting that Pope Leo refuses to pray in the Blue Mosque during his visit. He said he preferred just to be a tourist. You can read the Crux article HERE.

This reverses both Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis I both of whom did pray in the Blue Mosque.

Before entering the Blue Mosque, Pope Leo removed his shoes, revealing his White Sox. Pope Francis’ socks were black, thus another sacramental reversal.
But this is what happened according to Crux:

After removing his shoes prior to entering the mosque, displaying a pair of white socks, he was given a brief tour of the inside of the mosque, asking questions about the architecture and design.

However, unlike his previous two predecessors, he chose not to pray during the brief visit, opting for an explanation of the mosque instead.

Benedict’s prayer at the mosque two months later was seen as a significant moment of rapprochement, and a gesture of goodwill in attempting to restore good relations with the world of Islam.

Pope Francis, who made dialogue with Islam a cornerstone of his papacy, also observed a moment of silent prayer inside the Blue Mosque during his visit to Turkey in 2014.

Leo, however, took a different approach, saying he preferred to simply visit the mosque instead.

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Apple Sky said:

And why is this ?

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Because if the earth is flat, there is nothing to stop us seeing things after they pass the horizon, yet they become invisible to us, however large they are.

My brother-in-law is doing witchcraft. I got suspicious, and I googled the signs, and it made sense. I'm feeling nauseous after a good cake and a glass of chocolate milk. This should not be so. Yesterday I denied my dad and felt bad afterwards. I didn't want to tell him because I don't want to scare him. So I need prayers because my other brother might be suspicious of him, too. Basically, I want the truth to come out, and the devil needs to stop hiding. We need the truth, God.

The Academy became the model for what a real university should be: a place of honest inquiry, moral formation, and resistance to every ideology, as thinkers from antiquity to Newman have affirmed.

I begin my Introduction to Philosophy course by reading Socrates’ defense of the philosophical way of life. Democratic Athens had found him guilty of corrupting the youth, of making the weaker argument defeat the stronger, of not believing in the gods of the city. These are serious charges, but as Plato later argued, they were sham charges designed to hide the shame of all those whose errors were revealed by the Socratic art of question and answer.

In our own day, Charlie Kirk inspired the wrath against him because, like Socrates, he challenged conventional wisdom through the power of public debate. (A wise person welcomes correction, but most of us resent it.)

Now at his trial, Socrates foretells that should the powers set against him succeed in killing him, they would only unleash dozens more Socrates. Go ahead and sentence me to death, he said, but in doing so, you won’t silence the philosophical voice of conscience: It will only grow louder and more persuasive.

What happened, however, was even more powerful than Socrates guessed. Whereas Socrates wandered about the marketplace and questioned people, Plato set down roots and established a school, called the “Academy,” which worked out answers — a move that was so significant for Western culture that to this day the name of his school has been equated with the highest enterprise of learning.

Continued below.

An Israeli Criminologist and terrorism expert, Dr Shagit Yehoshua, sits opposite terrorists, from Hamas commanders to supporters of Islamic State. Her findings are a slap in the face for all those who reduce terrorism to slogans. What she describes reveals a grim truth about the transformation of "Palestinian" extremism.

The perpetrators she met after the 2023 massacre were fundamentally different from those she had known before. Radicalisation under Hamas, years of ideological isolation and an education that focused on demonising Israel from early childhood onwards had created a new type of assassin. Young men who knew nothing but the worldview of a total enemy acted with a brutality that they themselves perceived as ‘logical.’ Some of them seemed programmed in conversation: sentence fragments, phrases, mantras, repeated as if memorised.

This makes these perpetrators more difficult to apprehend. While earlier generations of Hamas leaders acted on the basis of political and strategic calculations, the new generation combines two much more dangerous components: the old nationalist narrative of ‘resistance’ and the radical self-aggrandisement through violence that ISIS supporters once sought. A toxic mixture of collective myth and personal ego redemption. Jehoschua describes them as ‘posters’, memorable, radicalised, almost unreachable.

This analysis leads to a sobering conclusion: methods of deradicalisation that work in Europe are hardly effective with this generation.

This has less to do with cultural differences than with the total ideological isolation to which they have been subjected since childhood. In Gaza, a generation of young people has grown up whose worldview is not shaped by personal trauma, but by systematically instilled hatred. Anyone who comes from a social environment saturated with execution videos, martyr cults and enemy stereotypes enters adulthood with a basic psychological conditioning that is almost impossible to undo.

The generation that grew up under Hamas is almost impossible to reach. The decisive factor will be how the next generation is shaped.

Israel is not facing an abstract enemy, but people whose thinking has been programmed for violence over many years, a programming that has become more radical with each generation. Oct 7 was not only an attack on life, but also an attack on the understanding of how terror works. What Jehoshua describes shows that the battle is not only taking place on the battlefield, but in the minds of an entire generation.

And that is precisely why their warning is so important: anyone who wants to combat terrorism must understand how it arises. Anyone who wants to curb it must understand the mechanisms that legitimise it. And anyone who is not prepared to face up to the psychological realities will only combat the surface and not what is simmering beneath.

On Oct 7, Israel learned that its opponents have changed. The question now is whether the world is prepared to draw the right conclusions from this.

For nearly three hundred years, “The Shepherd of Hermas” gave instruction to the members and catechumens of the early Church. It taught them the Christian virtues and called for repentance. After being left out of the cannon of the New Testament, however, “Hermas” faded in popularity and use.

So when “the Lord of the flocks comes, He may rejoice concerning you. And He will rejoice, if He find all things sound, and none of you shall perish. But if He find any one of these sheep strayed, woe to the shepherds! And if the shepherds themselves have strayed, what answer will they give Him for their flocks? Will they perchance say that they were harassed by their flocks?”[1]

The Shepherd of Hermas is an inspiring combination of instructions for living the Christian life and an apocalyptic vision of the saved and the damned. At the most basic level, it is “an uncomplicated guide for repentance and moral living that will lead mankind to justification in the sight of God.”[2] Using parables and allegories, the author instructs the early Church so that its members may lead lives pleasing to God.

This work had great authority in the early Church. According to Carolyn Osiek, “No other noncanonical writing was as popular before the fourth century as the Shepherd of Hermas. It is the most frequently attested postcanonical text in the surviving Christian manuscripts of Egypt well into the fifth century.”[3] It was greatly admired by several of the early Church fathers. “Eusebius tells us that it was publicly read in the churches, and that while some denied it to be canonical, others ‘considered it most necessary’. Saint Athanasius speaks of it, together with the Didache, in connection with the deuterocanonical books of the Old Testament, as uncanonical yet recommended by the ancients for the reading of catechumens.”[4] Irenaeus, Bishop of Lyons, about A.D. 185 “proclaimed the book was inspired by divine intercession.”[5] This text was cited, either as scripture or as inspired, by Irenaeus, Tertullian, Clement and Origen.[6] Still, it was not included in the canon due to its lack of apostolic origin.

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Bob Crowley said:

I've used Redhat Fedora Linux for some years, and this was typed on a Linux computer.

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Still using Fedora, but fed up with systemd and Gnome and Wayland. I solved two thirds of this by recently installing Fedora 42 Mate, which unfortunately still uses systemd but is a fork from Gnome 2 (the good Gnome IMHO) and still uses X11. I found recently released Fedora 43 to be unusable at the moment and will wait on that one.

Bob Crowley said:

I'm just a user, with no formal training and until I saw your post i had no idea what GNU HURD was. I'd heard of GNU, but the idea of a computer HURD which may or may not stampede over the finish line before Elijah returns is something I'll have to leave to far more educated IT people like the Liturgist.

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The HURD is a kernel system where one may update the kernel without a restart. The kernel is not a great big monolith but multiple components. Anyhow, Richard Stallman is involved, so it may never be finished. Stallman made the GCC compiler way back, a brillinat thing, but has since alienated almost everybody.

Bob Crowley said:

If Elijah comes first, GNU HURD will be the least of our worries. Meanwhile what is the Liturgist going to do all day with no computers in heaven?

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I'm hoping on Elijah. I suspect the HURD has been complete in heaven for a long time, and the Liturgist will be delighted.

Some chilling warnings to the faithful from Caesarius of Heisterbach's hagiographical compendium, including a whispering ghost girl, hellbound jousters, and other tormented souls​

Caesarius of Heisterbach (d. 1240) was one of the most popular hagiographers of the Middle Ages. The prior of the Cistercian Heisterbach Abbey, he’s most famous for his Dialogue on Miracles, which was rivaled only by the Golden Legend in popularity. Over the course of a dozen thematic books, Caesarius tells hundreds of miracle stories categorized by themes like Contrition, Confession, Demons, and so on, but the final chapter is what concerns us today: “Of the Punishment and the Glory of the Dead.”

Some glory. Mostly punishment.

These stories are shaped as exemplum: short anecdotes with a pithy moral to them. The telling varies, with most offering simple pious lessons. For instance:

After a deacon had read the gospel for confessors, that is, “Watch, for ye know not at what hour your Lord will come,” in Aulne, a house of our Order, as he finished those words, a monk in the choir fell down and expired. And all were afraid considering the effect of the Lord’s words. There-fore, brothers, because we know not at what hour our Lord will come, let us watch faithfully, let us watch while working that when he comes and shall afflict us with death, we may at once open to Him. May our Lord Jesus Christ deign to grant us that, who will come to judge the living and the dead and the world by fire. Amen.

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Useful information! As a Deacon I’ll keep in mind to be prepared should I drop dead after proclaiming the word.

Some, however, are remarkably vivid. To wit:

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The Liturgist said:

Not just that, but also the following information would be needed:

• The specific model of AI being used from the vendor (for example, chatGPT, even to free users, provides multiple models, as do several others).
• Depending on the AI, not only the entire prompt history, but also the entire contents of global memory and session memory would be required in the case of chatGPT.
• It would also be necessary to know if the AI was running in a default configuration, or in a customized configuration such as a Custom GPT of the sort commonly used with chatGPT (aspects of the prompt style make me think ChatGPT 5 is a likely candidate for the “AI” in question, particularly since chatGPT 4o, 5, and 5.1 will all readily help you defend the doctrines of your faith (provided those doctrines are not grossly offensive) if asked to do so.

Indeed it would literally take just one prompt with a phrase indicating the user favored a Sabbatarian interpretation in order to steer the entire conversation in that direction.

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ChatGPT usually agrees with me often praising my focus. AI is very agreeable and if you frame a question that presupposes an idea AI will happily be your echo chamber. It's there to trigger happy responses so you keep coming back.

They don't even try to be logical or make sense ot act qith integrity because their supporters would never notice.

Valletta said:

And it was five or so years after Melania got her green card that she became a citizen.

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So what? What does Melania have to do with anything? Nobody is talking about her other than you. Vance's comments were about the people who got us to the moon.

In the case of the German scientists that is a unique case, the U.S. led the industrialized world but a small group of German scientists was ahead in rocket science.

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What's your idea of "small"? Operation Paperclip brought over 1600 of them. Either way, the ex-Nazis were hardly the only immigrants populating academia in the mid 20th century. Pick a discipline and you'll find that, even when the work itself was done in the US, large numbers of the scientists doing the work were born in Europe.

Neither Vance nor Trump claimed that no immigrant contributes until they become a citizen.

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No, what Vance claimed - and what I've been addressing - was that we got to the moon on the backs of citizens, not low-paid immigrants. This is demonstrably untrue.

rjs330 said:

And you don't seem to have a problem with it. I guess broad brushing is okay as long as you are doing it to white people.

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I don't? When have I commented on the substance of their positions?

Always in His Presence said:

Open a thread on the Prophet and I'll jump in. This one is about apostles

You bet I have met several of them personally.

One who is mandated by Jesus of Nazareth Himself to be a voice in a country where Christianity is outlawed - Gospel meetings in the open are closed down and ministers imprisoned - jut like what Paul faced. Similar to Paul - he has seen thousands come to Christ - the simplicity of the Gospel is preached with miracles following. He has helped plant 32,000 churches in the region.

I know another who was called by Jesus of Nazareth to start a church in Nazi Germany in the middle of WW2. In the middle of the greatest prosecution and closing of churches - this Apostles was never attacked - the church grew to 180 and remained open throughout the war and thrived. In 1981 they died in the pulpit and the person who took their place grew the church to over 6,000 with 40 satellite churches in 13 nations.

Your Welcome

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Names?

BCP1928 said:

All knowledge is acquired in that way. Science acquires knowledge through observation and experiment with nature. Craftsmen acquire their skills by trial and error, working directly with the natural materials. They all actually experience what they discover and utilize.

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They cannot possibly experience what they are discovering. Experience is a completely different paradigm to material science. One is quantities like matter, electrons and fields. The other is about qualities like experiences of love, spirituality and colors. A completely different realm.

Its the Mind/Matter metaphysics. What is fundemental mind or matter.

As mentioned earlier the experience of colors like Red for example brings knowledge about nature and reality that material science cannot bring. How could material science test for the experience of Red. The only way to test is to directly ask the experiencer. The experiencer gains the new knowledge directly from nature.

The direct experiences of the ancients with nature and reality gave them a deeper knowledge about reality that the material science can never know. Its like a back door to what material science is trying to understand from the outside. A direct line to nature and reality.

Because the entire worldview belief was immersed in direct experiences of nature, looking at nature from the inside and not from the outside like material science. Becoming part of nature and directly connecting with it.

This gave the ancients a direct experience and knowledge of nature and reality which enabled them to understand how it worked. How stones reacted, how certain locations altered things, how the basic laws of nature worked. Through experience not intellect.

If they became part of nature or immersed in it more deeply through conscious and transcedent experiences then why would they not discover some of natures secrets in how it worked.

In fact I think the direct subjective experiences of nature and reality cannot be seperated out of the equation. Galileo I think said that to do science the subject needed to be removed from the equation. But if fundemental reality has to include subjective conscious experiences then we cannot remove the subject.

Science will never fully understand reality by removing the subject and I think it is actually the direct experiences of reality is how we understand more fully nature and reality.

As the ancients were fully immersed in the most fundemental aspect of reality (the direct conscious experience) without any distraction from enlightened materail scientific thinking. They were able to gain more directly and fully what science has been trying to work out from the outside for 100s of years.

9Rock9 said:

So, since this is the moderate forum, I must ask, what makes you a moderate?

I'm personally starting to think I am a moderate, but I also kinda wary of the label due to fear of drifting towards progressive Christianity and theological liberalism.

I come from a conservative evangelical background, so I saw moderates as a slippery slope towards apostasy.

Now, though, I am not sure if I am a conservative anymore. I still hold conservative viewpoints on Nicene orthodoxy and LGBT related issues pertaining to weddings and ordination, but I think I am moderate on most other issues.

I think the Bible is infallible when it comes to matters of faith and practice, and its purpose is to point the reader to salvation. It's not meant to be a science textbook nor an exhaustive source of all knowledge.

I lean towards a complementarian stance on women's ordination, but I also now know there's more nuance to the issue than I had initially assumed. Aside from thinking the office of pastor should be reserved for men only, I think I am a believer in gender equality in all other areas of life.

I guess I realize that some initial assumptions I held were wrong, and I think I am closer to moderate viewpoints, but I worry about drifting towards liberalism.

A minor thing, but I have been told mainline denominations might be a better fit for me, even though I still think of myself as an Evangelical, though that's likely due to the stereotype of mainline = liberal.

What about you? Anyone else have similar concerns?

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I don't think 'moderate' is really the term you're looking for in relation to being reasonable about your faith. I only use moderate when referring to politics.

zoidar said:

Most of what you have quoted is true of believers, but not true concerning all Jesus atoned for, since he atoned for everyone, not just believers.

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It's true for all whom Christ died for which causes believers.

Hi all, hope life is treating you all well! Doing great here. We just got our Christmas tree up this weekend, and it just snowed a ton, so I’m happy! I now have a nearly 1 year old daughter, it’s going to be fun to show her the snow!

Pope Leo XIV concluded the first half of his six-day apostolic journey to Turkey and Lebanon by praying with Orthodox Christian communities in Istanbul, before departing for Beirut, Lebanon, for the rest of his historic trip.

Watch LIVE the major events of Pope Leo’s apostolic journey Nov. 27 to Dec. 2 at youtube.com/@ewtnnews and follow our live updates of his historic visit:

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joechristianwarrior said:

Out of curiosity, how did you come to the conclusion that masturbation is a sin? The Bible is clear on lust being a sin, condemns homosexuality explicitly, ditto re adultery and fornication. But I've not read on a single page of the Bible condemnation of masturbation...

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Can't really do it without lusting.

Desk trauma said:

Yep, that’s how I know there wasn’t enough red string

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Ok well good luck with your non-Christian president by his own admission, Jewish president according to multiple officials, best friend of the state of Israel according to Netanyahu