Fervent said:

It's not equating the doctrine, it's about how doctrines develop. Marian theology was present and established long before formalization, and such formalization is always a response to controversy not an ordinary course of affairs. We could say similar things about the canon, or about the hypostatic union, or all manner of doctrine that were orthodox but weren't formalized until a clear need was seen for such formalization. It is your false premise about Mariology being a product of the 6th century because of its formalization in light of Nestorianism that is at issue, not the content of the doctrine themselves. But Mariology in the face of Nestorius was a Christological issue, because Nestorius denied that Jesus was God in the flesh and instead opted for a form of double naturedness.

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Before we continue let's establish where you're at with this, so I can understand what you're arguing in favor of.

Do you believe we should pray to Mary?
That we need Mary to intercede to Jesus for us?
Do you believe we should kneel to statues of Mary?
Do you believe Mary is the Queen of Heaven?
Do you believe Mary was without sin like Jesus?
Do you believe Mary was a perpetual virgin?
Do you believe Mary is the Ark of the Covenant?

There's more, but let's start with those.

Also have you read the Anathemas of the Roman Catholic Church for not subscribing to all of it?

keras said:

You avoid the fact that religious Jews cannot step on the Temple Mount;

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keras, religious Jews can walk on the Temple Mount - but not freely. They are restricted to follow the Israelis police who lead their walk as visitors. They are not allowed to go to the Dome of the Rock platform area as that is restricted by the Jerusalem Waqf to only muslims. The Dome of the Rock was built over the where the former temple sanctuary building was.

Here is a video of Jews on the temple mount.

Login to view embedded media

Apple Sky said:

I reckon that they have deliberately raised the cost of postage so that we go too emailing instead, but I refuse too be beaten.
And another thing, who's finding it harder & harder to purchase Christmas cards with Biblical images ?

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The people who used to send me cards weren't in dire poverty. Most of the boxes of cards I have are biblical. Oh, well.

I think people have lost interest.

Mark Quayle said:

So you really can't answer the question, of how anything can come about without God intending it to come about. You've got a bunch of little first causes trotting about the planet, and God being reactionary, instead of God being the source of fact, and humans being some of those facts. The authority of Chance governs your world.

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Your strawman is unpersuasive, at the very least. And your question only makes sense in your framework, so there is no need for me to answer it since I reject your framework.

Mark Quayle said:

I am curious to see your logic in the term, "self-contradictory nature of determinism." How is determinism self-contradictory? Try to be careful, for my sake, to give us a consistent definition for 'determinism'.

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It is quite simple, if determinism is true then it would be impossible for anyone to come to believe in determinism of their own accord. And the ability to reject determinism is then a demonstration of the falsity of determinism, so by affirming free will I am showing determinism to be false. And I'm not playing your silly semantic games, we both know full well what we mean by free will and determinism.

eleos1954 said:

No ... just saying they both gave pardons and that some on both sides are questionable ... at least Trumps pardons weren't signed with an auto pen ... to me that fact is highly suspicious

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Couple things...first, you don't know the autopen wasn't used, even if by Trump himself. Second, of course, you also don't know that President Biden did not know or at least approve of the use of the autopen, assuming it was used in those cases. You'd have to prove it in either case, or it's just speculation and nothing more.

Further, as to the questionability of the respective pardons, Trump clearly pardoned people who acted illegally on his behalf, explicitly or implicitly, in his attempt to overturn the 2020 election. This includes his legal teams, those who engineered or participated in the fake elector scheme, and those who stormed the Capitol on January 6. The evidence for corruption in those cases is pretty clear and very blatant, considering the fact that, had he not approved of their illegal actions, he would have no reason to pardon them.

If there is any evidence that President Biden used his power of pardon to reward those who acted illegal on his behalf, that remains to be seen. Nothing has yet been put forth as evidence for this claim. Even in the case of his son, the fact that it's his son is enough to explain his reasoning without political corruption being involved.

But, that said, if anyone wishes to make the case that President Biden corruptly used the power of the pardon (or someone did so without his knowledge via autopen), then they need to make the case with evidence, not speculation or rumors. I wonder if anyone can.

-- A2SG, so far, speculation and rumor seems to be all anyone's got....

bling said:

You said and I quote: "There is no such thing as , so, no, the Bible does not address them. We all reject God continually, all day long, with every breath we breath, even when we think we are accepting him, until he changes us, born again, 'born from above', raised from life to death.
I am just asking: "How could an unborn baby ever knowingly "reject God"??
We are talking about, "dying before becoming a believer", which can happen to an unborn baby. If you say, "We do not know", than how can you be so certain about babies one day old?

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What I said was, "There is no such thing as people who never had the opportunity to reject God, so, no, the Bible does not address them".

How can you know an unborn baby is not a believer? God does what he will. He doesn't need our notions of what a person is, nor of what constitutes enmity with him.

I compare the mind of the unborn, at whatever stage they can rightly be called a person, with the mind of the clinical idiot who has no brain activity registering, cannot hear, cannot see, doesn't respond to touch, and has no sentient "concepts" as we claim separates us from animals. Are you going to say that God cannot deal with him, and change his heart?

On a scale with that clinical idiot on one end and God on the other, where do you think those of us who can read, consider and reason stand? I think I can guarantee you that our intelligence and self-awareness is much closer to the bottom of the scale than it is to God's place. We can all make definitions for 'sin' and 'omnipotence' and so on, but God's point of view is the only one that counts, in the end.

stevevw said:

I have been thinking about the current political claimte and how people are being cancelled and even killed for their views. Is street preaching or declaring the gospel in public now a dangerous occupation.

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Don't worry, if Jesus is with you he will protect you

rjs330 said:

When did liberals become fiscal conservatives?

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Trump seems to aways prompt them to go in the opposite direction. If he promoted breathing they'd hold their breath.

MarkSB said:

I fail to see how that is a response to what I posted. It’s just more denial an deflection.

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Someone being rude to me isn't going to prompt me to have a discussion with them.

d taylor said:

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​

Well what about you not adding into accounts in The Bible parts that are not actually there. As an example, take you saying the people in Matthew 7:23 had believed in Jesus for eternal life. When there is not a singe sentence saying these people had believed in Jesus for eternal life. The only thing the verses say is they did thing in the name of Jesus and that is not the same as believing in The Name of Jesus for eternal life.

“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’



An example of a contemporary day Matthew 7, would be people who say they went to church in the name of Jesus, or were baptized in the name of Jesus, or repented of their sins in the name of Jesus, etc.... But never actually did believe in the person Jesus, for Eternal Life.

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The people in Matthew did believe they would receive salvation in Christ. This is why Jesus spoke this parable, because a lot of people think they are going to receive eternal life because they say they believe on Jesus. These people were saying to Jesus because of what they did, they should receive eternal life. They think if they feed the poor, give to the needy, keep the sabbath day, and even keep the feast days, as some do, their salvation in Jesus is secure. These people strongly believe that doing those things makes them righteous, and their own righteousness saves them unto eternal life. But without the Holy Spirit in us, we cannot be saved no matter how much we profess to believe in Jesus. It is not of works, but God’s Grace we are saved.

I know a person who said they only believe certain things in the Bible because men wrote the Bible - they believe they have the right to dismiss large portions of the Bible, but this person professes to be a Christian and believe in Jesus and goes to church every Sunday. They will argue they should receive eternal life.

I needed to read this today. I am having a moment of uncertainty, myself, and came here for assistance.

So many of you sound like me and it's so comforting to know that what I am going through might be a normal part of the journey towards living more like Christ and less like a flawed human.

I was so scared and have found some peacefulness here and I really appreciate the OP for posting their struggle and all the responses.

God bless

stevevw said:

Yeah I will try and find what I have written or finish it. I lost intereswt for a while but started up again. I think we all need some creative outlet. I always think getting back to nature can also bring that spiritual aspect and gives inspiration.

Nothing like gazing up at the night sky out in the country where there is no light pollution. Then you certainly realise theres something beyond. I think this is our spiritual side or our consciousness of God through phenomenal experiences that takes us to this place where our soul exists.

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Steve, keep strumming and keep looking up—those country-night skies are a cathedral without walls.
Every chord you chase and every star you catch is an echo of the same vastness: we can’t bottle God, but we can let art and night-air carry our wonder back to Him.
Press on—your next note might be the one that helps someone else hear the “something beyond.”

United Airlines

rambot said:

"Real American voters"....don't care if Trump raped girls?

What a condemnation this will be to the people who take up this flag and fight the release.

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Prepare yourself for the screeching of tyres and the smell of burning rubber as all those who argued against the files being released now read Trump's latest U turn and do a similar 180.


'The US president has said he backs US lawmakers efforts to release the files, ahead of an expected House vote this week.

US president Donald Trump has urged his fellow Republicans in Congress to vote for the release of files related to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, reversing his earlier resistance to such a move.'

So, do you support the release of the files, or not?
Umm, well...I do. Well, I did. Until I didn't. So now I think I do. Until of course I don't.

Guojing said:

There is no teaching by Paul, that teaches we the Body of Christ are the Bride of Christ. You are trying to infer from unrelated verses in Paul's epistles.

Only Israel ends up being the Bride of Christ.

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Where does it say that?

The Oddball Couple

stevevw said:

Gee now you spoiled the nice picture I had in my head lol.

Then they are knobs. But then a lot of knobs are coming out of Universities at the moment.

How am I making an excuse when I did not know what it meant lol. I just thought blood and soil means American soil and blood was the fighting for that soil. Which I linked to the American civil war and the fight for establishing the nation as a democracy.

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It's literally a thread about Nazis at Harvard. Why are you suprised that Hitler slogans appeared.

stevevw said:

Though there are extremists that doesn't mean they are Hitlers. Its not about Trump but the same MO keeps popping up that everyones a fascists or Nazi. Or white supremacist.

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No, just the actual Nazis and fascists.

stevevw said:

Its like a self fullfilling phenomena. Say it enough and it becomes reality.

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Thou doth protest too much.

As further enhancement to your understanding, I added another feature to the chart that shows the "tribulation of those days" a term found in Matthew 24:29.

Matthew 24:29 describes the changes to the sun, moon, stars, that will take place during the sixth seal in Revelation 6. What it will be about is the appearance of the Son of Man - Jesus - to everyone living on the earth.

It will send terror into the wicked men of the earth. Who in reaction will gather their armies at Armageddon for 45 days to prepare to make war on Jesus and His army of heaven.

Papa Don't Preach.

Etiquette exemplifies exceptional, exquisite expression.

Do you know Hebrew?

Now I know Rob understands.

ROBIN