DialecticSkeptic said:

Emotional wounds left from betrayal, especially by trusted Christians, tend to persist until they are processed, not just waited out. A good trauma-informed or faith-sensitive counselor can help you process this, separating what happened from the truth of Christ himself. Some offer reduced rates or sliding-scale sessions, and there are community or online options that can make it more affordable; some churches can recommend a specific faith-sensitive counselor that would be free to you because their charitable giving covers the costs. (My church does that.)

That being said, the church is God's appointed channel of grace, community, and spiritual edification, even when people inside it fail badly (because they do). Healing doesn't happen apart from Christ's body but through being gently restored within it. The key is finding a setting where safety, accountability, and pastoral care exist together. It might help to start by meeting privately with a trustworthy pastor or elder. (It doesn't have to be from the church where you were hurt.) Tell him what happened and that you're struggling to come back. A good pastor will listen carefully, take your fears seriously, and help ensure that whoever mistreated or harmed you is not in a position to hurt anyone else. Church leaders have a responsibility to protect the flock and to address sin openly and justly (though not necessarily publicly).

Pray for courage and discernment, and remember that Christ himself was betrayed by religious people and those closest to him. He understands your wounds better than anyone—and he also knows how to lead you safely back into his church.

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Hello! Your advice sounds very sound as I’ve not had the chance to really talk to this with someone mature enough. If you can recommend online counseling with a pastor or therapist who is Christian I would totally do it.

I expressed what happened to two friends who have good intentions and have been respectful, but they don’t understand just saying that “not everyone is like that” will help me feel safe enough to go back to the church I used to go to.

My main problem I have is that I’m a pretty lonely woman, I dont have a Christian family to attend church with and my friends have their own lives they can’t go with me, and in spite they used to sometimes, the men still managed to find ways to harm me.

I will get married soon so hopefully I may be able to go to church accompanied at all times in the next months or years, but the emotional harm is still there and I don’t even want to go and have to deal with people and unnecessary problems.

ChubbyCherub said:

Does anyone else know anything else about him? Where did he come from? Why was he a prophet? What made him special in the eyes of God?

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Very very little is known about him. People consider him a minor prophet probably for this reason because it's not like we have great stories about him like we do Elijah or Samuel. His book reminds me of Psalms and makes me think it was a song, just by the end of the book where it says, "For the director of music. On my stringed instruments." There's a few Psalms that are prophetic, so it's not out of place if it was a song. But literally any information about his life is speculation and could be totally wrong. Like, because of the prophesy against the Babylonians, people place his life around 600BC which would put him around the same time as Jeremiah. But there's honestly no way to know for sure. There isn't any outside sources on his life or him in particular, so we just will never know until we are in heaven's side of things.

Valletta said:

It's sad that there is a part of our culture that promotes transitioning.

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I don't know that the transitioning had much to do with it.

I think they're mutually exclusive issues.

While I do think that the "fast-tracking" of transitioning is a problem (and have been very vocal about my concerns surrounding it), I think the ex-lawmaker's crimes represent a separate psychological issue.

upright piano

Vacation days fly by fast.

Hans Blaster said:

The non-existence of universal morality is no impediment to condemning things. It hasn't stopped you or me.

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I believer in universal morality, so there is no conflict for me. But you claim there is no such thing, so how can you condemn anything and remain consistent with your claims?

Hans Blaster said:

I'll keep that in mind when you don't want to "play".

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uh huh.

Hans Blaster said:

This will be very limiting.

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So it will be.

Hans Blaster said:

Not a vernacular usage, but the term they use to describe a person's model of the mental state of others. I posted a link.

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Vernacular usage of "theory" is closer to how theory is used in that term than the scientific usage, even if it is a technical term in psychology. Though there's really not much use in discussing this further, as i am now aware of the term and have made clear my prior ignorance.

Hans Blaster said:

what sense?

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The sense where if you believe that something that is wrong is not wrong, or something that is right is not right, you are mistaken in your belief and not just holding a personal preference.

Always in His Presence said:

Quoting an article from the Vatican is not complaining. It is quoting an article.

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It's how you've framed it, and pressed the issue in this thread.

stevevw said:

All we know is actions. Kirk never killed anyone, he helped others, gave to charities, had what seems a good example of marriage and family, never took drugs, did not commit crime, paid his way, worked, had was a productive member of society and did not do anything illegal.

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Yes, we know his actions. Promoting public executions:

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How Christlike...

You say he didn't do anything illegal? Maybe he wasn't convicited or chagred of anything, but let's look at what he did do:

Kirk bragged about sending 80 buses of supporters to Washington just in time for the rally which devolved into the Jan 6 riot at the US Capitol.

Kirk was funded by a wealthy donor to send large numbers of people to this illegal event where 5 people died.

Did not do anything illegal that he was charged with would be more accurate.

His actions contributed to the loss of innocent life on January 6.

JimR-OCDS said:

I don't see anyone calling for a change in the Jewish calendar.

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The link I posted, "Rectified Hebrew Calendar" is doing just that.

Fantine said:

And currently the innocent have been targeted.

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That is for a court to decide.

His voice reveals, above all, the gratitude he feels toward his friend, Pope Leo XIV. From this friendship, forged over more than three decades, comes the Spanish-language book “From Robert to Leo,” published by Mensajero, in which Armando Lovera, originally from Iquitos, Peru, recounts various little-known episodes from the pontiff’s life, like the day many parishioners in Trujillo, Peru, thought that Father Robert Prevost had died.

“In reality, it was a young man, an aspiring Augustinian, who died in a bus accident while traveling to Lima for the new year,” Lovera explained in an interview with ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner.

The young man’s parents, who were from a rural area north of Trujillo, didn’t have the means to retrieve their son’s body and asked “Father Roberto” to bring it back to their village.

Continued below.

Dan1988 said:

Why don't you remove your blinders and look at the surrounding context of the verse before you make silly unbiblical assumptions.
John 6:44 states, "No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day"
This verse confirms the doctrine of irresistible grace, it emphasizes that God's drawing is not optional but an effectual work that draws the elect to Christ. This means that the Father chooses whom to draw, and those whom He draws will certainly come to Him and be raised on the last day.

This verse doesn't deal with the reprobates, who followed Jesus around to get a free feed of fishes and loaves.

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If you want to examine the context of how they’re actually drawn to Christ you need to include verse 45.

“No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day. It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught of God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father, comes to Me.”
‭‭John‬ ‭6‬:‭44‬-‭45‬ ‭NASB1995‬‬

Everyone who has heard and learned from The Father. This means everyone who believes the writings of the prophets in the Old Testament. Those are the people who are being drawn by The Father.

Dikaioumenoi said:

This is a statement about the syntax/grammar of the sentence, not the semantic core of ἑλκύω itself. That suggests you gave ChatGPT a prompt that didn't actually reflect the issue we're discussing. Out of curiosity, what exactly did you ask it?

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Normally I post your reply or part of your reply and ask ChatGPT if it is correct. Then "We" have a dialoge about it. I don't don't know exactly what I asked, can't find it, sorry!

Dikaioumenoi said:

The point ChatGPT is making in what you quoted is simply that a sentence like "He failed to perform an action" doesn't specify why he failed. But of course it doesn't. That is trivially true of verbs in general. That's not what we are disputing. We are discussing the meaning of ἑλκύω. Its semantic core denotes a decisive movement from one position to another, just as the English verb "lift" denotes a decisive raising of an object off the ground. The failure of the action does not redefine the verb. "Lift" does not mean "try to raise"; it means "to raise." Someone can attempt to lift and fail, but that does not alter the verb's meaning.

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Ok...

Dikaioumenoi said:

Similarly, if the Father attempts to ἑλκύω and fails, the failure is external to the verb itself. The verb still means "to haul/drag with decisive force." It is not inherently soft or conditional. Any context of failure is determined by circumstance, not the definition of ἑλκύω. Thus, the term should not be rendered "attract" or "woo" with the understanding of inherent resistibility.

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Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary​

"44. draw him ] It is the same word as is used 12:32; ‘will draw all men unto Me.’ The word does not necessarily imply force, still less irresistible force, but merely attraction of some kind, some inducement to come. Comp. ‘with loving-kindness have I drawn thee’ (Jeremiah 31:3 ), and Virgil’s trahit sua quemque voluptas ."

Dikaioumenoi said:

So your quotation does not contradict my statement that, in John 21:6 and John 6:44, any failure would be attributable to the subject's weakness (the agent performing the drawing), not the object's resistance.

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Dikaioumenoi said:

That was the point of my original argument, not a generic observation about how verbs work. If you try to attribute it to the object's resistance, you will have changed the meaning of the verb itself. ἑλκύω does not mean "to attempt to draw someone, who may resist"; rather, its meaning entails decisive movement, just as the English verb "lift" does. Whether or not it's successful is not a question of semantics.

The reason this matters (you are missing the forest for the trees) is that a reading of ἑλκύω in John 6:44 as inherently meaning "try to draw" leaves open the possibility that God might fail in enabling a person to come to Christ (not simply fail in bringing them to Christ), which undermines the logic of the text. In John 6:44, ἑλκύω modifies δύναται ("is able"), not ἐλθεῖν ("to come"). "No one can come to me unless the Father draws him" is a statement about inability. The Father's drawing is what effects the ability to come. If the drawing can fail, then the very possibility of salvation itself would not be guaranteed.

Imagine someone locked in a vault with no access to the combination. The act of unlocking the vault is what makes exit possible. Whether the person inside "resists" or not is irrelevant. They have no access to the lock; that's the point. If the unlocker fails, it is solely because of the unlocker's inability, not the person's resistance. Moreover, what that failure would mean is that it remains impossible for the person in the vault to ever escape. This is why this whole attempt to read a soft/conditional meaning into ἑλκύω hurts your case. It does not help it. If ἑλκύω does not entail a decisive movement from one position (inability) to another (ability), then there is no assurance that the very possibility of coming to Christ has actually been made a reality.

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You said in your post #64:

The word ἑλκύω explains decisive movement. Any failure of the act would be on the part of the subject's weakness, not the object's resistance.

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The underlined is what I have a problem with. You say failure would be on the part of the subjects weakness. This is a "why it fails", not a "who fails". To say it's because of the subjects weakness is interpretation not grammar.

ChatGPT:
"The word’s basic range is “to draw / pull / drag” (literal or figurative). Lexica and standard commentaries show it can mean either a forceful dragging (overcoming resistance) or a persuasive/attractive drawing; the verb by itself does not settle the theological claim that failure must be the subject’s weakness rather than the object’s resistance"

Jipsah said:

Just make sure you don't offer a sacrifice to an image of Caesar.

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Word!

That's the AOD anyway.

But the mark of the beast that everyone goes on about could be a historical moment in Rome's persecution - mixed in with a bit of metaphor.

Consider that the mark was a mark on the back of their hand and forehead.

The imperfect number 6 is repeated 3 times.

Doesn't this indicate the participants were replacing the Mishnah prayer with trusting in wealth and worshipping the power of the state?

In the very next chapter we see Christians with a white stone on their forehead! That's instead of the mark of the beast.

End times types love to insist their favourite scary bits are literal - and brush over the very next scenes that compare and contrast one image with another so that we know they're not literal but theological statements.

Unless we belong to the church of the white stone forehead, I'm going to guess that's a metaphor as well.

Carl Emerson said:

Jesus said he knew the Commandments.

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Satan knows the commandments too. The Bible is full of examples of men who "knew the commandments", but refused to keep them. Jesus said the Pharisees "said" they observed what Moses bid them to do, "but did not".

Was Jesus then lying about the mainstream preachers of His Time?

In fact, we have shown that intercessory prayer for the wellbeing of a loved one not only improves relationship outcomes but also the praying person’s myocardial functioning - oxygen use and blood receipt by the heart occurred without it having to work as hard compared to persons in meditation or no prayer conditions.

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Hail Mary,
Full of Grace,
The Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women,
and blessed is the fruit
of thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary,
Mother of God,
pray for us sinners now,
and at the hour of our death.
Amen

Hentenza said:

Your strawman continues. Bye

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Well, still sniping, I see.

The Catholic Parliamentary Office has reacted with concern to the rejection of a number of proposed safeguards to Scotland’s assisted suicide bill.

The Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill is currently at Stage 2 of the legislative process, meaning that the Scottish Parliament’s Health and Sport Committee are examining amendments to the proposal. The Scottish legislation is separate from that currently being debated in the House of Lords in Westminster.

Concerns have been raised at the speed of the process, which is currently set to examine all 287 proposed amendments in just three weeks, with just one session per week.

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Three leaders of an unregistered Christian house church in Xi’an city in central China have been arrested by communist authorities and detained on fraud charges, reigniting concerns over religious freedom in China.

Pastor Lian Xuliang, Pastor Lian Changnian and church member Fu Juan were taken into custody last Sunday by the First Branch of the Xi’an Municipal Public Security Bureau, according to the watchdog organization ChinaAid.

The arrests were approved by the Baqiao District Court, and the three are currently held at the Weiyang District Detention Center, the group added.

The arrests mark a repeat of legal action against the same individuals, who were previously detained on similar fraud charges on Aug. 17, 2022. They were held for nearly three years before being released on bail in April 2025.

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With Bible sales increasing and church pews filling up, many are asking whether a revival is happening in America. The short answer: yes and no. On one hand, the Gospel never stops — the power of the good news and the work of the Holy Spirit are active all over the world (Romans 1:16). On the other hand, when people talk about “revival” today, they often mean a big event where crowds respond all at once. That’s not really how Scripture describes revival.

In the Bible, revival usually starts inside individuals. The psalmist prayed, “Will You not revive us again, that Your people may rejoice in You?” (Psalm 85:6). Revival begins when the Spirit of God awakens the heart of a person who realizes their need for Him. Then it spreads — family to family, church to church, and community to community.

I spent most of my adult life as an undercover officer in Washington, D.C., and I often saw doctors and medics desperately try to revive someone after a shooting or a stabbing. I saw firsthand what it looks like to battle for life when it’s slipping away.

After retiring from law enforcement, I became a pastor and began witnessing restoration of a different kind, spiritual revival. That same heartbeat led my daughter and me to launch Boost Othersto help people in crisis through small, practical acts of care. Working alongside social workers, we fill gaps covering groceries, rent, or a child’s bed — and often, when people are open, we share the hope that brings lasting renewal.

In those moments, I see what true revival looks like: broken lives coming alive again, not just physically or emotionally, but spiritually. People begin to believe once more that God still notices them, still loves them, and still revives the brokenhearted.

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If wealthy tax deadbeats leave NYC to leach off the taxpayers of anither state, good riddance.
In 1980, Trump sued NY in order to get a 40 year property tax abatement---meant to encourage investment in distressed areas--for Trump Tower!
Do you know how many of our tax dollars were used to provide public services to tax deadbeat Trump's building?
But like other tax deadbeats, he moved, selling his trashy souvenirs and crypto online to his fans--and bilking Florida's taxpayers.