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Dikaioumenoi · 2025-11-14T08:53:43-0600

The Liturgist said:
Perhaps, my friend, you and I, with our knowledge of Patristics and the history of the early church and our shared sacramental, Trinitarian, iconographic and anti-Nestorian Christianity, and our veneration of the Theotokos, could find something interesting to talk about, if not on this subject, which seems to be a boring attempt to prove Calvinism from the scriptural text, which is impossible (I can’t completely disprove monergism or prove synergism, which is why I am patient with our Lutheran friends although I disagree with them on this issue because of the Fifth Ecumenical Synod and many NT texts), then on a related subject.

I, too, take great delight in weaving sprawling, breathless, period-defying sentences that wander amiably through thoughts and sub-thoughts like an overcaffeinated scribe in a dimly lit library, endlessly stacking clause upon clause in a kind of grammatical Jenga that no one requested yet everyone must now behold with polite astonishment.

I'm only having a bit of fun, not taking a jab at you. Crafting that sentence took me far more time this morning than I'm willing to admit publicly, so please don't be hard on me.

Consider it my small tribute to the noble art of the marathon clause.

I am curious, though: Why do you think proving (or disproving) "Calvinism from the scriptural text" is impossible? Are you claiming the position is unfalsifiable, or that Scripture itself is insufficiently clear on the matter? Since the little bit of back-and-forth I've had with fhansen on John 6:44 has produced little engagement with my actual argument, I'd be interested to hear how you approach the text.

lucypevensie · 2025-11-14T08:53:24-0600

So no, you didn’t understand?

iluvatar5150 · 2025-11-14T08:50:22-0600

Landon Caeli said:
I don't know what kind of good you think you're doing, diminishing Christianity down to the level of Islam.

I don't know what kind of good you think you're doing propagating a fantasy that denies the realities of what @JosephZ posted. Do you think his claims are inaccurate or do you just not like them?

durangodawood · 2025-11-14T08:49:30-0600

This DoJ nosedive will be consequential for victims of serious crimes, I think. In a bad way.

Fervent · 2025-11-14T08:36:56-0600

Bradskii said:
Here's a suggestion for you. Keep your petty personal comments about any given poster's character to yourself. I don't appreciate it and I know others don't.

Pointing out a lack of integrity/character is not an "ad hominem" unless it is presented as an argument. it's just an observation about having a lack of principles.

2PhiloVoid · 2025-11-14T08:29:41-0600

Jermayn said:
Looking to get a little more insight from multiple people from multiple backgrounds on this. Thank you in advance to anyone who responds.

-When you first became a Christian, what did you expect life in the church to be like?

-What were your hopes or assumptions about how things would go?

-What was your first experience with the church community?

-Did those expectations match reality, or were there surprises?

-How do you feel now about your place in the church?

At the age of 17 and being naive about my new found Christian faith as it was at that time, I remember expecting folks to be a little kinder, a little more willing to have a mutual conversation with another person, and a little more intelligent. From day one of walking into a more 'rural style' Southern Baptist Church during my first year of faith, I didn't find more kindness or mutuality or intelligence. But I stayed there for a year or so because one of my best friends was a member of that church and he served as a connection that I had nowhere else in my life.

Fortunately, 6 months into my new found faith, I read one of C.S. Lewis' books and he made a point that shaped my view about other Christians going forward: that it's really too much for me to expect to walk into any church and find a perfect group of people to worship with since no one is perfect and their foibles (or sins) don't necessarily prove that their faith is somehow a joke.

Ever since then, I've tried to keep my bar of expectation fairly low............................... and being existential in my Christian faith helps me to assume that people are human beings who often face vast personal struggles in life first, and that they are Christian in their human attempts to deal with those struggles, second.

essentialsaltes · 2025-11-14T08:25:27-0600

rjs330 said:
Its not at all up to a judge to determine if a person is in violation of immigration law.

That was not at issue. What was at issue was whether 615 people who were not subject to mandatory detention were actually subject to mandatory detention. They aren't, by definition. And whether others, who pose no safety risk, were eligible for bond. They are.

Richard T · 2025-11-14T08:16:05-0600

I do not characterize Trump's handling of the economy like Biden. The Big Beautiful Bill and tariffs set them apart. The article and critics are right though that there is an inflation problem. Eliminating illegals in industries like meatpacking and home building will hurt too. It is hard for me to think of a single thing that Trump has done that significantly impacts the economy n a positive way. Perhaps the tax break for some seniors or the elimination of taxes on tips? Even reducing taxes on overtime is likely a negative. Why? Because companies can reduce hiring of new workers and use overtime more. So no real gains except for those workers.

lucypevensie · 2025-11-14T08:01:10-0600

Some of us require exercise.

EFSEE

seeking.IAM · 2025-11-14T07:43:00-0600

Such a stately building with average attendance of two dozen? Alleged assault in April. Police investigation in September? Diocese notified then? I have lots of questions. Oh my. Forgive me.

Anonymous9090 · 2025-11-14T07:21:49-0600

Pray that Hindu Nationalist politicians, & their allies who had a landslide victory in the region of Bihar, India show Christians favor:

Bihar election: Modi's NDA alliance heads for decisive win in key Indian state election

The polls in November saw a 66.91% turnout - Bihar state’s highest since its first election in 1951.

www.bbc.com

calicocat · 2025-11-14T07:17:26-0600

HIM said:
Why would you least suspect this person? Perversion knows no bounds.

Twenty years on the internet,- including trans social media, a decade more obsessively studying history, and the ability to identify patterns.

"Perversion knows no bounds."

Indeed it doesn't and people seldom just have one paraphilia (which is why there's overlap between the furry, gay and pedophile communities bad enough for people who are all three to have their own monicker

diaperfurs

.)

Apple Sky · 2025-11-14T06:55:57-0600

I only read non-fiction but I do watch funny videos. ^_^

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Richard T · 2025-11-14T06:49:25-0600

Servus said:
Surely Bannon knows that Trump can pardon him and others from future prosecution for past crimes, the way Joe Biden did for his son Hunte

The Barbarian said:

"As God is my witness, if we lose the midterms and we lose 2028, some in this room are going to prison, myself included. They're not going to stop."

‘Some in This Room Are Going to Prison – Myself Included’: Bannon Predicts Grim Fate for Himself If Democrats Win Upcoming Elections

Steve Bannon told a hall full of conservatives that if Democrats win the 2026 midterm elections and the presidency in 2028, some of them will go to prison, including him.

www.yahoo.com

The last time, he defrauded Trump's followers, but Trump pardoned him. No pardons this time. And now he's facing the reality.

Click to expand...

There is a theme I am sensing. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Both sides have legitimate and political prosecutions. We are seeing both. It will flip back to the GOP being prosecuted. It seems like it is God's plan to rid government of corruption. We might go back and forth until the voters can learn to pick leaders of good character that are not self-serving.
The GOP will lose because the economy is failing and Trump's policies have hurt major groups of voters such as SNAP and Obama recipients, federal employees, farmers and ranchers, and everyone who hurts from tariffs. Not too mention certain immigrant groups. 2000 rebates or other vote buying will not be enough. I have said before: Why did God never target Obama or Biden with all the unfortunate stuff? Because God judges the church and not nations is my answer I settled on. Many in the church entered politics and compromised their mission and character. We failed because humility always comes before restoration and renewal. No one represents the love of money more than Trump and many Christians have bought into that. Can you see change coming? It will better.

The Barbarian · 2025-11-14T06:41:59-0600

David Lamb said:
There are baptist churches, but no such thing as the Baptist Church. I have never come across a baptist church that is only interested in getting people saved. That's important, but once saved, it is important that the church members care for one another.

Most Baptists I know are pretty good Christians, and personal experience is that they do follow Jesus' teachings.

rocknanchor · 2025-11-14T06:34:26-0600

What a trajectory of error it is to turn one’s back on the Holy Spirit’s choice of words for each of us “not to think more highly of himself than he ought”(Rom 12:3). Not only for the flock of God to heed, but OS who take part to exceed DO.

For that is all that is required is to take part in the dismantling spiritual communion, AKA: dreadful quench of the Holy Spirit. Making it easy to sow the needed discord to garner more and more disciples. Spirit of Christ, recover in ourselves to forgive thoughts that has done this.

Just as the Apostle said following such actions, “when you come together, it is not the Lord’s Supper you eat”. Behold what ease of calamity we grant from you guessed it, from error-strapped OS.

How oft-comes the rebuttal; ‘the gates, the gates of hell are nowhere in overcoming sight!’ Oblivious, neither is the awareness, neither is the sensitivity to hear when it slams against a spiritually dull eardrum.

Revelation’s harlot, Babylon, does corrupt all, including the regular churched to welcome error when care is not upheld, to which God tells his own to reward her double to all she has rewarded you. DH (Double Honor) and DD (Double Dishonor).

Richard T · 2025-11-14T06:25:30-0600

Anonymous9090 said:
Pray that Jesus Christ leads Christian pastor, priests, & all people in Christian ministries to Denounce the use of AI technology as a significant other, therapist, shrink, etc.:

https://www.economist.com/science-and-technology/2025/11/11/the-promise-and-the-perils-of-using-ai-for-therapy

Yes, denounce as needed by all Christians in leadership and by other faiths as well for any evil, sinful or misguided purpose. I pray too that for most ai will not be a stumbling block but rather a blessing when used in good practice.

JimR-OCDS · 2025-11-14T06:16:02-0600

Fr Leo on the issue;

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Larniavc · 2025-11-14T06:11:58-0600

7thKeeper said:
Hundreds of Korean workers detained in Georgia to file lawsuit against ICE - The Korea Times

Hundreds of Korean engineers who were arrested and detained during an immigration raid at a Hyundai-LG Energy Solution battery plant in Georgia in...

www.koreatimes.co.kr

The article doesn't say where they are filing the lawsuit, but I'd assume South Korea? Will have to see if other articles clarify this.

Another example of big business being the driver of the ‘immigration’ problem.

Larniavc · 2025-11-14T06:06:02-0600

Valletta said:
While the BBC sincerely regrets the manner in which the video clip was edited, we strongly disagree there is a basis for a defamation claim,

Yeah that makes sense. I can’t see any harm done. Trump fans would never have been taken in by something as simple as being told something that was clearly untrue on the tele.

Jane Chai · 2025-11-14T06:02:40-0600

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

Today I experienced a very difficult moment at work. I was scolded by my boss, and it has left me feeling deeply sad and overwhelmed—I have been crying much of the day. Despite this, I want to continue to forgive, to love, and to maintain a peaceful and positive heart in my workplace.

Please pray for me that God would:

Heal my heart from the sadness and hurt I am feeling.

Help me forgive fully and not hold resentment.

Strengthen me to show love and patience to my boss and colleagues.

Give me peace and joy as I continue to work faithfully in this environment.

Guide me in humility and grace in every interaction at work.

I truly want to honor God through my attitude and actions, even in difficult circumstances. Your prayers and encouragement mean a lot to me.

Thank you and God bless.

Richard T · 2025-11-14T05:44:11-0600

The government always picks some people to be winners and losers. Fortunately, for most of us we are generally only helped or hurt in small er ways. Still those small ways can add up. In general Trump is seen as not doing much to help the lower classes. He is the one that took the SNAP fulfillment to the Supreme court to deny their allocations. Trump too extended the tax cuts to the rich while imposing tariffs on all Americans. Trump has helped some workers though in the USA. but that help has some high costs. I have seen former studies about how much it has cost to the U.S. government to save an auto industry job. Sometimes the findings are a million plus. Yes, that as a policy in the past, America jobs were protected for over a million each. So that is not an economy that helps all. The reality is that most politicians only want to help those that help them. So you have to find true public servants, not rented politicians with their own self interests.

Consider the case of VP Pence. He did a decent job but was cast aside because he followed the constitution and rightly certified the election. Too many Americans are low information voters and deluded in the policy prescriptions of extremists in both parties. Of course I hope this changes.

In my years involved in politics, there are some public servants out there. Most elected ones never get promoted because no one wants to back someone that can not be bought and money runs U.S. politics. I do think though that we will see many charlatans exposed. Praise God that he likes justice and dislikes oppression.

chevyontheriver · 2025-11-14T05:31:40-0600

Michie said:
The Vatican bank has rehired a married couple fired last year for breaking the financial institution’s internal regulations forbidding workplace marriages.

The Institute for the Works of Religion (IOR) — which manages financial assets entrusted to it by the Holy See, the Vatican City State, and Catholic institutions globally — rehired the couple in a negotiated settlement following the couple’s filing of a wrongful termination lawsuit in January, a union for Vatican lay employees announced Wednesday.

Silvia Carlucci and Domenico Fabiani married on Aug. 31, 2024. The IOR fired the couple a month later, on Oct. 2, citing a rule introduced by the financial institution in September 2024 that explicitly forbids the employment of spouses or other close family members.

The Association of Lay Employees of the Vatican (ADLV) celebrated the outcome of the case — the couple was dubbed by the Italian media as the “Romeo and Juliet of the Vatican” for defying a rule they considered unjust and outdated — as a victory for justice and good sense.

Continued below.

Vatican bank reinstates couple fired for violating married employees rule

The Institute for the Works of Religion (IOR) rehired the couple in a negotiated settlement over a wrongful termination lawsuit filed in January.

www.catholicnewsagency.com

So they married in August, the rule came into effect in September, and they were fired in October. And it took a year for them to get their jobs back. Wow. The Vatican financial institutions are a morass of corruption and they want to reform by firing people who want to be above board sexually by actually getting married? I want cardinal Pell back.

Normandt · 2025-11-14T05:21:37-0600

Homily Saturday, November 15 2025

32nd OT

Ws 18:14-16; 19:6-9

"Out of the Red Sea an unimpeded road. (…) They ranged about like horses, and leapt like lambs."

Joy in God's Love helps us move forward, free and confident.

Lk 18:1-8

Jesus says: "Will God be slow to answer them?"

God doesn't make anyone wait. But why do people wait and want proof that God is present?

Let us teach people that we are in the present moment. We are not in yesterday or tomorrow. God is present in the present, and we too are in this moment, now.

This is the simplest way to encounter God.

Let us often meditate on the simple, childlike joy within us.

God's Love is infinite to this joy within us. Let us allow Him to open our hearts to His joy, to His Love, and let us encounter Him, now, within ourselves.

Biblical texts: NAB-RE

Normand Thomas.

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