Jeff Saunders said:

Your assumption is different than mine, you assume that man's will can thwart Gods will, you are lifting man above God, you think that a man has ability to outlast God.

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If it were matter of power, then all you're saying is that God will overturn the will of those who reject Him by force. So what happened to God allowing free will, if in the end He's not going to allow free will?

Paulwat said:

I have to respectfully disagree with your comment. A lot of people enjoy My Little Pony (MLP) because of its strong storytelling, character development, positive messages, and inclusive community. The show promotes values like kindness, friendship, and acceptance, which resonate with people of all ages—not just kids. There's also a lot of creativity in the fanbase, from art and music to conventions and games. I love the show and the fandom.

As for the autism comment, I want to point out that it's not only incorrect but also incredibly disrespectful. Suggesting that liking a show like MLP is somehow tied to a negative stereotype about autism is harmful and perpetuates stigma. People with autism, like anyone else, have a wide range of interests and should never be reduced to a punchline. We should all aim to speak more respectfully and inclusively. Austistic people are clever and there are lots of smart celebrities with it.

Everyone’s allowed their opinion, but let’s keep the conversation kind and thoughtful.

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The merits or demerits of the show aren't relevant to the origin of the community. And simply mentioning that there appears to be a special kinship between bronies and ASD is not "negative stereotype(s) about autism" anymore than mentioning that Sonic is popular with individuals with ASD is or any other fandom that tends to attract a disproportionate amount of interest. Any negativity was on your end, I was simply stating what I have observed.

....now that the border is "secure"......isn't it time for the GOP to get this done?

That increased support for pathways to citizenship largely comes from Republicans, about 6 in 10 of whom now support that, up from 46% last year.

trophy33 said:

I do not know what you mean by "Christian" in quotes. I am not here to judge. Many churches have quite a lot of freedom regarding individual congregations. Two different congregations in the same denomination/church can have different opinions about the Bible.

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A diversity of opinions exist about the meaning and exact definition of what inspiration means. But, as I said in my last post, Inspiration is a given; where diversity exists is exactly what we mean by Inspiration.

A rejection of inspiration itself is something that should be worrying, and need correcting, and addressed through good spiritual formation.

-CryptoLutheran

Gallup poll
The poll also shows some interesting shifts in favor of immigration in general.

79%, say immigration is “a good thing” for the country today, an increase from 64% a year ago and a high point in the nearly 25-year trend.
Almost 9 in 10 U.S. adults, 85%, favor a pathway to citizenship for immigrants who were brought to the U.S. illegally as children, and nearly as many say they favor a path to citizenship for all immigrants in the country illegally as long as they meet certain requirements.

That increased support for pathways to citizenship largely comes from Republicans, about 6 in 10 of whom now support that, up from 46% last year.

trophy33 said:

That Jesus is Christ.

Regarding the Bible, as Fervent said, there are plenty of views about it in Christianity. Some churches neither affirm nor reject its inspiration and leave it to everybody's individual belief.

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I'd be uncomfortable permitting a "The Bible isn't inspired at all" to be described as a Christian belief.

Views on inspiration are many and different traditions have different ways of talking about the Divine Inspiration of Scripture--but inspiration is a given. A rejection of Divine Inspiration itself would be a deeply troubling, and to put it bluntly, un-Christian perspective.

Christians can argue, debate, and discuss what we mean by Inspiration, but Inspiration itself is very much a core Christian belief about the Bible. Without Inspiration the Bible ceases to be Sacred Scripture. And if the Bible is only a collection of un-inspired writings, then it is no different than any other work of human authorship.

It's functionally no different than a view which would say that Jesus was a good moral teacher, but not the Messiah, Lord, Son of God, and Crucified and Risen Savior. There's nothing Christian in that view.

Individual Christians can (and often do) have un-Christian views. But we should regard this as a problem that needs addressed through discipleship, catechesis, and the ministerial work of the Church; we shouldn't regard this as just another valid opinion among a sea of valid opinions.

-CryptoLutheran

FutureAndAHope said:

They believed a balanced gospel, that the cross offers us forgiveness of sins, but how we act in response to that determines our salvation. Although I am not a believer in salvation by deeds (neither were they), I do feel some of the modern interpretations of grace neglect the fact that as a Christian we should have deeds; and whether we persist in them determines our outcome.

Rom 2:6-8 who "WILL RENDER TO EACH ONE ACCORDING TO HIS DEEDS": eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality; but to those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness—indignation and wrath,

There is a general direction we take, either attempting to live God's way, or living for the flesh. These both have an end destination, one good, one bad.

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Interesting in speaking about Eternal Life salvation (the gospel), you only mention the cross (nothing about belief in Jesus), but the cross saves no one.

You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.

JohnB445 said:

Now when it comes to salvation, or any other topic what can all Christians agree on?

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The necessity of grace.

Pepperoncini

BelieveItOarKnot said:

Your position of God obviously needs excuses

A Superior God is in no need of excuses IF He is able to overcome all things, which obviously would be the case

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A God who directly wills and causes every vicious, selfish lie, every rape and torture of a child, every act of genocide, every act of duplicitousness, etc, etc, etc is not a trustworthy god, not worth following even if he’s the only game in town. Heaven should be no better than hell with such a god anyway. He'd only be superior in power, not in goodness or love,

A God who sovereignly deems it good that freedom be given to His creation even if it means that His will is allowed to be opposed for a time, until all things are consumated, needs no excuses made for Him. He knows the end from the beginning.

I believe, God choose those who were willing, so yes we can't come to God by ourselves, but neither God sends people to hell by some kind of fate. He doesn't want his humans to perish, and he is light and mercy, idk if this has a theology name.

[Adding Buenos Aires to our places to retire list]

“There were few places to rent and those available were very expensive,” said Oliver. After rent control was scrapped, she quickly found a studio apartment for about $200 a month. “I found something really nice. And I got a good price,” she said.

Brightfame52 said:

Which he cannot do because Jesus for His Sheep has destroyed the works of the devil 1 Jn 3 8

He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.

So if one Christ died for, dies in their sins and unbelief, the devil was victorious over Jesus, because the devil prevents from believing and being saved Lk 8 12

12 Those by the way side are they that hear; then cometh the devil, and taketh away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved.

2 Cor 4:3-4

3 But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost:

4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.

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Yes, I agree.

ICE arrests at L.A. courthouse met with alarm: ‘Absolutely blindsided’​

Adriana Bernal, 37, was detained after appearing in the Airport Courthouse on La Cienega Boulevard [FWIW, I've done jury duty there] late Tuesday morning, said Jennifer Cheng, public information officer for the L.A. County alternate public defender’s office.

“Our client walked out of the courtroom and was followed by these individuals. Once our client was outside the building, these individuals (who were not in any uniform), handcuffed her, put her into a dark colored SUV and drove away,” Cheng said in an email to The Times. “We were absolutely blindsided by what happened. These purported ICE agents detained our client without notice or explanation. We received no advance communication, no opportunity to advise our client, and no information.”

When ICE engaged in similar behavior across California, Oregon, New Mexico and Colorado in 2017, during President Trump’s first term in office, prosecutors in some states reported having to drop cases because undocumented immigrants would no longer serve as witnesses.

L.A. County Dist. Atty. Nathan Hochman said his office had no advance notice of ICE’s actions and would not notify federal officials about the immigration status of anyone they are prosecuting. “As a general proposition, I don’t want anyone deported until I’ve got them sentenced. And if their sentence is jail or state prison, I want them to serve their sentence,” he said in an interview.

The California Supreme Court previously rebuked the federal government during Trump’s last presidency for “stalking courthouses” and using the justice system as “bait,” in effect punishing undocumented people for showing up to court.

ICE officials have previously said arrests at courthouses were necessary to keep agents safe from dangerous criminals, who must pass through metal detectors and are presumably unarmed. [Bernal and her also-detained codefendant are charged with retail theft.]

Akita Suggagaki said:

And finally all the worst deceptions which are caused by the devil, and the evils that he brings to the soul, enter by way of knowledge and reflections of the memory, Thus if the memory enter into darkness with respect to them all, and be annihilated in its oblivion to them, it shuts the door altogether upon this evil which proceeds from the devil, and frees itself from all these things, which is a great blessing. For the devil has no power over the soul unless it be through the operations of its faculties, principally by means of knowledge, whereupon depend almost all the other operations of the other faculties. Wherefore, if the memory be annihilated with respect to them, the devil can do naught; for he finds no foothold, and without a foothold he is powerless.

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It is also clear that the prayer and path St John talks about is very different from something like Zen.: The greater context of a personal loving God.

tdidymas said:

The Luther quote you cited was him talking about Christians, not unbelievers.

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Correct.

tdidymas said:

And how do you define "holy" that excludes God's wrathful justice on sinners? It appears to me that you have some obsession with the exclusion of God's anger, as if you think if God is angry at sinners, then He is angry at you, because you're a sinner, and you further think that to appease God's anger you must "get your duckies in a row." That sounds like your thinking is legalistic by nature, as if you don't think of your relationship with God as friendly, as if you can't see God's grace in that relationship.

But for certain, since the Bible says, "he who does not believe will not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him." So from this we see that believers have a grace relationship with God, and therefore God is friendly toward all who believe; but unbelievers are unregenerate and have no interest in obeying Christ, and the wrath of God remains toward them. What distinguishes those whom God loves from those whom God is wrathful toward is whether or not they believe the gospel (and in so doing have repented of their sins).

So then, when I quote the Bible saying that God is angry toward sinners, do you think you are included in that?

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My problem isn't with God's wrath. My problem is with a conception of God's wrath that presents a faulty view of God.

You and I are sinners. The fact that we are Christians doesn't change the fact that we are sinners--dirty, rotten, scoundrel sinners. The Old Man remains in us until the day this old mortal flesh expires. That is why the Christian must live penitently, in repentance. That means that insofar as we are sinners the Law speaks against us--and rightly so. So that the Law can, in its preaching, mortify my flesh and drag my knees to the ground in repentance, to grieve over my sin. But the beauty of the Gospel is that the condemnation of the Law does not destroy me. Through faith I behold God in Christ who forgives me all my sin and who is gracious beyond measure, and that I can freely come before and confess my sins, and know I am forgiven, and that grace super-abounds above and beyond all my abounding sin. Not that "if grace super abounds I may go on sinning"; but that if I am Christ's then I belong to God, and if I belong to God then I should no longer be captive to sin and the passions of my flesh--but when I am weak (and I am weak) and where I fail (and I do fail), I can always hope, trust, and be at peace in the Lord who gives me peace and comfort, saying I belong to Him.

So no, my relationship isn't built on legalism, but grace. But I do not ignore the dread truth of the Law and its just condemnation.

For the Law that condemns my unbelieving neighbor condemns me all the same--for sin is sin. The difference isn't in the Law or in the sin; but faith--for faith beholds God in Christ, trusting boldly in God's promises, and therefore beholds not a God obscured by the dread terror of the Law but beholds the God made incarnate in the living, breathing, suffering Jesus Christ.

And the love of God which He has for you and me who have faith is the same love with which He loves the whole world of sinners; for He who became flesh of the Virgin and embraced the shame and pain of the Cross did so for you and me, and He did so for all sinners.

Thus to present wrath and love as though God's wrath applies only to "those people" and God's love only applies to "me and my own" is a radical missing of the mark. It ignores the seriousness of the Law in its condemnation, which is meant to drive you and me as sinners to our knees in humble grief and contrition over our sins; and it ignores the full scope and beauty of the Gospel which is that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, so that whoever trusts in Him shall not perish but have life eternal.

Wrath is not an emotion God feels toward "the bad people over there". Wrath is when I behold God in the depth of my sin--in my sin, gazing through the condemnation of the Law, I can't see the God who loves me--who loves me in Christ and gives Himself to me in Christ--I see condemnation and death. Because I justly deserve condemnation and death in my sin.

Love, however, God is love. God's love is not an emotion He feels toward those special people; but it is the universal truth of who God is toward Himself and all creation. For God loved before the foundation of all creation, and in that love He made all things, in that love He has caused all creatures to exist, including you and me. And it is that love that He, from beginning to end, intends to bring all things into its perfect conclusion in Christ. God loves the unregenerate sinner no less than He loves you and me. He loves the most contemptable sinner, the sinner who will never believe, just the same as He loves you and me--for that is God's love, without partiality, but full and perfect in Christ, who gave Himself for all upon the cross.

-CryptoLutheran

essentialsaltes said:

Sounds like the past 50 years of the pro-life GOP.

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“That hurricane wouldn’t have come if it hadn’t been for all those gays.”

BeyondET said:

Can't see the heart while looking away.
Gen 6;5
And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

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The point is that God is inherently opposed to evil, sin, not the creator or author of it. Besdies, I didn't write Habakkuk 1 or all the verses that maintain that God hates evil/wickedness.

If the Kerr County residents didn't want federal money, they should have stepped up and provided the funding (taxes) to implement what other responsbile neighboring counties chose to do:

Install a flood monitoring warning system.

They knew it needed to be done....and didn't get it done.

Jeff Saunders said:

Your assumption is different than mine, you assume that man's will can thwart Gods will, you are lifting man above God, you think that a man has ability to outlast God.

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Did God want Adam to disobey when he commanded him not to? It's not a matter of man thwarting; it's a matter of God allowing, for a time, until all who will...come under His reign.

Say it aint so said:

Why Kerr County balked on a new flood warning system​

​

Kerr County did not opt for (American Rescue Plan Act) ARPA to fund flood warning systems despite commissioners discussing such projects nearly two dozen times since 2016. In fact, a survey sent to residents about ARPA spending showed that 42% of the 180 responses wanted to reject the $10 million bonus altogether, largely on political grounds.​

​

“I’m here to ask this court today to send this money back to the Biden administration, which I consider to be the most criminal treasonous communist government ever to hold the White House,” one resident told commissioners in April 2022, fearing strings were attached to the money.​

​

“We don't want to be bought by the federal government, thank you very much,” another resident told commissioners. “We'd like the federal government to stay out of Kerr County and their money.”​

​

Even Kelly, the Kerr County judge remarked that this “old law partner” – U.S. Sen. John Cornyn – had told him that if the county did not spend the money it would go back to blue states.​

​

The hatred for anything brought to you by Dems is intolerable, and well, what's that quote from Forrest Gump's Mom?

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Sad example of how toxic political rehetoric at the national level impacts local governance.

The ball is now in the President's court: Will he restore BRAC funding - funding that is provided for rural communities to prepare for more floods and other natural disasters?