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  • CF has always been a site that welcomes people from different backgrounds and beliefs to participate in discussion and even debate. That is the nature of its ministry. In view of recent events emotions are running very high. We need to remind people of some basic principles in debating on this site. We need to be civil when we express differences in opinion. No personal attacks. Avoid you, your statements. Don't characterize an entire political party with comparisons to Fascism or Communism or other extreme movements that committed atrocities. CF is not the place for broad brush or blanket statements about groups and political parties. Put the broad brushes and blankets away when you come to CF, better yet, put them in the incinerator. Debate had no place for them. We need to remember that people that commit acts of violence represent themselves or a small extreme faction.

Nightmare caregiving situation/death issue

My dad tried to evangelize her multiple times over the years with no luck. You can pray for witnessing opportunities for me and my brother if you want. I think we share the belief that people have inherent value, regardless of their behavior, and so if we are given opportunities, we will take them.

On the other hand, if she goes to hell, it's precisely what she deserves and I'm not going to have any regrets. :p
God gives faith to every person He intends to save. We love others and desire their salvation, but God alone gives faith. True Christians are Christlike.:

EPHESIANS 4:32!
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U.S. Bishops Issue a “Special Message” on Immigration from Plenary Assembly in Baltimore

“We recognize that nations have a responsibility to regulate their borders and establish a just and orderly immigration system for the sake of the common good. Without such processes, immigrants face the risk of trafficking and other forms of exploitation. Safe and legal pathways serve as an antidote to such risks.”
Sounds good to me!
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Ecumenical expert: ‘No theological reasons to celebrate Easter on different dates’

You seem to have missed the part about how, under my proposal, no one would be forced to adopt the Gregorian paschalion.

Adjusting our Lunar tables would just create another schism. I wish this wasn’t the case, but that’s the reality of the situation. Any change would either cause a schism, interfere with EO/OO reunion, or cause more Orthodox to join the toxic schismatic Old Calendarists (who are opposed to the calendar largely due to their opposition to ecumenism, which they believe is a “pan-heresy” based on a remark made by a primate of ROCOR in the late 1980s, when ROCOR was canonically isolated due to communism.
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The healing effects of stories

......Enzo, driven purely by animal instinct, lunged at the plate and devoured the food without hesitation. His animal nature left no room for doubt or deliberation. On the other hand, Fred resisted, guided by caution.

The food was drugged. To Fred’s horror, Enzo collapsed—now the food hawker took off his mask.

Who was the 'thief in disguise' in Ruggero's life?
It might not be what you think.
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Lords supper, does it have to be bread and wine?

It needs to be done correctly or not at all. It is a portrayal of Christ's sacrifice....

anything with leaven in it portrays sin and Christ had no sin. ... etc.

It has it's basis in the Passover Meal.

The first-century congregation of Corinth did not understand the significance of the Passover. They observed it “in an unworthy manner,” not “discerning the Lord’s body” (1 Corinthians 11:27-29); they did not comprehend its real meaning.

The Passover Bread and Wine: The Meaning of the Passover Symbols
And VINES GREEK. DICTIONARY G371. says that UNWORTLY MANNER means that they were treating IT

as a COMMON. MEAL !!

dan p
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Do the Ten Commandments still apply under the new covenant today?

And Romans 6:14 says For sin will NOT. //. OU. is a DISJUNCATIVE PARTICLE NEGATIVE and means that sin will. NEVER ,

EVER. RULE. for. you are. NOT. //. OU is a DISJUNATIVE PARTICLE. NEGATIVE for we are not. under the LAW , but

under GRACE !!

AND neither under the NEW COVENANT. and you say that you are , give a VERSE. PLEASE. !!

dan p
Isaiah 42:6 “I am the Lord, I have called you in righteousness,
I have taken you by the hand and kept you;
I have given you as a covenant to the people,
a light to the nations, RSVCE

Jesus is both the High Priest and the sacrifice.
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what are you feeling right now? (24)

There is a rule in life. Not just Christian life or even religious life, but just a general rule.
If you hang on to things you should not have, they will eventually hang on to you. Disengage yourself from them. Make a clean break.
I used to believe that we should "be ourselves and genuine with God." But God expects us to change. We can change if we want to. We can renew our minds and crucify our flesh. We can forsake the world. It is only hard because we have such a tight hold on the things of this world. Or perhaps they have a tight hold on us. Either way... Put on the new man. It is not the man we are... not yet. But we can be free. I still struggle with some things. But not as much as I once did. But I know my righteousness is tied up with him, not myself. He helps.
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National Parks to raise fees by $100 for international tourists to popular U.S. parks

...so what happes if I take a non-resident into one of the parks in my vehicle? Are NPS staff going to check if every occupant of a vehicle is a U.S. resident? Imagine the additional time and entrance backups that will incur...
They'd likely never know...

Per vehicle park admission fees typically just go by the license plate
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What purpose do dreams serve in modern day?

I am absolutely convinced that God still uses dreams to talk to us. We know that God has used dreams to communicate in the past: Genesis 37:5-11, Genesis 40:8, Daniel 2:19-22, Joel 2:28, Matthew 1:20, etc;.

But it seems to me that dreams are often dismissed as purely random or a mere recollection of daily events. I have never heard the topic of dreams discussed at any of the churches I have went to. I have not seen any discussion about dreams on Christian youtube channels either, really. Why is this? Has anyone had a profoundly "coincidental" dream before that ended up coming true? How does one gain Joseph's skill of dream interpretation?

DOGE NEWS

I'm pretty sure he is referring to Social Security as being the pyramid scheme (although I don't think bag holding is involved, even metaphorically).
SS is just one aspect of how the next generation gets left holding the bag. There are many predictions of when SS funds will soon run out, for working people who are still paying into it; but that is just the tip of the iceberg.

The bottom line is that fiat currency enables a government to spent more money than the people would willingly allow to be collected in taxes.

TLDR?

The government is spending too much.

Don't care?

More bread and circuses!
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What happened in the past has an effect on us today, all because Sin is in the world.

Matt. 22:40. He nailed ALL of the law to the cross. You are not addressing my post but merely trying to talk over me.

”We” did not read the definition of sin. First, where in Rom. 3:20 does it teach that Paul is referring to the sacrificial laws? The deeds of the law is doing the ”works” of the law whether is sacrifices, ceremonial, etc. So no one will ever be justified by the works of the law. Paul makes this super plain in the next chapter when he explains that Abraham was not justified by his works but by his faith. The sacrificial laws never removed sin nor did it give a way to repentance. Now, why do you think Paul states that now there is no condemnation to those in Christ in Rom. 8:1?

I’m going to post a response that I just posted to another poster in another thread that made a similar argument.


Several passages of Scripture clearly establish that the coming of Christ has brought an end to the Mosaic Law.

Romans 10:4, “Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.”

Christ fulfilled the Ten Commandments by living a perfect and sinless life and so when man trusts in Christ as his Savior, Christ’s righteousness is imputed to that individual so we have justification (Romans 4) resulting in the fact that the Law can’t condemn us (Romans 4:4-8; 5:1, 7:1-6, 8:1).

Christ fulfilled the ceremonial ordinances, the shadows and types of His person and work, by dying on the cross for us and in our place.

Christ also fulfilled the Social Law, but now He replaces it with a new way of life fitting to our new salvation.

The believer now is under God’s new law, the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:2-4).

Therefore, the doctrine of justification by means of faith in Jesus Christ upholds the Law for three reasons:

(1) Jesus Christ’s death on the Cross satisfied the demands of God’s Law that required that human sin be judged (Romans 3:26).

(2) Jesus Christ’s death on the Cross establishes the Law by fulfilling the purpose of the Law in driving men to Jesus Christ as their Savior (Galatians 3:24).

(3) Jesus Christ’s death on the Cross establishes the Law by providing believers the capacity to obey the Law through the ministry of the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:3-4).

This is why I have stated in the past that the Holy Spirit gives us the knowledge of sin and the way to repentance since the law is not able to. This is why there is no longer condemnation for those in Christ (Rom. 8:1).

At some point you should begin to question your biblical interpretation when it puts Jesus and the epistles in tension with what you are arguing. It’s about hermeneutics not about verse mining.

My light bulb is on.

Why do you think Paul would make such a statement? You post the verse but make no exegesis or commentary. I bet that I have a difference understanding of this verse.
If you are following all of the writing of Paul, then you will find out that you are following Jesus, and if you are truly following Jesus then you are following the law of God. Paul says in (Rom. 7:7,12) (v.7) What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, THOU SHALT NOT COVET.

Paul asked a question, is the law sin? He said God forbid, he said the only way that he knew what sin was, was by the law.

(v.12) Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good. Why in the world would a Christian want to do away with something that God said is holy.

Paul says in (Rom. 4:15) Because the law worketh wrath: for where no law is, there is no transgression. If there is no law there is no sin.

People we must realize everybody has laws by which we must operate by, the governments have laws, your job have laws, your card games have laws, even the boy scouts have laws. But now you are going to try and convince yourselves that the creator of the world has no laws by which we must live.

Also Paul says in (Rom. 5:13) (For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law. If there is no law, there is no sin! When the bible speaks of laws we no longer have to keep, it is speaking of the animal sacrificial laws and Priesthood laws. These animal sacrificial laws were a school master pointing us to the fact that Jesus would be sacrificed for our sins. Since Jesus died we are no longer under a school master, (required to offer up bulls and goats for our sins).

Now we must believe (have faith) Jesus died for us (Hebrews 10:4,9-10) 4 For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. 9 then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second. 10 By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

This doesn't mean we don't have to obey God's moral laws of conduct. That would be like a man getting paroled from prison and then ignoring the same laws that sent him to prison in the first place. Jesus only died once, so if we willingly break God's law, after accepting Jesus, our reward will be eternal damnation (Hebrews 10:26-27) 26 For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, 27 but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. 11 And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: 12 but this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; 13 from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. 14 For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.

The point that is not understood is that we all have sin, but until Jesus came, there was no way of getting out from under your sins. So God institute a Priesthood and laws that went with the priesthood to control the sinning, and so the Lord use animal Sacrificial laws, even though it could not remove sins.

When Jesus died on the cross that was the end of the first covenant, which consisted of the blood of animals and the keeping of God’s commandments. And his death also brought in the second covenant, which consist of the blood of Jesus and the keeping of God’s commandments.

Let us avoid this at all costs, seeking a better reward. Jesus will return real soon And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be. (Revelation 22:12).
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The goal of Christianity in 'Not' to stop sinning!

The goal of Christianity is to know God. This is something you could spend ten lifetimes in pursuit of and still have barely scratched the surface of everything there is to know about God.

It amazes me the amount of wasted time and energy people put towards this goal of sinning less and ultimately, not sinning at all. Does anyone read the bible for what it actually says, or does everyone read it for what they've been told it says?

If I was to ask you; do you identify as your sinful nature, or do you identify as the good you want to do but struggle with a sinful nature, which would best describe you? Most likely it will be the later of the two. You are the good you want to do but struggle with a sinful nature. Which would align you with what Paul talked about in Rom 7:14-20.
Now say by the power of grey skull, I snap my fingers and suddenly you no longer have a sinful nature. Will you continue to do the evil you do not want to do, or will you only do the good you so desire to do? Obviously, the good you desire to do is all that you are going to do.
Okay then, in your pursuit to stop sinning, what is it you are trying so hard to improve on? The good you already desire to do, or the sinful nature?

The good you desire to do clearly needs no improvement since it already desires to do good. The sinful nature, on the other hand, cannot be improved on. Scripture is vividly clear on this. If it could be improved on, then Paul would not have wrote what he wrote in Rom 7, and the Gospel wouldn't have been necessary.

Before you try and tell me Paul is speaking of before he was saved... this is the real world, not some fantasy. At what point, before you were saved, did you ever struggle between doing the good that God desires you to do and doing evil? The truth is you didn't. You simply did whatever felt good to you in the moment.

Before salvation we are spiritually dead, separated from God. Without spiritual life, there is no desire to do the will of God. Without spiritual life, the desires of the flesh are what rules us. We have no desire, what so ever, to do the will of God. After receiving new life (spiritual life), that is when we are suddenly presented with a dilemma. To now do the will of God.
This new dilemma is the very struggle Paul talks about. And the reason Paul talks about it is to make it clear to his readers that the very idea that we can stop sinning is ridiculous. He states very clearly that sin resides in the flesh. Unless you live in the fantasy world I mentioned earlier, until the day you die, you will remain in the flesh. The flesh is corrupt as a result of sin. And until our corrupted flesh is destroyed, and we are given new non corrupted bodies, this struggle will remain.

The time and energy put towards the goal of sinning less and ultimately not sinning at all, is misplaced, misleading, and ultimately leads us back into the bondage of sin. That time and energy should be put towards getting to know more of God. The logic is simple, if you are doing what you are supposed to be doing, you wont be doing what you aren't to be doing. The more of God you know, the more of God is revealed through you, and naturally, the less you will sin. No effort, no fuss, no worries.
Be careful taking Paul in Romans 7 as being in the present tense and not the present historic tense. He was probably 12 when he learned about coveting. There are lots of excellent reasons why this battle description Paul was having would be written to the Romans in the present historic tense. Romans 8 is the solution.

Let me ask you: Have you ever been around a group of mostly new Christians, who if they show the slightest weakness including lusting, not doing what Christ would do and even think what Christ would not think, in every situation risked being seen by some very sneaky fellows who will tell some really bad guys you are not fully committed and those really bad guys will come and beat you maybe to death, to try and make you their slaves.

I can give you my personal story of God seeing to my humiliation, for I thought I was a Spiritual giant in the Kingdom, had done about every good thing you could and knew it all.



My single one-day awakening happened this way:

For many years, I experienced and believed Christianity had no real down side. It was a happy, easy and rewarding life, everyone should jump in. It was a fun easy life for me and I had a great resume and wanted to add prison Bible teaching.

I use to teach “we (Christians) all sin lots of times especially lusting and cannot keep from it, but we are constantly being washed by the blood of Christ, so we are without sin in that case.” That was before I met a group of Christians that risked death for themselves and others by sinning, just any sign of not doing what Christ would be doing in that moment could result in being beaten to death. Here is what happened:

I got thrown into (volunteered to substitute teach) with the youth (13-21 age) prisoners program teaching Bible (one hour on Sunday morning to a group of 14 with three other Christians teaching groups of 14) and I was teaching three groups of “Christians”. The first group were guys (“going to school”, it is called), they start out causing trouble and getting thrown in the tank. Then they start increasingly attending the Bible services, carrying their Bible, being nice, eventually being baptized and saying they are Christian. By the time the parole board meets, they have this glowing report showing continued improvement tied to their increased spirituality and are released. These guys still carry weapons, are members of a gang, and every prisoner knows they just “went to school” to get out. The second group were converted before they went to prison (granny conversions), but on their first day they are seen watching raunchy TV, hanging with a loss group, laughing at off colored jokes, they were not always talking about Jesus and were not trying to convert others. On their first day in prison the snitches see this, the snitches talk to the Bulls who then approach these “Christians” saying: “you are not a Christian” (doing everything Christ would do) and make them a slave (often sexual) or at best a gang member. They still come to Bible study on Sunday, so they can tell Granny (who visits them Sunday afternoon) what they learned, but they are slaves (sometimes sexually) to some bull. The third group is fanatical, they stick close to each other, they: study, pray, witness to everyone, and avoid even a hint of insincerity that the snitches could see. They carry no weapons, but step between those that are being beaten especially persecuted. This group had grown over the last 3 years from just a couple of guys to now 42, but it came at a high price. Each convert had on the day he was baptized, given up the protection of his gang membership, turned over his weapons along with all his possessions (the gang owns everything including them), they were beaten if not by the gang they left, then by other gangs looking for payback and then they were watched constantly looking for any sign the snitches might interpret as weakness (anything less than what Christ would do in the situation, would result in a beating and it could lead to death). There is absolutely no privacy and these Christians never wanted to be found alone. They slept in barracks where at least one stayed awake all night praying over the others, so they could sleep without the fear of being smashed in the head in the middle of the night. These guys believed and counted on power from the Holy Spirit, I did not know existed. They come battered and bruised each week hungry for some real meaningful Christ like lesson that goes beyond their group study of 40+hours that week on the same subject, which I could not provide. They mostly helped me with my poor example of Christianity and lack of knowledge and lack of wisdom. They mentored me even though they were only Christian for a few months, but I was a poor disciple and could not keep up with them. I don’t know if I could go through what they went through.

I had many hard nights praying and crying over those young men. I Loved them and empathetically to some degree suffered with them.

They really did not talk about “not sinning”, but what better things they could be doing each and every minute of the day and night. If they did sin, even with their thoughts, they confessed immediately to everyone (all around so the snitches could hear it also), asking for help, prays and ideas on doing better, yet this was not a daily action for everyone.

It is not so much not wanting to sin, but wanting to be a Christ like Christian (witness). This was not done to please the guards because the guards did not like them witnessing to them and the fact others might beat on them caused the guards added work to break up the beatings.

Maybe we do not see the Spirit working in us because we quench Him or are not in situations of really needing Him. Severe persecution brings out the Spirit in those who have the Spirit.

One example of what I learned from them was: “You do not even try to keep from sinning (be on the defensive), but try to be involved in the next minute, in doing something really good (constantly on the offensive) then the Holy Spirit can be involved with you and you keep doing good stuff all day and night and pick it up the next day”. You just do not have time to be involved in any sinning.

At my first time teaching, a non-Christian at the end of my shameful lesson asked me a question I could not answer and a young new convert jumped in and answered for me but first said: “Don’t bother him, he is a newbie” (yet I had been a Christian for 10 years and he had been a Christian less than a few months, yet he was right and I was the babe.)
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The Trump Crypto Scam

If you read to the end, you'll see how Trump pardoned a crypto scammer who was making Trump money:
If you read to the end, you'll see how Trump pardoned a crypto scammer whose company is accused of 'knowingly' financing Hamas in the lead up to the October 7th attacks.

Binance Accused of ‘Knowingly’ Enabling Oct. 7 Terror Attacks in Explosive Lawsuit

Cryptocurrency giant Binance and its Trump-pardoned co-founder Changpeng Zhao are accused of “knowingly” helping to channel “more than $1 billion” to Hamas and other U.S.-designated terror groups in the years leading up to the October 7 attacks in a new explosive lawsuit filed on behalf of victims’ families.

The 284-page filing, submitted in federal court in North Dakota, claims the world’s largest crypto exchange “deliberately” failed “to monitor inbound funds” tied to Hamas, Hezbollah, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Zhao is among those named in the lawsuit, alongside associate Guangying Chen.
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Federal judges block Texas from using its new US House map in the 2026 midterms

DOJ Tries To Undo Damage of Its ‘Ham-Fisted’ Letter in Texas Gerrymander Case

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) filed an amicus brief Monday supporting Texas’ gerrymandered congressional map, boldly claiming that the much-maligned letter it sent urging state leaders to redistrict was not, in fact, the reason why Texas redrew its map immediately after receiving the letter.

The DOJ letter – which instructed Texas to redraw specific congressional districts because of their racial makeup, and threatened swift legal action if it did not comply – played a major role in the majority opinion. The judges concludedit was key evidence of racial gerrymandering.

Now, in its new brief, the DOJ has attempted to argue the court misinterpreted the letter and claimed the state did not redistrict because of it.

The DOJ’s new argument could come as a surprise to Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows (R), who explicitly said upon the map’s passage: “The Texas House today delivered legislation to redistrict certain congressional districts to address concerns raised by the Department of Justice.”
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