• Starting today August 7th, 2024, in order to post in the Married Couples, Courting Couples, or Singles forums, you will not be allowed to post if you have your Marital status designated as private. Announcements will be made in the respective forums as well but please note that if yours is currently listed as Private, you will need to submit a ticket in the Support Area to have yours changed.

  • 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.

Thousands of Christians rally in Delhi against ‘rising, sustained, systematic’ attacks

Around 2,000 Christians from across India gathered in New Delhi to protest rising, sustained and systematic violence against the religious minority community. Speakers at the gathering called attention to a 500% rise in reported violence since 2014, and largely with impunity.

Representing over 200 denominations, civil society groups and legal advocates, the Christians rallied under the banner of the National Christian Convention on Nov. 29, affirming their faith in the Indian Constitution, and calling for unity, justice and hope.

From 139 reported cases of violence against Christians in 2014, the number rose to 834 in 2024, with nearly 5,000 incidents documented over the past decade, according to the United Christian Forum, one of the organizers of the convention.

Continued below.
  • Prayers
Reactions: Tom8907

Nigerian authorities secure release of 100 kidnapped Catholic school children

One hundred children kidnapped from a Catholic boarding school in central Nigeria last month have been released by their captors and transported to the capital, authorities confirmed Sunday. The fate of more than 160 other students and staff members abducted in the same attack remains unknown.

The mass abduction occurred before dawn on Nov. 21, when armed men stormed St. Mary’s Catholic Primary and Secondary School in Papiri, Niger State, and seized 315 students and staff, most of them children aged between 9 and 14, at gunpoint.

On Sunday, Nigerian presidential spokesperson Sunday Dare confirmed 100 of the children had been freed, according to Agence France-Presse. They were flown to Abuja and were expected to be handed over to the Niger State government on Monday.

A United Nations source told AFP that arrangements were being made to transfer the children back to state officials. Reports did not specify whether the release was achieved through negotiation, ransom or military intervention, and no information was available on the condition or location of the remaining hostages.

Local church officials said they had not yet received formal notification from the federal government.

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Do you keep the Sabbath? (poll)

And when a change in the priesthood happens there are changes in the law.
Hebrews 7:12
For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the l

Yes, Bob. One of the most deceiving tactics used by deceivers, "Who come in Christ's name", is to quote some of God's Word to promote a philosophy or doctrine that would not stand if more of God's Word is considered. I have observed for many years, the promoters of this world's religions use "some" scripture, but omits the weightier parts because to include them would actually expose their religion as wrought in man, and not God. One of the more egregious examples of this evil tactic is concerning Hebrews 7:11. where the Spirit of Christ in the Hebrews author details for us the truth about the Old Priesthood covenant, and the New.

Heb. 7: 11 If therefore perfection were by the Levitical priesthood, (for under it the people received the law,) "what further need was there" that another priest should rise after the order of Melchisedec, and not be called "after the order of Aaron"?

In the Old Priesthood, a person received God's Laws and forgiveness of transgression of God's Laws through the Levitical Priesthood, that Abraham wasn't under because it wasn't ADDED until 430 years after him. But this was only a temporary Priesthood Covenant with corruptible Priests and animal sacrifices given them on Mt. Sinai that was Prophesied to change.

12 For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law.

The deceiver stops right here, and says, "See, we don't have to submit to God's Laws we don't like". Refusing to show others what is specifically spelled out in the very next 7 verses, which shows perfectly, in great detail, exactly what Law changed, out of necessity, and the reason why it was changed. This exact same evil tactic was used by the very first deceiver, "who professed to know God" in the beginning with Eve.

Gen. 3: 1 Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat "of every tree of the garden"?

And sure enough, when I go back and read God's Word for myself, I find:

Gen. 2: 16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden "thou mayest freely eat":

So the deceiver preaches, "By God's Own Words", "See. God Commanded the man to eat of "EVERY Tree" in the garden".

And a man can be deceived by this, unless they follow Jesus instruction and consider Every Word inspired by God.

You don't have to fall for this tactic Bob. Read what Law changed in the New Priesthood Covenant. Set yourself free from the deception promoted by the "course of this world".


Is that something new? That is what I was taught and as far as I know most of Christianity believes that, so where is the lie you say we are living under?

The "LIE" is the popular deceitful practice of quoting only "Some" of God's Word for the purpose of defending and promoting a falsehood. In this case, that a man can reject any Law of God they don't like, and live after the imagination of their own hearts, and they "Shall surely not die". The Spirit of the Christ, "of the Bible" warns us of this in Jeremiah 23.

16 Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Hearken not unto the words of the prophets that prophesy unto you: they make you vain: they speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the LORD.

17 They say still unto them that despise me, The LORD hath said, Ye shall have peace; and they say unto every one "that walketh after the imagination of his own heart", No evil shall come upon you.

The "old Priesthood Law" you are referring is was the Sinai Covenant.

To make this statement true, it should read "The "old Priesthood Law" you are referring is was the LAW that was ADDED "Because of Transgressions" on Sinai Covenant. And it is the Covenant that changed. As the Scriptures just laid out for you.

No, it was the Law that was the schoolmaster not some priesthood as you have implied. Be careful what you are trying to teach.

All men have sinned, and are in need of salvation. The Levitical Priesthood sacrifices for sin, was to lead men to the Prophesied Christ, without whom there is no forgiveness.

I will ask you another question and see if you will answer. Were Zacharias, Simeon and Anna, (Luke 1&2) led to Christ for their salvation before HE was even born? Was David not led to this same Christ?

This temporary Law was designed in the very beginning, to foreshadow Christ's saving Life (Blood), and put in place, "Till the Seed Should come".

You don't know this Bob, because you are taught by the religions of this world.


What does all you have written have to do with where we stand today?

You are promoting a philosophy that God, His Son Jesus, and the Apostles God gave to His Son, all promote a religion where men are free to just reject any of God's Laws they don't like, and as long as they offer to God the Blood of a perfect innocent being, as per God's Law even to this day, they are justified.

The Pharisees religion was exactly the same. They full well rejected God's Commandments that they might live by their own religious traditions. They rejected God's judgments and definition of Holy and Righteousness, and went about establishing their own. And yet every week they would offer the blood of an innocent life, as per the Law, to justify their sins. There is no flesh justified by "works of the Law".

Today we are under the New and Better Covenant Jesus ordained at Calvary, What the priesthood did or didn't do has nothing to do how we can come directly before Jesus and get remission for breaking His Law of Love, the command He gave all mankind to live by.

That sounds all churchy and all. But according to what is written, mankind's love and God's Love are two different things. Just as mankind's definition of Holy is different than God's definition of Holy. All I advocate for is submitting to God in search of HIS Righteousness, not submitting to this world's religions who have gone about establishing their own.

But none of this matter unless a man has a repentant, AKA, "Circumcised" heart.
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Making a Video Game

When I read the Bible, what I see is that none of the wars God waged had anything to do with the soldiers. ‘Not by valiant troops, nor by might, but in my spirit, says the Lord of hosts. Zechariah 4:6

In fact, God didn't even want them to think it was due to their mightiness that they won, because God was the one fighting for them. Then the LORD said to Gideon, “You have too many men for Me to deliver Midian into their hands, lest Israel glorify themselves over Me, saying, ‘My own hand has saved me.’ Judges 7:2

These righteous wars were either God's judgment on wicked people, or his delivering his people from their enemies... his enemies.

You remember that time when God chose 300 of the Israelites?

5f4eedb703e86c5c6b97726153b9f88b.jpeg



So, what wars are you fighting?

Like I said, Reformation era or the Sack of Constantinople (First Crusade/Calling of the Varangians) would be fun. Given the right historical sources.

Edit: the right historical sources:


That is a question I would ask myself if I were playing FPS games.
In fact, when I was playing a turn based strategy game, shooting and killing aliens, and my brother was playing a FPS, hearing the gunfire, the slashing of flesh, the screams and groan, caused me to ask myself, 'What's the difference between what he is playing, and what I am playing"'
The only difference was third person, as opposed to firs person.

I stopped playing. Why?
I asked myself two questions:
  1. How does God feel about these games, and would I feel comfortable if Jesus came to my house and saw me playing these games?

    I did not have to guess at the answer. It was right there in Psalm 11:5 The LORD examines both the righteous and the wicked. He hates those who love violence.

  2. Paul wrote at Romans 2:21-24 21 you, therefore, who teach someone else, do you not teach yourself? You who [a]preach that one is not to steal, do you steal? 22 You who say that one is not to commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who loathe idols, do you rob temples? 23 You who boast [b]in the Law, through your breaking the Law, do you dishonor God? 24 For “the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you,” just as it is written.

    So, how can I be witnessing to people about what the Bible tells us about God, and at the same time not doing what it says? That's hypocritical.
That did it for me. I did not try to rationalize playing the games.
I know it's hard letting go pf the things in Satan's world. After all, he is a skillful bird catcher, and knows what the bird will enjoy nibbling on.
However, as I was saying in the other thread, it's really commendable that persons really make the effort to gibe up things they cherish, just to please God.

You sure you don't want to make a game instead?
Adventure games are fun.

I’m probably sick, but Soldier of Fortune: Payback is my favourite game right now.

That being said, I think a medieval FPS game has a lot of potential for adventure, history and a lot more.
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AI understands the Sabbath and Col 2:16

You must be confusing me with someone else, I never said Chatgpt was the authority, God's Word is and always will be.

I never said you did. You have however posted the output of an AI as an appeal to authority, in this thread:



Indeed, you specifically made this argument, when I pointed out the problems of using AI in this manner:



Asking AI to enumerate denominations by sized based on subjective categories, including the category of “denomination” which is itself subjective, is exactly the kind of question I was trying to warn you about. And in this case, it generated an answer you disagree with, by classifying your denomination as non-Sola Scriptura when you clearly believe that it is Sola Scriptura. This is my point. AI is not an oracle that can be used.

If you want to make a point, cite books, articles and research papers, not the output of an AI. The AI can help you find those materials, but what it says is sufficiently random and hallucination-prone to make it the literal epitome of an unqualified authority in the Appeal to Authority fallacy.

Indeed I would argue asking AI a question and then relying on the answer without verification is only about 50% more reliable than attempting to use systems of divination, for example, the I Ching. Indeed AI could be used for purposes of divination, which is of course forbidden in Scripture.

And I say this as someone who professionally develops AI-based applications. AI is reliable for pattern matching - that’s it, and even then its output should be human-verified as a sanity check due to the risk of malfunctions such as hallucination, sycophancy, biased training data and non-deterministic replies.
Please stop trying to make me add words that I never said. I never said AI was the authority or even appealed to its authority, I said AI came up with what I have been studying from the Bible for years. I can post my own Bible study that I have personally studied on Col 2:14-17 before I even heard of AI that I posted on this site a long time ago. Never once did I say AI is the authority or spoke of its authority over the word of God. I have said the opposite on several occasions, which you seemed to conveniently not quote. So best not to add words to someone who never said them.

SabbathBlessings said:
Its clearly written in our Bible
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What the Confession Line Taught Me About Living the Faith

Confession lines reveal both our impatience and our devotion — and whether our faith runs so deep that even our faults take place within it.

You’d think Catholics would be on their best behavior waiting to go to confession, but they aren’t always. Our pastor missed confessions before the Mass one Wednesday night and stayed to hear confessions afterwards.

Someone was already in the confessional when I arrived. I was second in line, up the center aisle, nearest the door for anonymous confessions. The door for face-to-face confessions was next to the outside aisle.

I’m Next​

The line was much longer than usual, a benefit of the priest changing the schedule. As soon as a woman came out of the anonymous door, another woman dodged into the face-to-face door from the outside aisle. Another was standing there as if in line. The woman in front of me said to her, peevishly, “I’m next.”

The woman said, pugnaciously, “We always go back and forth,” waving her arm between our line and hers. I had gone to confession there many times at that point, 50 or more over about 15 years, on Wednesday nights and Saturday mornings, and never, ever, never had there been a second line along the outside aisle. People lined up in the center aisle and then chose the door they wanted. The woman was inventing a custom that got her a few people ahead.

Continued below.

There’s a Giant Flaw in Human History

We don't know. But certainly its possible. Even todays science acknowledges this.
This thread started with your claim that our "standard" view of human history was flawed because it missed the earlier development of "civilization" (fixed settlements, basically). One branch of evidence brought up fairly early was ancient stone working technology particularly as demonstrated by pre-dynastic Egyptian hard stone vase. These topics are entirely supported or not based on physical evidence behind. Even the related claims of "lost advanced technology" (whether it be stone softening or CNC-like machining) are based on *physical* methods that we either didn't know the ancients had or even we don't have. Again, these are physical technologies, whether we are talking about lathes or anti-gravity lift machines. They are not related to mystical experiences or the like. As such ancient spirituality is *not* relevant to these discussions. There are people who study ancient religion, spirituality, etc., but that is a different topic than what technologies the ancients had. That is why it is not on topic here. Every thread can't be about every thing.
Mind over matter is a real science. But more importantly it is theorised as a real possibility.


Well your wrong on this occassion.

All I know is he selected one example and ignored the rest. Thats not dealing with the evidence. Qoute mining over one bit of my evidence is not dealing with the evidence.
No, 'mind over matter' is motivational speaker pablum and not scientific.
Yes and ideas like consciousness beyond brain and other phenomena can be studied scientifically. I gave you scientific articles on how Information. Knowledge, the Mind or Consciousness are claimed to be fundemental.
I know how desperately you want to overthrow "scientific materialism" and the operational paradigm of science (methodological naturalism), but this just isn't the place. Discussions of the fundamental nature of reality are not on topic for a thread on ancient human civilization. Even if we accepted that claim what would it get you? That we have souls? I don't see how that changes early civilization or stone working technology.
I am saying that the ancients knowledge comes from this aspect of reality through direct experiences with nature and reality.
I would posit that I have at least as much direct experience with nature (and far more knowledge of reality) than even the common folk of Egypt. We must remember the fundamental reality of ancient Egypt (pre-dynastic, 4th dynasty, etc.): It was an urban civilization with extensive agriculture. The whole of the civilization was a bunch of cities and farms squeezed along the Nile River by the vast extents of inhospitable desert. The rulers, priests, stone artisans, and pyramid architects were city dwellers. That is no different that what I grew up in -- surrounded by farms with the occasional bit of woods and nearby cities. If anything I have *more* and more varied access to nature than the typical Egyptian. As for experience with reality, I've seen the rings of Saturn and the organelles of paramecia with my own eyes and no Egyptian (or any ancient person) knew they even existed.

I would check again. We are trying to determine alternative knowledge. Is this not related to science at all. Do behavioural sciences count.
What even is "alternative knowledge". Most of the times I see that phrase it is from people who just don't want to deal with reality. I'm going to give you grace and assume that you are talking about these more speculative theories that your favorite YT channels propose (about ancient megalith builders, advanced machining of vases, etc.) are ONLY going to be demonstrated with actual physical evidence, not any of these mind/behavior things.
The point is if this was a non science topic then how could we ever established alternative knowledge compared to methodlogical naturalism. First we can use some specific examples with the science. The science of observation shows us that the signatures don't match the orthodoxy.
You're not going to get away with rejecting methodological naturalism in the *physical science* section. If that's what you mean by "alternative knowledge" then you are on the wrong sub-forum.
The same science tells us the forensics of those marks. This then gives evidence that some other knowledge and tech was used. The science even tells us the possible method or what it took to make the mark. The science shows us that melting or softening stone takes a particular knowledge. It verified that the stone was melted and softened.

Science is all over this topic.
It certainly is, but the things you just wrote are a literal rejection of science.
I don;t want a thread on simulation theory. I used the example to show that there are even ideas within science that propose alternative realities and knowledge.
Good because simulation theory is dumb and not part of science. It is the kind of nonsense whipped up by rich tech bros while high.
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How to Respond When Someone Says, ‘I’m Spiritual, Not Religious’

An excerpt from ‘Family Faith Under Fire’ by Dr. Ray Guarendi

This selection appears courtesy of EWTN Publishing. The full book is available here.



Dear Dr. Ray,

My sister has little to do anymore with the Catholic Faith, in which we were both raised. When the subject comes up, she says, “I’m spiritual, not religious.” What do I say?

—The Religious Sister




Some declarations spread because they soothe the human psyche on many levels.

  • They sound smart. The words alone seem to offer both a pithy and a profound insight.
  • They sound superior. They profess a “more genuine, enlightened” way to be.
  • They sound self-evident, beyond dispute. They need no scrutiny as to how much sense they truly make.
At their core, such declarations are platitudes — superficial but with little substance. They are verbal viruses that multiply rapidly through the cultural body because they suit the self.

People in counseling often introduce themselves with traits. “I’m a passive person.” “My spouse is aggressive.” “My child is stubborn.” To move therapy forward, I must put specifics to the generic. “What exactly do you mean by ‘passive’? Give me some day-to-day examples.” “What, in particular, makes you think your child is stubborn?” In other words, I pursue the what, where, and how of the descriptions. Only then can I get a better picture of the why.

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Restored to Health and Singing Again: Catholic Cantor Shares Her Recovery Story on EWTN

Lauren Moore — whose beautiful voice accompanied the National Eucharistic Congress and who was struck with a debilitating syndrome in early 2025 — now graces the stage once again.

“I now sing from a new place of hope.” ~ Lauren Moore
“He wants our hearts more than he wants to use us.” ~ David Moore

Back in April, after being struck with the debilitating condition of Guillain-Barré syndrome, which had left her partly immobilized and with intense nerve pain, Lauren Moore prayed for an Easter miracle: simply to attend Mass in person and receive Jesus without assistance.

Seven months later, on Nov. 4, in her home city of Dallas, Lauren walked gracefully onto the stage of the Meyerson Symphony Center, decked out in a glittering, rose-colored evening gown, her beautiful voice, once threatened, golden and soaring once again.

Lauren, who, with her husband David had helped lead thousands of Catholics in song as a cantor during the National Eucharistic Revival (NEC) in Indianapolis in 2024, had reached a height of her singing career that summer, only to be taken out by the condition just months later, following a bout of flu, as reported in the Register last spring.

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Spend Time With Mary This Advent

Her intense and joyful waiting for her Son to enter the world is a model for all...

We cannot celebrate the birth of Jesus at Christmas without Mary. Nor can we observe Advent without the Blessed Mother.

“Among creatures, no one knows Christ better than Mary; no one can introduce us to a profound knowledge of his mystery better than his Mother,” wrote St. John Paul II in his apostolic letter Rosarium Virginis Mariae (The Most Holy Rosary).

During Advent, then, as we get ready to welcome Jesus at Christmas, we also must joyfully take the time to celebrate and prepare with the Blessed Virgin Mary. Her intense and joyful waiting for her Son to enter the world is a model for all who want the fullness of Christ’s presence in their lives, as reflected in a quote often attributed to St. Teresa of Calcutta, “No Mary, no Jesus.”

These Advent days are marked by Marian devotion.

The Directory of Popular Piety notes that, during Advent and Christmas, the liturgy frequently celebrates the Blessed Mother, and popular piety devotes many pious practices to her.

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Bishop Conley’s Cure For Cultural Amnesia: Get Lost in the World of Literature

Great Books and the Humanities Prompt Us to ‘Look Up’ With Wonder

Editors Note: This story is part of literary special content. Find related stories here.



I was led to the Catholic Church during my undergraduate years, when I was a student in the famed Integrated Humanities Program at the University of Kansas (KU). The program was a four-semester “Great Books” program for freshmen and sophomores and flourished during the 1970s and 1980s.

It was somewhat modeled after the “Great Books” programs at St. John’s University in Annapolis, Maryland, and the University of Chicago in the 1950s and 1960s. But it was different in that it was an “integrated” program where the students not only read the classics of Western civilization, from Homer’s Odyssey to Francis Parkman’s The Oregon Trail, but also memorized poetry, wrote calligraphy, went stargazing and learned to waltz.

It was an attempt to get the students to “look up” and gaze at the world with fresh eyes; to try and see truth, goodness and beauty in all things.

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Leading Mariologists Publish Scathing Critique of Vatican Note on Mary’s Titles

In a lengthy response, the International Marian Association Theological Commission highlights what it sees as significant errors and omissions in the Vatican’s controversial doctrinal note Mater Populi Fidelis.

One of the Catholic Church’s foremost associations of Mariologists has issued a strongly critical response to Mater Populi Fidelis, a recently published Vatican doctrinal note that has been criticized for its diminution of some long-established devotional Marian titles.

In a 23-page document published Dec. 8, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, the International Marian Association Theological Commission (IMATC) points to various elements of Mater Populi Fidelis (The Mother Of the Faithful People of God) which it calls erroneous, “unfortunate,” and says are in need of “substantial clarification and modification.”

They describe a significant element of the document as resembling Protestant rather than Catholic theology and urge, “in a spirit of true synodal dialogue,” for Mater Populi Fidelis to be re-evaluated.

Published on Nov. 4 by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, Mater Populi Fidelisteaches that Mary’s unique cooperation in salvation must always be understood as entirely dependent on, and subordinate to, Christ’s one mediation and universal redemptive sacrifice, rejecting any formulations that would blur this asymmetry.

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Struggling with feeling God’s presence

God is a guide and shepherd, so the biggest instances I have of the holy spirit is through God's guidance. I make sure that God and I are on good terms, that I'm being an obedient daughter, ask him if there's anything I need to do/change or if I'm reading scripture, ask for understanding. It's through those moments that the holy spirit speaks. I can give you examples, but honestly I think it's better that God teaches/directs you himself. Since the Father and the Son both have an intimate relationship with their children, God is perfectly equipped to showing you how to hear his voice and discern what is from him and what is not. But my advice is to just go to God and ask him for direction. We are servants of the King and that posture and understanding helps when it comes to whatever topic or road God wants you and him to walk down.
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You heard of the popemobile, now meet the papal lawn mower

The Vatican’s gardeners have a new tool for maintaining the papal grounds: a custom-designed electric lawn mower bearing the Holy See’s coat of arms.

Pope Leo XIV received the white Electra 2.0 mower during a general audience in mid-November, a gift from Czech manufacturer Swardman.

The specially commissioned model features leather-lined handles and was hand-assembled at the company’s facility in Šardice, Czech Republic. “It was an incredibly powerful experience full of humility and respect,” Jakub Dvořák, the company’s sales manager who personally presented the gift, told CNA. “The pontiff appreciated the Vatican’s coat of arms placed on the appliance, listened with interest as we explained how it functions, and thanked us very politely.”

The quiet, precision-cutting mower is destined for use in the Vatican Gardens or possibly at the papal summer residence in Castel Gandolfo, according to a press release from the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which facilitated the presentation.

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Fátima visionary Sister Lucia’s doctor shares moving conversion story

“I was her doctor for her body, but she was my spiritual doctor,” said Dr. Branca Pereira Acevedo while describing her relationship with Sister Lucia dos Santos,one of the visionaries of Our Lady of Fátima, whom she cared for during the last 15 years of Sister Lucia’s life.

Lucia — the only one of the three shepherd children still alive at the time — moved in 1925 to the Spanish city of Tui in Pontevedra province, where she lived for more than a decade before returning to Portugal and professing her vows as a Carmelite nun in 1949. In this city in northwestern Spain, the visionary received “a new visit from heaven” with apparitions of the Virgin Mary and the child Jesus.

Dec. 10 marks the centenary of these apparitions, an occasion for which the Holy See has granted a jubilee year in the place where they occurred, the “House of the Immaculate Heart of Mary,” in reference to the devotion that the little shepherdess of Fátima promoted until the end of her days.

Continued below.

I hold a view similar to the Open View of God.

Mark Quayle said:
Well, yes, I can, if 'free will' goes by the adjective, "uncaused". Nothing happens uncaused, except God. Everything that is —except God— is so because it was caused to become so.

I agree it is opinion, as is everything philosophy and science uses for proof. It assumes that God is the only uncaused thing. But if you can show me how there is anything else uncaused, be my guest.

Second, as a believer in Scripture, it is my assumption that Scripture is true. And as Scriptures present an omniscient God, then he knows everything. Likewise, good reasoning shows God as the uncaused causer, the 'first cause', and, as I assume, to say that there can be more than one first cause is to contradict the meaning of "first cause".

I am not disputing that within our reality, God is the cause of everything. What I am saying is that if God caused all, then having omniscience automatically precludes true choice for anything that is caused, human or otherwise. My choice is an illusion. God created me a certain way, in an environment unique to me, knowing how I would respond and every choice that I would ever make. Therefore, with that logic, Adam and Eve had no choice but to sin; the serpent had no choice but to deceive, and man had no choice but to (for the most part) reject God, because of how they were created, how they were taught, and their life experiences.

I'm sorry. I don't follow. "...implies otherwise."? You provided scripture that implies that you do NOT believe that God is not omniscient? Or are you saying that @FutureAndAHope (and you) provided scripture that demonstrates that God is not omniscient? If I remember @FutureAndAHope right, he would take issue with the notion that God is not omniscient.

As for what you ask me to do, (and I could make your point better than you do—God even 'repents of' what he did, and 'changes his mind' about what he was going to do, according to the translations. He also says that 'it never entered my mind that they should do that'.) Several logical rules apply to hermeneutics and produce good exegesis. To take verses out of context, for example, is not a good hermeneutic. And to assume that a modern day reading of the English is all that is necessary for understanding a statement in scripture, is not exegesis. All Scripture agrees with itself. Therefore, the 'whole counsel of God' is to be brought to bear when drawing meaning and doctrine from a verse. If the Bible says, "God is not a man....that he should change his mind." and in another place, "God changed his mind", there is

The "impossible to lie" quote was a hyperbole to show how the raw meaning of the word itself (omnipotence or omniscience) is technically an oxymoron.

As far as translated scriptures go, certain things obviously need to be interpreted, otherwise raw readings look like contradictions.

Genesis 6:6,7 & 1 Samuel 15:11,35 - God regrets his own actions. But in the same chapter in Samuel (1 Samuel 15:29) which you quoted, God is not a man that he should have regret. (ESV) or that he should repent (KJV) or change his mind (NIV). So obviously there is some kind of interpretation or translation issue. But the fact remains that God anointed three different individuals to be king over Israel, and only one remained faithful. (Saul & David through Samuel, and Jeroboam through Ahijah) Not a great record if you are omniscient or know ahead of time what your chosen appointees will do. In fact, Jeroboam almost immediately rebelled and not a single king of Israel from that point were faithful. (except partially Jehu)

I'm not suggesting that God doesn't know or see or have some kind of supernatural ability to see the future. I just don't follow the logic that God doesn't have a choice to decide what to foresee, in order to prevent his creation from being a mere simulation.

Mark Quayle said:
So that they are without excuse. And so that we would know that they had no excuse.

On the contrary. If God caused that I sin, it is by use of my [willed] choices. We know that it is logically self-contradictory to say that God can sin, (because God does nothing against himself, and sin is against God.) Likewise, Scripture says that God tempts nobody. So sin comes, just as James says, from our lusts. Follow that line of causation all the way back. There is God. He does not tempt, and he does not sin. We do. Satan does. Our lusts do. And the whole of creation was caused by God to exist. You can't escape that, except by ignoring it, or by claiming that God is less than omnipotent.

If God caused everything and knows everything, then I have no will, period. If it is self-contradictory to say that God can sin (which I agree with), then he can't possibly have pre-conceived that Adam and Eve and the serpent and Satan would sin, because then, as you say, God would be sinning against himself through Adam and Eve, and is furthermore responsible for everything Satan would do.

If your existence is caused, your choices are caused. Your choices are your own, and are caused.

This sentence is self-contradictory. Your choices are not your own if they are caused by someone else.

You have a will. A robot does not. Your will is to do according to your inclinations. You will always choose to do what you most want to do at that instant of choosing. Why do you have that inclination? Why do you want to choose what you choose? These things don't happen in a vacuum. You could not have chosen anything if you had not woken up to see the options. What caused you to wake up? How do you have any thoughts? Are these things entirely spontaneous? No, they are causes of effects and they in turn are effects of earlier causes. Your options are not illusions, but it will only ever be possible to choose what you end up choosing. And you don't know which one that is until you choose. Can you demonstrate that all options on the table are possible to choose? It is human to see them that way, but in the end, only the one is ever chosen, as history consistently demonstrates. And the whole scenario is God's. It doesn't happen by itself, but is established by God, in whom we live and breath and have our existence.

You are missing the point. Whatever reason I may have to choose what I have chosen to do is caused by God, as you say, whether that is by influencing my brain waves now, or by just allowing it to develop through history from some initial quantum wave of creation. The sticking point is whether at the point of creation God already knew that I would exist and what I would do thousands or billions of years later. (Depending on whether you are a young earth or old earth creationist) And omniscience means God did know, and therefore my choices are not mine after all.

You attempt to show a logical self-contradiction with your syllogism built on the premise "God cannot create a creature with free choice". The premise is faulty—the statement is bogus. It is not that God cannot do it, but that the whole notion is logically self-contradictory. Would you say that the statement, "God cannot create a rock too big for him to pick up." is a valid statement? It is utter foolishness. Why would God even consider such a thing? He would not. It is not even a thing, but oxymoronic self-contradiction.

But I didn't say that or believe that. You don't maybe see it that way, but that is your position. I believe that God can create a creature with free choice, that we all have free choice, and God wants us to have free choice. (the word choice here being synonymous with will) I also believe that despite our free choice, prophecies can still exist, because despite what we do in our lives, it will not affect prophecy or God's will, so peering into our choices is not relevant. And if our actions did or was going to affect God's will, then God would intervene as he did in so many parts of the Bible.

Furthermore, God taking an initiative to help a single individual in distress who prays for help will also not generally affect prophecy. So individually God can guide us, and on a macro scale he can fulfill his prophecies without contradiction.
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Canadian bishops ask prime minister to keep religious-text protection in hate-speech law

The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) and Toronto’s Cardinal Francis Leo are urging Prime Minister Mark Carney to withdraw the Liberal Party’s reported agreement with the Bloc Québécois to remove religious-belief exemptions from Canada’s hate-speech laws.

In a letter published Dec. 4, CCCB President Bishop Pierre Goudreault of Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pocatière warned that repealing Section 319(3)(b) of the criminal code — which protects good-faith expressions or opinions based on religious texts from hate-speech prosecution — would have a “chilling effect on religious expression.”

“The removal of this provision risks creating uncertainty for faith communities, clergy, educators, and others who may fear that the expression of traditional moral or doctrinal teachings could be misinterpreted as hate speech and could subject the speaker to proceedings that threaten imprisonment of up to two years,” Goudreault wrote.

The CCCB urged the government to retain the religious-text defense.

Continued below.

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