ESV, 1 John 5:

13 I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.

Click to expand...

John addressed the brothers in the church. He was going to contrast life and death to close this letter.

14 This is the confidence we have in approaching God:

Click to expand...

πρὸς (pros)
Preposition
Strong's 4314: To, towards, with. A strengthened form of pro; a preposition of direction; forward to, i.e. Toward.

This is the confidence we have toward God:

that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.

Click to expand...

Ask and it will be given to you (Matt 7:7a).

16 If you see any brother or sister commit a sin that does not lead to death,

Click to expand...

The word "lead" was not in the Greek.

committing
ἁμαρτάνοντα (hamartanonta)
Verb - Present Participle Active - Accusative Masculine Singular
Strong's 264: Perhaps from a and the base of meros; properly, to miss the mark, i.e. to err, especially to sin.

a sin
ἁμαρτίαν (hamartian)
Noun - Accusative Feminine Singular
Strong's 266: From hamartano; a sin.

leading to
πρὸς (pros)
Preposition
Strong's 4314: To, towards, with. A strengthened form of pro; a preposition of direction; forward to, i.e. Toward.

If you see any brother or sister sinning a sin not πρὸς-toward death,

you should pray and God will give them life.

Click to expand...

John contrasted life and death.

Was John talking about physical or spiritual life and death?

John used the terms life and death ambiguously on purpose.

If you see a Christian sin and sin, πρὸς-approaching death, but he desires to repent, you should pray, and God will give him life to repent. He will not die in his sin.

I refer to those whose sin does not lead to death.

Click to expand...

This sin does not lead to spiritual death because he is repentant.

There is a sin that leads to death.

Click to expand...

However, there is a sin πρὸς death.

Was John talking about blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, i.e., the sin of unbelief?

I don't think so. John was addressing believing brothers here.

What was this sin πρὸς death?

It was not any particular act of sin. It had to do with the brother's attitude toward this sin.

What was the nature of this sin πρὸς death?

A brother sinned this sin πρὸς death when he was unrepentant. Perhaps he did not consider it a sin. He would not listen to other brothers' advice about this sin. He would stubbornly hold on to this sin until the day he died.

I am not saying that you should pray about that.

Click to expand...

Don't bother praying for this brother. He will never change.

17 All wrongdoing is sin, and there is sin that does not lead to death.

Click to expand...

All wrongdoing is sin, yet there is sin not πρὸς death.

18 We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin;

Click to expand...

We know that anyone born of God has the Paraclete dwelling in his spirit. He does not practice sinning stubbornly without being repentant about it.

but he who was born of God protects him, and the evil one does not touch him.

Click to expand...

The Paraclete dwelling in his spirit protects him, and the evil one does not touch his spirit.

There are Christians who sin, and sin, and sin the same sin unto death. They will die in this sin. Their spirit is weak and not growing in the Paraclete. They don't think they need to repent of this πρὸς-death sin. There is no point praying for them about this sin.

Are these Christians condemned to eternal death?

No, not necessarily. It is not the unforgivable sin. It is not the sin of (eternal) death. It is the sin πρὸς-toward death. The prognosis is not good. They are heading there. John's last sentence in this letter, he warned them:

21 Little children, keep yourselves from idols.

Click to expand...

God will decide who gets to heaven.

What is the sin unto death?

It is a sin that the Christian refuses to repent of in his lifetime. He will not repent even at his (physical) death. This sin will gravely endanger his receiving eternal life after the resurrection. He will likely experience the second death. Don't idolize your sin. It will lead you to spiritual death.

It's so easy to imagine, sadly. Picture the scene: polling day comes round. You feel disillusioned with the voting options put in front of you. Your eyes scan the different candidates; none of them stand out at you, whether for reasons of principle, or party allegiance, or even the character of the candidates on your ballot paper. You know that you ought to vote; you even want to vote, to exercise your democratic right. But the options are just so bad.

We do not expect to agree with everything that a party stands for; no candidate will exactly replicate the values which we hold. But sometimes the differences just feel insurmountable.

Maybe you're a traditional Conservative voter, but you are so frustrated with how they've performed while in office that you don't feel like can support them anymore, and you're worried about what a Labour government might do. Or maybe you're a Labour supporter when it comes to the economy and to inequality, but you're afraid that electing them will unleash a storm of liberalisation when it comes to some of the social issues that matter most to you.

Or maybe – and we saw this with some Labour supporters in the Rochdale by-election earlier in the year, which resulted in the victory of George Galloway – even if your party has a candidate, you do not feel like you can support them to be your representative, due to things they have said, or beliefs which they hold.

What ought we to do as Christians in such circumstances? Are there right and wrong courses of action?

Christians will take different views in response to these questions, but here are three possible routes we might take if we're struggling to work out who we might vote for.

1. Vote for the least bad option


Continued below.

"The story was censored. Reporter Peter Schweizer spoke with Michael Shellenberger about the laptop, where he torched CBS News, adding that they could have easily verified it before the Trump interview:"
There needs to be a shake-up in the major media--integrity needs to be restored.

Hunter Biden, son of U.S. President Joe Biden, departs a House Oversight Committee meeting at Capitol Hill on January 10, 2024, in Washington, D.C. The committee is meeting today as it considers citing him for Contempt of Congress. | Kent Nishimura/Getty Images

Tuesday's conviction of Hunter Biden is drawing mixed reactions from both sides of the aisle as politicians and pundits debate the substance of the charges against him and what it means for politics and the justice system in the United States.

A jury in Wilmington, Delaware, found Hunter Biden, son of President Joe Biden, guilty of "making a false statement in connection with the acquisition of a firearm," "making a false statement with respect to information required to be kept in records" and possessing a firearm despite his status as "a person who is an unlawful user of or addicted to a controlled substance."

Tuesday's guilty verdict comes less than five months before the 2024 presidential election, where Biden is seeking a second term.

Concerns about Hunter Biden's criminal activity date back to his father's days as a Democratic presidential candidate and nominee in the 2020 presidential election. While Hunter Biden pled guilty to charges of tax evasion and unlawful possession of a firearm, he still finds himself under the microscope for other potentially illegal activities and influence peddling.

Continued below.

At Mark 7:7, 8, we read, "in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men. You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men."

In your experience, do you find many who identify as Christian, making their own commands and invalidating the commands in God's word the Bible?
I have.

To give an example, the word of God says, at Matthew 28:19, "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit".
Yet, I was told by someone who says they have holy spirit, that baptism is not necessary for salvation.

Have you heard this before, and what has your experience been. Do you find this kind of thing common - invalidating God's word, not baptism, or you don't experience it so much?

Jake, an acquaintance of mine recently lost a close friend and I am asking for prayers to help him deal with loss, stay strong and see GOD's love in such a difficult time.

My husband and I have big decisions to make in regards to where to move. We've been praying for guidance and direction and haven't really heard anything. We really want to use wisdom here. We've been told to follow peace but that's easier said than done. Here are our options. If you were faced with this decision which option would you be most likely to choose?

1. We are living in a garage conversion on a two-acre lot my dad owns, but we've been paying on for three years. One option is to build a house on this property and stay here and everything would be put in our name. But....
2. We have some debts that we incurred at an earlier time, when my husband was temporarily out of work. These debts are in good standing but we're still paying on them. My dad has now agreed to let us sell this lot if we want to move, and there is a lot of equity in this land. So option number two is to sell this and use the money to pay off the debts. Of course that would mean buying or building a house elsewhere but we would also have a higher debt to income ratio. And there is the question of where would we stay between that time, which we would have to figure out.
3. My dad also owns a house ten miles from here that he built 25 years ago. My parents lived there up until two years ago and my sister and her family have been renting it since then. My parents have been talking a lot about selling that house but for reasons I can't get into, it's not really feasible for my sister to buy it. She has told me they want to find another place. Option number three is for us to buy that house and live there after my sister moves. It's a special place that all the grandchildren in the family grew up visiting. It would be nice for it to stay in the family and I do like it but I also like the idea of starting fresh somewhere. Still the thought of strangers buying it makes me (and others in the family) feel really sad.

So our options are to stay where we're at and try to build on this land (but still have our other debts we're paying off) or possibly be able to pay off these debts and start over somewhere else, either on a new property or buying my parents old house. I hope I was able to explain myself okay here. Thank you.

I’m asking for prayers for my husband. He decided to take a small trip out of town with friends who drive a semi to get away from the stress of where we live. They (a married couple) got into a huge fight and now he’s currently walking home from Bow, New Hampshire which is 13.5 hours driving distance home. I have family up there but they can’t help nor would if they could. I haven’t slept all night. I did find a bus route home but I don’t have the financial backing for it.

Hello,
I'm bothered by a lack of zest for life in my own soul. Nothing feels meaningful or fulfilling. I recently had a spiritual experience but I cannot discern whether or not it was from God or if it was the Devil manipulating me. I don't see a clear purpose or direction with my life. I'm having a hard time connecting with God in prayer. Does the Bible or God speak on the topic of losing your zest/will to live?

Hello folks. As most of you guys know, I am for ethically sourced clean energy, and am really liking the newest generation of solar panels. If only the condo that I live at had panels on it. The apartment complex near my condo has a few solar panels on it though. Back in the 1970s-1980s, solar panels had a lifespan of 10-15 years. The new types of solar panels in the 21st century can last 25-30 years, compared to older generations which could only last 10-15 years. Also, the Australians developed a method in the early 2020s to recycle old solar panels and convert the silicon inside the panels into concrete, so solar panel recycling is feasible with current technologies. So, @Bradskii , can you tell me the story about how you got panels for your place? I am hoping that my condo can get panels also. As a Christian man, I want to show respect to the Earth we have.

Making concrete from old solar panels: Solar panels replace sand in concrete production
Old solar panel lifespan: How long do solar panels last 2023？ - Tongwei Co., Ltd.,
Modern solar panel lifespan: How Long Do Solar Panels Last?

For Christians: The Bible talks about protecting our Earth and not defiling creation, as said in Genesis 2, Isaiah 24 and Jeremiah 2. Big Oil and Big Coal did not get the memo, and neither did Musk*.

*Musk Private Jet emissions: What emissions? Elon Musk's private jet made more than 130 flights in 2022

Matthew 26:

27 And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, 28 for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. 29 I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”

Click to expand...

Pulpit Commentary:

The offspring of the vine is a poetical way of describing wine (cf. Deuteronomy 22:9; Isaiah 32:12, etc.). It is absurd to find in this term an argument for unalcoholic grape juice. Wine, to be wine, must undergo fermentation, and if it is not to putrefy or to become vinegar, it must develop alcohol.

Click to expand...

You can't keep grape juice from naturally fermenting into wine without refrigeration. Historically, alcoholic wine was used in the Last Supper.

What about today?

If you want to stick to historical context, you should use wine. Moreover, you would also need to use unleavened bread to be consistent. However, that is not necessary. Today, we can keep grape juice in the fridge, and some people, like me, are sensitive to alcohol. So grape juice is more suitable for more people, including kids. The important point is to understand that the drink represents the blood of Jesus.

Should we use wine or grape juice for communion?

Either is fine. For my taste, I prefer grape juice

Hello folks. My friend Adam's grandmother, Marilyn is going to pass away in the near future, as she had a stroke last week. She is a Christian (Catholic). Pray that she receives the proper palliative care and for my friend's family, that God can comfort Adam's parents and Adam himself. My friend and his parents are not very religious, but I pray that God can help Marilyn, Adam and his family through this rough moment.

Psalm 119

5 Oh, that my ways were directed
To keep Your statutes!

12 Blessed are You, O Lord!
Teach me Your statutes.

The statutes of the Lord direct us in the Way.
Like David, and as Jesus taught, we must ask!
"Teach me Your statutes."

What is a statute, and how does it differ from
a commandment, a testimony, a precept, a judgment?

Who are they in historical contrast alongside an exegetical view?

Trump To Vegas Voters: “I Don't Care About You”​

TRUMP TELLS VOTERS ‘I DON’T CARE ABOUT YOU, I JUST WANT YOUR VOTE’ WHILE COMPLAINING ABOUT DANGEROUS VEGAS HEAT​

Former President Donald Trump knew the best way to rally supporters for the upcoming presidential election – by telling voters, “I don’t care about you. I just want your vote.”

Trump stood in front of a crowd of potential voters on June 9 in the sweltering and dangerous Las Vegas heat while complaining about the teleprompters that he claimed didn’t work. After going the extra mile to make sure participants had water and allowed people to carry in umbrellas, he prompted the crowd to celebrate the “breeze” created by fans. “Do you feel the breeze? I don’t want anybody going on me. We need every voter,” he said.

“I don’t care about you. I just want your vote. I don’t care.”

School officials in Florida have banned a book about book banning.

The Indian River County School Board voted to remove "Ban This Book" by Alan Gratz from its shelves in a meeting last month, overruling its own district book-review committee's decision to keep it.

The book, which had been in two Indian River County elementary schools and a middle school, was challenged by Jennifer Pippin. She's the head of the area's local chapter of Moms for Liberty, a national conservative group that has become one of the loudest advocates for removing books they deem inappropriate.

Gratz, its author, called the Indian River County decision "incredibly ironic."

"They banned the book because it talks about the books that they have banned and because it talks about book banning," he said in an interview with the USA TODAY NETWORK - Florida. "It feels like they know exactly what they're doing and they're somewhat ashamed of what they're doing and they don't want a book on the shelves that calls them out."

I was reading The End of Eternity by Isaac Asimov. (Great book by the way.) In it he makes the following statement about computers determining what is good.
“What is that? Your machines tell you. Your Computaplexes. But who adjusts the machines and tells them what to weigh in the balance? The machines do not solve problems with greater insight than men do, only faster. Only faster!”

Now he wrote this back in 1955, but my question is does it still hold true? That is can the only thing computers or AI can do is solve problems faster, than people. Or do they have greater insight?

Medieval game collection – Credit: University of Tübingen / Victor Brigola

If a history professor or museum is at their very best when they help people deeply connect with the ghosts of the past, then these 1,000-year-old game pieces found in a German castle are the perfect tool for the job.

Consisting of four, flower-shaped gaming pieces, a six-sided die, and a knight chess piece—all carved of antler, the find is a treasure trove of information on pastimes in the Middle Ages.

Exquisitely preserved, the knight piece, undoubtedly the most striking discovery, carries a well-worn sheen on its upper half from fingers picking it up thousands of times to place it along its L-shaped path.

Continued below.

A Christian friend of mine divorced his wife because she was extremely disrespectful and verbal abusing him and he had christian counseling with her for years and she didn’t change so he divorced her. She never cheated and he never cheated so he did sin divorcing her. I told him that’s adultery he said he know but he had enough of her should i still remain his friend ?
Please insert scripture with my decision

2 Peter 1:

2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord,

3 as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness,

through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue,

4 by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises,

that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature,

having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

There is a common false teaching that there is nothing we can do to live a blameless life,

but to live by faith, trusting in the "finished work of the Cross". Consider today the

blatantly unscriptural nature of this teaching. We must obey the Holy Spirit for us

to "grow in grace, and the knowledge of (the intimate experience, not" knowing about")

our Lord and Savior Christ Jesus. Continuing with Peter in our walk in the Spirit.

5 But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge,

6 to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness,

7 to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love.

8 For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful

in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

9 For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness,

and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.

I find the shortsighted abound on Christian forums, laying stumbling blocks,

and challenging us with a "do nothing lest you be guilty of trying to earn salvation".

The "finished work" is a work in progress for us of the faith, and in the fellowship.

Philippians

1:3 I thank my God upon every remembrance of you,

4 always in every prayer of mine making request for you all with joy,

5 for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now,

6 being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work

in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.

2:12 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only,

but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling;

13 for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.

14 Do all things without complaining and disputing,

15 that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault

in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world,

16 holding fast the word of life, so that I may rejoice in the day of Christ

that I have not run in vain or labored in vain.

Titus 3:8 This is a faithful saying, and these things I want you to affirm constantly,

that those who have believed in God should be careful to maintain good works.

These things are good and profitable to men.

2 Peter 3:

17 You therefore, beloved, since you know this beforehand, beware lest you also fall

from your own steadfastness, being led away with the error of the wicked.

18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

To Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen.

https://www.salon.com/2024/06/12/donald-admits-he-still-has-a-gun-despite-felony-convictions/

A federal judge on Tuesday blocked most of a law championed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) that strictly limited transgender health care for adults and banned it completely for children.

“Florida has adopted a statute and rules that ban gender-affirming care for minors even when medically appropriate,” Hinkle wrote. “The ban is unconstitutional.”

A growing number of states have been outlawing gender-transition care for minors. But Florida’s law was the first to limit care for adults.

DeSantis’s press secretary Jeremy Redfern said the state will appeal the decision.

In his decision, Hinkle, who was appointed by President Bill Clinton, cited statements from DeSantis and Republican legislators about “mutilating our children” but said the state presented no evidence that such surgeries have ever happened in Florida.

The judge also said the “frenzied rhetoric” from Tallahassee — including a lawmaker who “loudly referred to transgender witnesses at a committee hearing on a related bill as ‘mutants’ and ‘demons’” — was “direct evidence of that member’s animus.”

A magistrate judge at the Rocky River Municipal Court observed that Ellis seemingly became unresponsive during her hearing and ordered her to be held for a mental health evaluation, according to records obtained by Fox 8. Hagan, however, released Ellis back into the community on May 31. . .
Hagan revealed he would not have acted differently, even now, knowing that Ellis is charged with aggravated murder for the toddler’s death.

This example illustrates the difference between the woke approach to crime and the conservative (common sense) approach to crime. Conservatives insist there should be serious thought given to protecting society. When you vote for a liberal judge or politician this is what you get.

Right now America’s economic-growth rate is the envy of the world. From the end of 2019 to the end of 2023, U.S. GDP grew by 8.2 percent—nearly twice as fast as Canada’s, three times as fast as the European Union’s, and more than eight times as fast as the United Kingdom’s.

“It’s hard to think of a time when the U.S. economy has diverged so fundamentally from its peers,” Mark Zandi, the chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, told me. Over the past year, some of the world’s biggest economies, including those of Japan and Germany, have fallen into recession, complete with mass layoffs and angry street protests. In the U.S., however, the post-pandemic recession never arrived. The economy just keeps growing.
...
Price increases on their own, however, can’t tell us if the cost of living has gone up. What really matters is the relationship between how expensive things are and how much money people have to spend on them. As Vox’s Eric Levitz recently pointed out, prices have increased by 1,400 percent since 1947; that doesn’t mean Americans have less buying power today than at a time when a third of the country didn’t have running water and 40 percent lived in poverty. That’s largely because incomes have increased by 2,400 percent over the same stretch. If prices go up but people’s incomes go up faster, then the cost of living decreases. And that is exactly what has happened in the U.S. over the past five years.

It took some time. When inflation was at its worst, in late 2021 and 2022, prices were rising too fast for workers’ pay to keep up. Over the course of 2023, however, the rate of inflation plummeted while wages kept rising. According to calculations by the economist Arindrajit Dube, prices rose about 20 percent from the beginning of the pandemic to the end of 2023—but the median worker’s hourly wages had increased by more than 26 percent. In other words, a dollar in 2024 might not go as far as a dollar in 2019, but today the average worker has so many more dollars that they can afford a higher quality of life.

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/06/us-economy-excellent/678630/

June 12, 2024:

The Dow surges 300 points and the S&P 500 hits a record high as inflation cools ​

The Dow Jones Industrial Average and other stock indexes rose sharply after markets opened Wednesday, as the latest Consumer Price Index data showed inflation cooling. The CPI rose 3.3% year-over-year in May, according to data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, lower than the 3.4% expected increase.

With inflation slowing more than expected last month, investors are hopeful that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates soon. The inflation report was released shortly before the Fed is expected to announce its latest interest-rate decision and economic forecasts for the year. That announcement is set for 2 p.m., with Fed Chair Jerome Powell scheduled to speak at 2:30 p.m.