• 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.

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Chat - Cosmetic Issue - IMO

Sometimes I use the chat room feature here and have a 27 inch computer monitor.

The new Chat box is kind of short and towards the top of my screen. Doesn't fill the bottom half of my screen. If that makes any sense. Kind of a minor cosmetic issue, possibly could be tweaked and improved.

I could post a screenshot to better illustrate ?

Helping my older parents understand why I want the job that I do.

So recently I told my parents that I was (finally!) getting a job. I thought they would be happy to learn this, as my dad has been pressuring me to get a job for ages.

Instead, I got this weird reveal that my parents want me to get a job because they are "worried about what will happen when my dad dies." This does not make any sense, as I am currently not receiving financial support from my parents anymore. Also, my dad wants me to push for more money with my qualifications.

That's not why I'm getting the job. The reason I'm getting the job is because I want boating experience. Like most millennials, I'm looking for personal satisfaction and fulfillment from my job, not any sense of security. I'm not ambitious. I'm just being a deck hand on a ferry, and if the job pays enough to fund the gas for my car each week and pay for my food and health insurance, I'm going to be okay. I still have enough savings for the odd discretionary purchase or emergency.

If the job pays more than those basic expenses, that money will be saved. Has any of you had to navigate this sort of generational conflict around employment? How who you advise me to best deal with this? In the past, my dad has had the bad habit of sending me job offers he wants me to take that I don't want. How should I deal with this situation? I don't want to take a job I don't want out of my parents' fear, and dealing with the pressure of it has given me a lot of stress in the past. What boundaries should I set? Etc.

Can someone remind me what I should be praying for daily, again?

The title basically says it all. Recently I was reading a post by a single rapscallion that said he wanted "daily prayer" as part of his requirements for his lady friend. Unfortunately, I have never had a consistent daily prayer life, and perpetually struggle with gratitude towards my Creator. I am now looking to solve this problem, not to satisfy this person who believes in measuring women with yardsticks, but because it's probably something that I should be doing anyway.

What should I be praying for, or about, on a daily basis?

In Five Years

I have a terrible habit of rewatching TV shows that I've seen before a gazillion times whether they are good or bad because it's comforting noise that I don't have to pay much attention to. Recently I've been re-watching How I Met Your Mother (which is a terrible show, but such is my vice).

The other day I came across an episode where they watched the Star Wars trilogy every 5 years and would reflect on where they were at with life and daydream about what life would be like in 5 years when they watched it again. The futures were way off and ridiculous in many ways, but it got me thinking- if you were to allow yourself to fancifully daydream about where you'd want your life to be in 5 years (it does not have to be something you are working towards or think you will achieve), what would your 5 years from now life look like?

Blessed to be here

Hi all! So blessed to be here and hopefully expand my family of brothers and sisters in Christ. I’ve been walking with The Lord for 13 yrs now and everyday I learn more- about myself and about true Love.
I’m a mom of 3 young men, what a journey it’s been so far and it’s so exciting to watch them mature.
Really looking forward to some healthy discussions with you all.

Elon Musk begins reinstating banned Twitter accounts, no decision on Donald Trump yet


Elon Musk, owner and CEO of Twitter, has begun reinstating accounts that were previously subject to lifetime bans for breaking the platform's rules.

Announced Friday, the first reinstated accounts belong to author Jordan Peterson, comedian Kathy Griffin, and conservative parody outlet The Babylon Bee.

"The new Twitter policy is freedom of speech, but not freedom to reach" the public, explained Elon Musk on his Twitter account.


"Negative or hateful tweets will be demoted and demonetized, so there will be no back-to-back ads or other revenue for Twitter. You won't find these tweets unless you specifically look for them, which is no different than the rest of the internet," he added.



Thoughts?


I would say that there should also be a push to reinstate some accounts that were banned for "vaccine hesitancy".

As much as I go hard on the actual anti-vaxxers, there were some who got that label, and were banned, for topics surrounding aspects of it that NBC and Washington Post are running articles about now that everyone has let their "covid politics" guard down a little.
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I know nobody knows the day or hour but...

Doesn't it seem weird that Hosea 6:1-2 predicted when Israel would be restored after their fall In 70 AD? It also seems to predict the second coming because Jesus was crucified around 30 AD which would make the first day 30 AD to 1030 AD, The second day 1030 to 2030 AD and Israel was restored in the 1960s fitting in with Hoseas prophecy. And it makes the 3rd day 2030 to 3030 AD. So Jesus should return between 2030 and 3030 AD (the 3rd day).

It's a long shot but this prophecy makes sense.

Syncretic merging of Christianity and "Sacred Democracy"

Following World Wars of the 20th century, there is a collective paradigm shift that presented the system of liberal democracy of the United States, and the west generally, as a kind of sacred center for the protection and promotion of universal human rights for the entire world. The "Shining City on a Hill" enlightening the nations of the world with its system of liberal democracy.

The Church enters into this through the stream of Liberation Theology and the Social Gospel. This was the belief that Christians could begin building the Kingdom of God here on earth now through governmental social reforms. The command to feed the hungry and help the needy was gradually transformed and merged into a rapidly growing beauracratic system of social planning and social engineering.

The result appears to be a mainstream church that is spiritually fastened to 'sacred democracy'... where the spreading of Democracy and the Gospel has become syncretized into one common mission. Light spills into the world when a foreign dictator's palace is bombed by NATO airplaines, the same as it might when the Gospel is preached to some distant tribe.

A kind of universal "Moral Therapeutic State" is formed by a syncretic mixture of Christianity and Secular Democracy.

When liberal-minded Christians get upset about the prospect of "Christian Nationalism", it's not because they dislike the idea of mixing Christianity with the Nation-State, it's because *they already did it themselves* and would rather a competing Christian sect not try and overturn the syncretic religious order they've already established.

The Messianic figure of Christ becomes detached from the Bible, and floats freely in a kind of Gnosticism. Jesus becomes a "personal experience" for each individual, detached from the scripture that contradicts the sacred freedoms granted by the sacred Democratic State, freedoms such as the promotion of homosexuality and gay marriage or the individual right to kill one's child. This gnostic Jesus stands next to a deified George Washington... the light of the Gospel shines beside the equally bright torch of humanistic freedom blazing from the Statue of Liberty.

Curious to read others' thoughts on this subject.
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Needed: Daily New Threads by one person limit

It's not good, it's harmful even, for one person to post a dozen or more new threads every day, in that it tends to crowd out other new threads by other people, some of whom might be making urgent prayer requests or such, say about 20 hours since we have last visited the site, so that if one person has during that 20 hours made 12 or 15 or more new threads, that urgent prayer request can become basically invisible to most people looking for new threads.

Of course, it's not only urgent prayer requests that can be made invisible by one person posting 15 new threads, but even just ordinary fellowship threads someone makes, where we have a chance to join in and practice "love one another" together, so the problem isn't only about what is urgent, but also about what is best.

Twitter - Should I stay or should I go

To steal a phrase from The Clash - "Should I stay or should I go"
We hear lots of news lately about Elon Musk's heavy hand blazing a trail of destruction through his newly acquired company Twitter.
He fired half his staff and with his heavy hand he has been monitoring and spying on staff internal conversations on private slack channels and firing people that have said negative things about him.
He has demanded people to work in office and to commit to long hours at high intensity or leave. Early reporting is suggesting that the majority of staff are choosing to leave.
Way to go Elon, how to, within the space of two weeks turn a workforce from highly engaged, passionate, valued, proud and excited, to disgusted, disengaged, unvalued, disappointed and wanting to leave.

Anyway, this thread isn't about staff. This is about users and how they might be answering the question "Should I stay or should I go"
There doesn't seem to be much media focus on this.
We have heard about the Blue Check fiasco, where user's could trust that celebreties and people and organisations with official positions had been verified by Twitter and so the messages coming from accounts with the Blue Check could be trusted as coming from the people and organisations that user think these are coming from. But now with the Blue Check just meaning that a subscription fee has been paid, now users have no idea who is saying what.
But other than this Blue Check, we don't really hear much about the impact on users.
Are users staying or leaving?

After Elon Musk’s abrupt takeover of Twitter, many people saw and heard so many SEOs and marketers take the bold but necessary step of leaving the platform.

But a recent poll that was conducted in this regard proved that users are not ready to leave just yet.


The bizzareness of the above narrative is that from that linked to poll, 21% have said that they have left already (which is massive) and a further 12% have said that they are planning to leave. This makes 33% of the user base (at least those responding to the poll) have said that they have already left or are planning to leave. Which completely contradicts the article which says "proved that users are not ready to leave just yet"

Twitter is struggling to keep its most active users - who are vital to the business - engaged, underscoring a challenge faced by the Tesla chief executive as he approaches a deadline to close his $44 billion deal to buy the company.
These "heavy tweeters" account for less than 10% of monthly overall users but generate 90% of all tweets and half of global revenue. Heavy tweeters have been in "absolute decline" since the pandemic began, a Twitter researcher wrote in an internal document titled “Where did the Tweeters Go?”
...interest in news, sports and entertainment is waning among those users. Tweets on those topics, which have helped Twitter burnish an image as the world’s "digital town square," as Musk once called it, are also the most desirable for advertisers.


So it seems that Twitter was facing some big problems (even before Musk's takeover) of the active users becoming disengaged and less active and moving towards links and conversations that are less appealing to advertisers.

Elon Musk's acquisition of Twitter has some in Hollywood heading for the exit.

"Grey's Anatomy" creator Shonda Rhimes and others in the entertainment industry say they plan to quit the platform now that it is owned by Musk, a self-proclaimed "free speech absolutist" who has vowed to make sweeping changes — including potentially reversing the ban on former President Donald Trump.

"Not hanging around for whatever Elon has planned. Bye," Rhimes tweeted to her nearly 2 million Twitter followers Saturday afternoon, two days after Musk closed his $44 billion deal to purchase the service.


I don't know what the above means. Is this just a few anecdotes. Are all celebreties thinking this way, or just some? Are celebretities significant to keeping Twitter interesting for other users????

Anyway, I'm not a Twitter user, I don't have an account. I am just interested in whether Musk is destroying this platform or not. Twitter is obviously a very significant platform to many people.

We Need Public Representation for Low and Medium Wage Workers If This Great Reset Takes Place

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I've been thinking about this "Great Reset" and the World Economic Forum (WEF)(headed by Charles Schwab) lately. The problems I see in businesses today (and I feel others are realizing now too) is that a lot of them totally ignore the needs of the low and medium wage worker. So if the world's wealthiest business owners are going to lay out a plan so that all people will be better off and happier then these wealthy business owners need to know what make us low and medium wage workers happier in the workplace. It seems only right that low and medium wage workers should contribute to the plan of the so called "Great Reset". So here are my lists of things that would make me a happier worker.

Every worker entering the workforce will get good, affordable health insurance. We don't need to have centralized government healthcare. Companies that have over 200 workers should be able to give their workers different options of healthcare. Companies that have less that 200 workers would work with other companies with less than 200 workers to buy good quality health insurance for their workers.

Worker's should be given the necessary tools (and fairly up to date) to accomplish their jobs adequately. Workers should be equipped with fairly up to date computers (if necessary), sitting and furniture, vehicles, training, handheld devices, first aid supplies and so on.

A good wage so he/she can afford to live on their own.

At least one week of paid vacation a year and one week of sick leave a year.

No part time work status unless the worker is the one who requests it.

The chance to save for one's retirement.

If the WEF is going to set the way we workers work they need our input. A lot of us are tired of others making the rules without our input. If we are equals in this society then we need to have equal say in things.
N
Neutral Observer
Well I got halfway through the video before realizing that no substantive arguments would be forthcoming. Therefore it wasn't worth wasting any more time on. It's silly.
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FTX, "Who is watching the Watchmen?"

1) I find the FTX scandal very amusing, especially that many Democrats love to talk about regulating stocks, business, people "paying their fair share" etc. but can be in bed with one of the biggest abusers of the system and this guy seems to have gotten really far by being a big Democratic fund doner and seemed to use the promise of much, much greater donations to get the benefit of the doubt before the wheels fell off of his operation. Not only this but the FTX founder was one of the major advisors to regulating such people that they sought counsel from.


2) It also is amusing that this entrepreneur went out of his way to exploit woke language to get the best coverage from the press, liberal politicians, and liberals on social media (A point he also later admitted too in some of his personal online correspondence). This kind of thing reminds me of
some pet areas of mine in psychology, such as: social psychology, neurolinguistic programming, and the power of framing various topics.


3) Besides this I also found it amusing that House Representative Maxine Waters (who took a photo with him that was soon deleted off her web sites and social media accounts soon after the scandal broke) tried to spin this as a Bipartisan scandal when it is really a mostly Democratic one. So far, we only know of one Republican took money the FTX Crypto currency founder. I suspect if you actually audit the money of who gets what the money going to even that candidate is going to be very low compared to all the money going to Democratic candidates.


(And if you don't know what I'm talking about... go Google FTX, not posting any links lest I miss something forbidden in the TOS, nor do I want to take the time to vet content when people can just google something themselves)

I don’t want to go to church.

My church has been a great comfort for me for over the last two years but I find myself trying to attend less and less. Especially when my church is an hour away and I have to be in the car for two hours every Sunday. It gets quite annoying and costly. Of course my elder and Deacon always offer to pay for gas but I feel badly just taking money from them even for food and to pay my rent once. Our congregation isn't the largest (maybe about 40 people) so I feel really bad taking their money. Especially when I was hospitalized in New Hampsire last year for blood clots. The church gave me $500 so I could take a cab home.

I always put some money in everytime I attend because I feel guilty taking so much money from the church in the two years I've been attending. And let's face it, I'm an introvert. So every luncheon and every Christmas, Easter, even refromation day I try to stay far from the church because I don't want to socialize with the congregants and I'm afraid they would make fun of me. It doesn't matter how close I am to my elder (We're like inseparable friends) my elder is all I talk to. So I attend Church maybe 1 to 2 times a month. Not good and I feel guilty for not attending. Every single social event I don't attend and now I feel like not attending at all. What should I do?
Wendy Jones
Wendy Jones
Hebrews 10:25
not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.
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Is this a theological issue?

I bought some Vanilla Pepsi Max (diet pepsi) as an experiment, intending no theological consequences of any kind.

But, upon sampling it I discovered a theological issue with it. I am sure it is Satan's spawn and the Devil's drink!
An evil brew from the tartarus!
Take my warning, shun this evil brew.
Excommunicate it from your midst!
Dispose of it down the drain and never let a drop pass between your lips.
For fear of some terrible fate befalling you.

Hello

Hi Everyone

My Name is Keith
I am british, but live in China
Am 63 years of age. Have been a christian since just before my 16th Birthday
Married to Helen, a chinese church leader serving the unregistered church.
Have a beautiful daughter who is a teacher and fine arts major

New 10 commandments, rebranded as 10 spiritual principles for climate repentance. NOT A CONSPIRACY THEORY, SO DONT MOVE THIS THREAD.

Initially i asked "what do you think? Seems like mockery to me"

Here it is. CURRENT EVENT

Citing the name change

Heres the rebranding

Lets see if any sniveling happens....

Chinese believers forum

I am a christian writer living in Nanjing China

I have a large quantity of Devotions translated into Chinese from English. They come in english and chinese and am praying for all the people groups and provinces. Please could we have a forum, where people could read these devotions and pray for china.

I live in china and see the need here

keith

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