I would first start out and say I'm a working man with a good career and other outside hobbies such as sports.

I do a lot of gaming too when I have the time. Sometimes 2 hours a day.

I have heard it said by some Christians that video games are sinful.

What exactly do we mean here, the game or the kinds of games?

And if it is a sin where do we draw the line? Chess is also a game.

feeling quite down please may I ask for a prayer

hello all,
I am asking for prayers for myself for guidance from the Lord on which direction He wants me to go next in terms of church and attending one. My church just lost its pastor and I was quite close to him. It is hard for me to still attend services because of that bond with the former pastor. Please be in prayer for guidance.

I appreciate you all!

Hey guys,
I have a baby kitten (4 years old). She likes to be by my roommates door and constantly meow and scratch up the wood. Am I a bad owner if I yell at her and try to prevent her from doing that stuff at 5:35 in the morning? If so, what suggestions do you have for me to help her retrain her brain? It seems she has chosen my roommate as her "person". Not that I mind that, but he does. Do you guys have any suggestions on how I can be the best parent I need to for my furbaby so she does not disturb my roommate?

TYIA.

Does the Mosaic Law teach how to act in accordance with the nature of the God of Israel? For example, does it teach how to be holy as God is holy?

Should we act accordance with the nature of the God of Israel? For example, our good works testify about God's goodness, which is why they give glory to God (Matthew 5:13-16).

Please don't reply without including a yes or no to my questions.

How do yall spread the Gospel? Like how do yall talk to stranger about it? What do you say? Or with friends? Or any other way you spread the Gospel. I have to do something. My main job as a Christian I absolutely fail at. Please let me know your techniques or methods.

I face spiritual entities on a daily basis, most of them are of evil nature and mostly at night when everyone is asleep.

As part of ongoing battle against spiritual entities, I often seek information on the internet if I'm able to see them. It was fine couple of years ago and fortunately, there are others who are able to see the same things.

But their attacks and activity have intensified lately and I need better information more than ever....

But now when I make a search on the internet, I see video game or movie or TV series results of the same entity but presented in fictional format which I doubt is even based on facts or realistic because I read upon them and they're unlike what I encounter for real.

It's like the latest movie on the Matrix. They've turned the hidden reality of the Matrix into a video game so that everyone coming to a realization of it and attempts to run a search, all they will find is video game, fiction.

It seems as if Hollywood, the entertainment / gaming industry / search engine providers is working closely or strongly influenced by these evil entities.

I'm breaking my Lenten fast to come and ask for your guys' opinion on something because it's become more urgent now.

The long and the short of it is that living in NY has become more and more difficult with the taxes and different fees we have to pay, even though we're paying very little in rent right now living with my in-laws. Now I have to transfer my car registration and I've found out that since it's a lease, I have to pay NY taxes on all of the lease payments thus far, which amounts to a sum of about $1,000 that I'd have to pay up front. It's things like that which mean we can't stay here and we can't go back to Virginia, because there it's both costly and we have no family nearby to help. I've been trying for two years to pickup a second job but for one reason or another, none has come.

So California, ironically, is our best bet because it's the right balance of affordability (where I'm from isn't that expensive) and my family's there. The thing of it is, we have no money to actually pay for the move yet. So my wife and I concocted a possible plan for me to go first. I'll live with my parents, and start a side hustle working as an Uber driver at night to hopefully make some extra scratch to pay for the move (all told it's probably going to cost us about $10,000 to pay for the move, the initial deposit on a new place, and other miscellaneous costs).

Does it seem wrong to do this? I wouldn't see my wife, my newborn, or my step kids for possibly months unless we have some kind of financial windfall to move things along more speedily.

By the way, this is all predicated on the possibility that my work will OK me working from California in the first place.

The Republican Party plans to ask 2024 presidential candidates to pledge support for the eventual nominee, Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said on Sunday, espousing an idea so far not embraced by former President Donald Trump.

Candidates who do not sign the pledge will not be allowed to participate in party-sponsored debates during the state-by-state presidential nominating contests, McDaniel said.

Trump did not immediately react publicly to her comments but a campaign spokesperson told Reuters, "President Trump will support the Republican nominee because it will be him."

---

I wonder if this has any teeth. I mean, if Trump loses the primary and doesn't lift a finger to help the nominee, what can they do to him? He's not likely to run in 2028 I think.

Isaiah 2:4 And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more

Matthew 24:6 And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars : see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.
7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.

In order to try and determine this, we first need to provide an example of what it might look like involving this---nation shall rise against nation.

China is a nation, right? The USA is a nation, right? Therefore, what it might look like might be this---China shall rise against the USA or vice versa. Which then can result in wars, exactly what verse 6 records.

This should mean in Isaiah 2:4 since it also involves nations, but not rising against one another, but no longer rising against each other, this, using these 2 nations China and the USA as examples---they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: China shall not lift up sword against the USA, nor the USA against China, neither shall they learn war any more.

If one agrees that this would be a reasonable way to reason nation shall rise against nation in Matthew 24:7, but then disagrees that one should also reason Isaiah 2:4 in the same manner, why the disagreement then? Doesn't Isaiah 2:4 record that nation shall not lift up sword against nation? In order for them to no longer do that it requires at minimum at least 2 different nations no longer doing that, does it not? How can nation shall not lift up sword against nation not be involving numerous nations? And that if we try and apply this to this present age, how do we do that while still making sense of the text, plus not contradicting Matthew 24:7 in the process?

Luckily, or so Martin thought, she had placed her trust — and her money — in Liberty HealthShare. Liberty is what’s known as a health care sharing ministry, a nonprofit alternative to medical insurance rooted in Christian principles. Hundreds of thousands of people rely on such organizations for basic health coverage.

Martin forwarded the overdue notices to Liberty, writing on one in pen, “WHY HAS THIS NOT BEEN PAID?” In emails Martin’s family shared with ProPublica, she pleaded, “I am asking for your help and compassion. Help me, I don’t know what else to do. … I CANNOT deal with this stress and fight cancer. You say you are a ministry and want to help people. THEN HELP!!!”

Martin died in July 2022 at age 63. Liberty never settled the bills that she had begged them to pay.

What Martin didn’t know when she joined Liberty was that she was sending her money to members of a family with a long and well-documented history of fraud.

For generations, members of the Beers family of Canton, Ohio, have used Christian faith to sell health coverage to more than a hundred thousand people like Martin. Instead they delivered pain, debt and financial ruin, according to an investigation by ProPublica based on leaked internal documents, land records, court files and interviews. They have done this not once but twice and have faced few consequences.

Patriarch Daniel J. Beers, 60, lies at the center of the family network. He was a leading figure in a scheme in the 1990s involving a health care sharing ministry that fraudulently siphoned tens of millions of dollars from members, court records show. Two decades later, he played a key role in building Liberty into one of the nation’s largest sharing ministries, several of the nonprofit’s current and former employees told ProPublica.

Four years after its launch in 2014, the ministry enrolled members in almost every state and collected $300 million in annual revenue. Liberty used the money to pay at least $140 million to businesses owned and operated by Beers family members and friends over a seven-year period, the investigation found. The family then funneled the money through a network of shell companies to buy a private airline in Ohio, more than $20 million in real estate holdings and scores of other businesses, including a winery in Oregon that they turned into a marijuana farm.

Between 2015 and 2021, Liberty collected at least $1.9 billion in revenue, according to tax filings and internal audits. But ProPublica found that Liberty did not report more than $1 billion of those payments to state and federal tax agencies on its financial balance sheet.

After years of complaints, health care sharing ministries are now attracting more scrutiny. Sharity Ministries, once among the largest organizations in the industry, filed for bankruptcy and then dissolved in 2021 as regulators in multiple states investigated its failure to pay members’ bills. In January, the Justice Department seized the assets of a small Missouri-based ministry, Medical Cost Sharing Inc., and those of its founders, accusing them of fraud and self-enrichment.

This is such a hard issue & I've heard both sides advocating for & against. Given the nature of human behavior I do see potential for abuse. Understandably there are many across the globe who are subject to terminal death sentences often with pain. How does anyone negotiate the slippery slope? Is this God's dominion & the ill are so depressed. I have questions as to why there is this level of physical pain. It seems to me we have yet to make any encroachment against disease.

Eph 2:15 Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace;
(MY NOTE: The enmity is two fold [required punishments/judgments/levied] & the recognized status/standing separating Jew & Gentile)

Christ's sin atoning payment; abolished/removed [for the believer] the legal penalties contained/levied "in the letter/law" & its ordinances. Christ became sin & died fulfilling the laws required wade/price. By paying sin required price, He removed every believers sins. And became the conduit for both Jew & Gentile to access the Father.

Col 2:14 Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and """took it out of the way"""", nailing it to his cross;

The handwriting of ordinances = Is the law: "Do this and thou shalt live", "the soul that sinneth, shall die". Sin & its judgment is the failure to do our part that "stands against us". A penalty & payment is required for the failure.

The verse states Christ's payment made on the cross: Blotted out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us [blotted out, took away the legal penalties/judgments contained/required/levied for sin & nailed to His cross! < Past Tense/DONE DEAL] By paying sins required price & blotting out the handwriting of ordinances. The believers burden to pay sin debt owed has been lifted/removed/PAID in full. Now on the merit of Jesus one time sin payment. Every believer receives a full sin pardon. He took all their judgment when He bought & paid for every sin they owed, death included.

Additional text:
1 Cor 15:
55 O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?

56 The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.

57 But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
(MY NOTE: Once Christ removes your sin. No law transgressions remain. Thank you Lord Jesus. Amen)

Hello fellow sisters and brothers,

I need your help, because i think im attacked from the enemy... Since years i struggle with my existence... Many many times i wished to simply be non existent... Or i wished, God never created me For many years i was very depressed. Its weird, because i actually came to the conclusion, that its the best thing to be in Gods presence forever and enjoy his peace, joy, beauty and so on... And being with God is surely even better, than non existence.... If i would be non existent, i wouldnt suffer, or be in pain and so on. But i wouldnt experience any joy or pleasure either ...its just so exhausting.... Again and again, im torn between those 2 options (if i could choose between non existence, or being in Gods presence) Maybe i need some anti depressants again. Didnt take them in 6 years. None of my Christian friends understands what i mean my wife neither. Maybe it sounds weird, but thats how i feel.
Its really strange... And i really think, that the enemy wants to destroy me or lies to me about Gods goodness ... Maybe, someone can relate to my experience. Thanks for your replies

It seems to me the Mjs and Christions get along better here at CF.
I see this as an huge advantage in every Scriptural discussion.

On the other hand, where I've been may simply have been more divided

The Bible tells us we are one in equal during the Grace period.

Can I post on the MJ section?.
We both (I must admit to thinking I can learn far more from MJs then they me)
Can were share what we have learned over the years?

A recent article by Thomas Reese, S.J. for National Catholic Reporter has attracted attention. There’s a lot to respond to in Fr. Reese’s article, but I have a word limit, so I’ll keep it short. Under the deliberately provocative title “The Eucharist is about more than the real presence,” Reese discusses what he thinks is wrong in the contemporary Church concerning the Eucharist.

Continued below.

President Donald Trump was reportedly so livid over Jimmy Kimmel’s TV jokes that he ordered White House officials to get the late night host muzzled.

Click to expand...

Rolling Stone reported on Sunday that there were at least two phone calls to a top Disney executive to demand action against Kimmel in 2018. Disney is the parent company of ABC, which airs “Jimmy Kimmel Live.”

Click to expand...

It didn't work.

So, first off, I do believe that those who die unborn are with the Lord, 2 Samuel 12 has David saying he'll go to his dead son but his son would not come back to him, unless David was planning on going to hell or annihilation, that tells us where the child went.

but I mean, if a baby is miscarried, never born, never achieves consciousness even... so they never even had personal sinful thought and after dying as far as we know the elect don't sin anymore... so the forgiveness of sin, Jesus dying for them.. what does that mean to them in context? Would they even have a concept of sin having never experienced it? What are they thankful to Jesus for? Would they even understand salvation? What would be their praise? They have no life experience.
Would they just recite the words of other men in the psalms, not even really understanding what they mean?

Please pray for me before the throne of God. Also, pray I do not go back to drinking.

God bless

This issue was raised in another thread that I didn't get a chance to respond to as I went on holidays and it was off topic so thought I would deal with it here and see what you all have to say for yourselves.
I say he didn't as eternal life is imputed to our spirit and if Adam had eternal life he could not have died spiritually. It's also the reason we don't die even though we sin. You can't perish (spiritually) and have eternal life at the same time.

John 3:15
that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.

What say you?

This has been a question that's been burning in my mind for a while. Really ever since a few years ago. Is there any evidence in the Bible that suggests that God punishes people who take their own lives? My mother told me that it's basically like "slapping God's hand away" since he gifted you with life. This came up after I told her that I was feeling pretty sad, in lieu of the "d" word that I have come to hate. I don't know if what she said is true or not, but then again, nobody knows where people's soul goes after they die.


I mean, don't get me wrong. Life can be a gift for some people if they are lucky, and if they actually deserve to live. But for other people, it can be a time of endless suffering. If God is all about peace and happiness, why would he just sit there and watch people suffer every day? And I'm not just talking about physical medical issues. I'm talking about endless emotional, and mental pain. I, myself am currently experiencing it. I dunno, it just escapes me. Anybody else wanna weigh in on this?

Most of us say repentance means turning from sin, turning to Christ. What then do we mean by turning from sin, turning to Christ? I have given this some serious thought. I believe repentance means STOP sinning and turning to God for forgiveness of our sins. Then people will say: "We are sinners, we can't stop sinning!" If we can't stop sinning, what then does it mean to "turn from sin"?

One of my nephews is going to be 18 in a couple of weeks. He has a history of multiple run-ins with the law, and violent outbursts. He has been banned from multiple places of business already. For the safety of his mother and siblings, his parents are kicking him out as soon as he turns 18. Please pray that the Lord calls him back and that he responds and turns his life around before he ends up in prison or killed.

Edit: I'm bumping this thread to happily report that he confesses the faith again, has moved back in, and has a job. Praise the Lord for the progress thus far.

Essentially, the more information you know, the more synapses (the connection between neurons) are in the brain. Learning a large amount of information/having a high level of education can help prevent Alzheimer's. So does having a good diet, physical activity, not being obese, not abusing alcohol etc

How can we help keep the brain active and healthy?