This is a thread where you can share with other members of the forum what you are currently studying. Feel free to also use this thread to post new knowledge that you've learned that you find interesting. Perhaps other people will be inspired to study what you are studying as a result. This thread can also serve as encouragement.

The new numbers show violent crime from January to March dropped 15.2% compared to the same period in 2023, while murders fell 26.4% and reported rapes decreased by 25.7%. Aggravated assaults decreased during that period when compared to last year by 12.5%, according to the data, while robberies fell 17.8%.

You NEED to watch this! It is spectacular! God just shows up at Chick-fil-A, a whole family gets saved, healed, and filled with the Spirit! Then the pastor follows them back to their house and water-baptizes them in their hot tub and they all speak in tongues! MY GOD! This is amazing! The link to the video is below: Login to view embedded media

Why is this in the "American Politics" section? Well, it contains more proof that Justice Alito is all-politics.

A journalist went to a religious conservatives' convention posing as one of them, and got Justice Alito and his wife to make some very interesting comments on video.

“I think you’re probably right,” he replied. “On one side or the other — one side or the other is going to win. I don’t know. I mean, there can be a way of working — a way of living together peacefully, but it’s difficult, you know, because there are differences on fundamental things that really can’t be compromised. They really can’t be compromised. So it’s not like you are going to split the difference.”

Windsor later told the justice people who believe in God have to keep fighting “to return our country to a place of godliness.”

“I agree with you,” Samuel Alito is heard saying. “I agree with you.”

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And his wife said:

The justice’s wife tells Windsor in the recording last week: “I want a Sacred Heart of Jesus flag because I have to look across the lagoon at the Pride flag for the next month,” Martha-Ann Alito said apparently referring to her vacation home on the New Jersey shore. Martha-Ann Alito goes on to say when her husband is “free of this nonsense” she will continue to fly her banners. “I’m putting it up and I’m gonna send them a message every day, maybe every week, I’ll be changing the flags.”

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An AI detector tested to see if these videos could have been computer-generated, but failed to find evidence that they were.

Roberts was also recorded but was more circumspect in his comments.

If you don't resign after all this, Justice Alito, at least recuse yourself from the 1/6 case and Trump's immunity case. It is the only honorable step you can take.

Link to Table of Contents​

Continued from Hebrews It! (Legal Study, Chapter 1:8-Chapter 1 completion) Pt. 6​

Here we are! It only took 13 short OPs to prep and cover Chapter 1, the foundation of Hebrews! Just kidding, the OP's were long and contain quite a bit! We made it through Chapter 1! Now, we are entering chapter 2.

2:1 We must, therefore, pay even more attention to what we have heard, so that we will not drift away.
2:2 For if the message spoken through angels was legally binding and every transgression and disobedience received a just punishment,


4 The Lord spoke to you face to face out of the fire on the mountain. 5 (At that time I stood between the Lord and you to declare to you the word of the Lord, because you were afraid of the fire and did not go up the mountain.) And he said:

6 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.

I (7 “You shall have no other gods before me.)

II (8 “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 9 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 10 but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.)

III. (11 “You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.)

IV. (12 “Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy, as the Lord your God has commanded you. 13 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 14 but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your ox, your donkey or any of your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns, so that your male and female servants may rest, as you do. 15 Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the Lord your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day.)

V. (16 “Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may live long and that it may go well with you in the land the Lord your God is giving you.)

VI. (17 “You shall not murder.)

VII. (18 “You shall not commit adultery.)

VIII. (19 “You shall not steal.)

IX. (20 “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.)

X. (21 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife. You shall not set your desire on your neighbor’s house or land, his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”)

22 These are the commandments the Lord proclaimed in a loud voice to your whole assembly there on the mountain from out of the fire, the cloud and the deep darkness; and he added nothing more. Then he wrote them on two stone tablets and gave them to me.

23 When you heard the voice out of the darkness, while the mountain was ablaze with fire, all the leaders of your tribes and your elders came to me. 24 And you said, “The Lord our God has shown us his glory and his majesty, and we have heard his voice from the fire. Today we have seen that a person can live even if God speaks with them. 25 But now, why should we die? This great fire will consume us, and we will die if we hear the voice of the Lord our God any longer. 26 For what mortal has ever heard the voice of the living God speaking out of fire, as we have, and survived? 27 Go near and listen to all that the Lord our God says. Then tell us whatever the Lord our God tells you. We will listen and obey.”
28 The Lord heard you when you spoke to me, and the Lord said to me, “I have heard what this people said to you. Everything they said was good. 29 Oh, that their hearts would be inclined to fear me and keep all my commands always, so that it might go well with them and their children forever!

30 “Go, tell them to return to their tents. 31 But you stay here with me so that I may give you all the commands, decrees and laws you are to teach them to follow in the land I am giving them to possess.”

32 So be careful to do what the Lord your God has commanded you; do not turn aside to the right or to the left. 33 Walk in obedience to all that the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may live and prosper and prolong your days in the land that you will possess.

Deuteronomy 31:24 When Moses had finished writing down on a scroll every single word of this law, 25 he commanded the Levites who carried the ark of the Lord’s covenant, 26 “Take this book of the law and place it beside the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God so that it may remain there as a witness against you. 27 For I know how rebellious and stiff-necked you are. If you are rebelling against the Lord now, while I am still alive, how much more will you rebel after I am dead!

house-democrats-project-2025-task-force-trump_n_66672287e4b0889986ac57cf

Trump's 2025 Plan is to simply replace the federal government, with people
who will support all his political agenda. It would make much of the federal
government into an arm of his political party.

Whether or not you support some of the positions that Trump is taking --
and there are some positions that Christians could find appealing --
Trump wishes to dismantle the federal government.

Without an impartial federal government, America would be ruled by a single
political party, and this would be DISASTROUS.

A political party is a group of people who want the same (sort of) agenda
carried out by the president. But, the current system of 2 main political
parties was NEVER contemplated by the founding fathers of America, and
they NEVER meant federal employees (such as the military, the Department
of Justice, the Treasury, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security,
etc.) to be a tool for one political party to enforce its wishes on all American
citizens. The federal government was to serve ALL CITIZENS.

We have already seen that Trump despises judges who rule against him in law suits
(Trump wants to be free of the rule of law in America, for himself), and threatens the
families of these judges, and threatens all politicians who disagree with him. In this
behavior, it is clear that Trump CANNOT live with the American democratic ideals,
of representation of ALL opinions of citizens.

Trump is seeking the end of American democracy, and wishes to bring that about
by taking over the federal government.

His goal is to avoid prosecution. He doesn't want the fair rule of law in America,
to apply to him.

We saw clearly in the January 6th hearings, that traditional Republicans testified
against Trump's lawless behavior. Observing Trump acting outside the rule of law in
America, is not a political party thing. Trump has started political behavior that is
DIRECTLY AGAINST historical Republican values, in that Trump is attacking the
fair rule of law in America.

Trump's 2025 agenda, if he is voted in as President, is to upend the fair rule of
law in America, and make it into a system of political kangaroo courts, that will
do whatever he wants.

This is not American. It is not democracy. It is not justice.
It is not compatible with historic Christian values.

Samuel Alito’s Wife, Martha-Ann, Goes Full MAGA in Secret Recording​

The audio was posted hours after similarly shocking comments by the Supreme Court justice were published.

Martha-Ann Alito, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, complained about the Pride flag, ranted about “feminazis,” and explained a flag design that she has been creating in her head in anticipation of when her husband is “free of this nonsense,” according to undercover audio released by a journalist and documentary filmmaker Monday on X.

“I want a Sacred Heart of Jesus flag, because I have to look across the lagoon at the Pride flag for the next month,” Alito griped at one point.

Alito’s comments were recorded undercover June 3 at the Supreme Court Historical Society’s annual dinner by Lauren Windsor, who was playing the role of a conservative activist.

Just hours earlier on Monday, Windsor posted another secretly recorded conversation she had had at the dinner with Alito’s husband. That audio was obtained and published by Rolling Stone. In his comments, the embattled jurist described “fundamental” differences between the left and right-wing that “can’t be compromised,” and expressed a desire to “return our country to a place of godliness.”

Shortly after the tape of Samuel Alito was posted, Windsor promised, “We aren’t done breaking news just yet…” That vow was fulfilled Monday night, with Windsor posting audio of Martha-Ann “unfurled.” According to the tape, Alito addressed the controversy over Jan. 6-linked flags spotted at her and her husband’s homes in Virginia and New Jersey, for which Samuel Alito said his wife was responsible.

“The feminazis believe that he should control me,” Alito said. “So they’ll go to hell. He never controls me.”

Toward the end of the six-minute recording, Alito circled back to the subject.

After stating her need for a Sacred Heart of Jesus flag, Alito described her husband’s reaction.

“He’s like, ‘Oh please don’t put up a flag.’ I said, ‘I won’t do it because I’m deferring to you. But when you are free of this nonsense, I’m putting it up and I’m going to send them a message every day. Maybe every week, I’ll be changing the flags.”

Alito then divulged to Windsor that she’s actually been spending her time creating flag designs in her head.

“They’ll be all kinds. I made a flag in my head. This is how I satisfy myself,” she continued. “It’s white and it has yellow and orange flames around it, and in the middle in the word ‘Vergogna.’”

That Italian word, she explained, means shame.

After Windsor, who said in character that she was upset by the attention that “the media” has devoted to the significance of the flags and whether Samuel Alito ought to recuse himself from Jan. 6-related cases, Alito gave her some advice.

“Don’t get angry,” she said. “Get even.”

A bit later, when Windsor lamented how “they’re persecuting you, and you’re like a convenient stand-in for anybody who is religious,” Alito reiterated her aforementioned mantra.

“Look at me. I’m German, from Germany. My heritage is German. You come after me, I’m going to give it back to you. And there will be a way—it doesn’t have to be now—but there will be a way they will know.
Don’t worry about it,” she said, before quoting the Bible.

“Psalm 27 is my psalm,” she told Windsor. “‘The Lord is my God and my rock. Of whom shall I be afraid?’ Nobody.”

Alito, when Windsor recalled the conversation she had just had with her husband, emphatically agreed with the statement that there is “no negotiating with the radical left.”

“They feel,” she said. “They don’t think.”

Sometimes I think people put things out there just see to see what sticks.




Footage from CNN that conspiracy theorists claim [+]CNN / TWITTER

Remember last month when conspiracy theorists insisted John Fetterman, the U.S. senator from Pennsylvania, had been secretly replaced by a body double or clone? The ridiculous claim went viral on X, thanks to radical changes made by owner Elon Musk, who bought the platform back when it was known as Twitter. Now a similar claim is currently going viral about Joe Biden. And X’s algorithm is making sure it’s front and center for users of the site.

X has been flooded with tweets over the past 48 hours claiming that Biden is actually a guy wearing a mask made to look like the 80-year-old president. Many fixated on footage from CNN which showed Biden coming back to the U.S. from a trip to Israel.

Continued below.

If you live on this planet called “earth,” which all of us do, and if you pay close attention at all to what is going on in the world around us, you should be able to connect the words in this passage of Scripture with what is happening in our current world. And this isn’t speaking just in literal terms, such as of earthquakes and tornadoes and such, but it is speaking, as well, in figurative language, of our world in a state of disaster morally, mentally, spiritually, and politically, which is impacting people’s lives in many different ways, most especially in ways which are against Christ and his word.

For we are living in the last days before the return of Christ, and the longer things continue on this earth, the worse they become. And yet, if our trust is in Jesus Christ, and we are living in moral purity and uprightness and in walks of obedience to our Lord and to his commands, and not in sin, God is our refuge and our strength, and he will help us and he will get us through these times of trouble on the earth before he takes us home to be with him for eternity. So, we are not to fear what is going to happen and what will happen to us, for the Lord will be our strength so that we can endure.

But this requires that we remain faithful to the Lord and that we keep our trust in him and that we do not cave to peer pressure and that we do not reject the ways of God to join in with the world. For temptations abound everywhere for us to do as the world does in order to be accepted by the world. But we aren’t on this earth to be accepted by the world but in order to win the world to genuine God-fearing faith in Jesus Christ – a faith which dies with Christ to sin and is raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, no longer to live as slaves to sin, but now as slaves to righteousness.

For many liars and deceivers are living among us, and these include our government heads, our news media, heads of organizations, famous people, pastors of “churches,” and our fellow humans. And some of you reading this may be among them. For deception abounds everywhere we look these days. So many things are being faked and altered and misconstrued. And misimpressions is one of the big ways in which lies are being told, because they are indirect lies and they are harder to prove. So, before we go believing anyone, we should pray for wisdom and discernment.

But we will not be discerning and we will not have the wisdom of God in these matters if God/Christ is not truly Lord (Master) of our lives, and if we are going our own way, doing our own thing, instead. For we cannot be Christ-minded if we are worldly minded, and if our minds and hearts are set on the things of this sinful world and not on the Lord and his word and on walks of obedience to his commands in holy living. And we will not be discerning if we are giving way to fear of what other humans are doing, too. So we need to be still, and know that God is God, and he will win this battle.

[Matt 7:21-23; Lu 9:23-26; John 1:12-13; John 6:44; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; Rom 12:1-2; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Co 10:1-22; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Gal 5:16-24; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:1-17; Titus 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; 1 Peter 1:15; 1 Pet 2:24; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]

For Our Nation

An Original Work / September 11, 2012

Bombs are bursting. Night is falling.
Jesus Christ is gently calling
You to follow Him in all ways.
Trust Him with your life today.
Make Him your Lord and your Savior.
Turn from your sin. Follow Jesus.
He will forgive you of your sin;
Cleanse your heart, made new within.

Men betraying: Our trust fraying.
On our knees to God we’re praying,
Seeking God to give us answers
That are only found in Him.
God is sovereign over all things.
Nothing from His mind escaping.
He has all things under His command,
And will work all for good.

Jesus Christ is gently calling
You to follow Him in all ways.

Men deceiving: We’re believing
In our Lord, and interceding
For our nation and its people
To obey their God today.
He is our hope for our future.
For our wounds He offers suture.
He is all we need for this life.
Trust Him with your life today.

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In the previous verses we were instructed that, if we are true believers in Jesus Christ, who have died with him to sin, and who have been raised with him to walk in newness of life in him, no longer to live as slaves to sin, then we are to seek the things of God and not the things on this sinful earth. So we are to put out of our lives such things as sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, sensual passion, and evil desire, etc. For on account of these things the wrath of God is coming. And these are the kinds of things we once walked in, when we walked in sin, but we are now to put them all away.

But we don’t just put off sinful practices, by the grace of God, in the power of God, but we must put on all that is of God and that is holy, godly, morally pure, upright, honest, faithful, and obedient to our Lord. So, in place of the sinful habits we once walked in, now we are to put on compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, and the like, and we are to love and to forgive one another. For Jesus Christ died on that cross that we might die to sin and live to righteousness (1 Peter 2:24) and to buy us back for God (to redeem us) out of our lives of slavery to sin so we now honor God with our bodies.

[Romans 6:1-23; 1 Corinthians 6:19-20; Ephesians 4:17-24; Titus 2:11-14]

And the kind of love that this is saying that we should have for one another is not human love which is based in our emotions and in the person we are loving, but it is agape love, which comes from God, and which prefers what God prefers. So for us who believe in Jesus Christ, it means that we prefer to live through Christ, to choose his choices, and to obey them in his power. And what God chooses (prefers) is all that is holy and righteous and morally pure and upright, etc. So when we love with this kind of love we will give preference to what is holy and no longer to living in sin.

And the peace of God is an inward peace which comes to us from God when we surrender our lives over to Jesus Christ to do his will, and we forsake our sins to follow our Lord in obedience to his commandments (New Covenant). For then we are at peace with God when we are no longer walking in sin but we are now doing the will of God the Father, in the power of God, and as being led by the Spirit. For if sin is still what we practice, and not obedience to God, we cannot have true peace with God and be at peace in the trials and tribulations that will come upon us in this life.

And the foundation necessary for us to be able to do all of these put offs and put ons is Christ Jesus, and the faith that he provides, and that we receive from him, and that we walk in, by his grace. And, for those of us who now live under the New Covenant, it is the word of God living within us and out through us as we study the Scriptures in their context, and as we put those teachings into daily practice. For the Scriptures are given to us to give us instructions in what it means to be a believer in Christ and in how we are to live, as followers of Christ, now that we believe in him.

But it goes beyond just us and us studying the Scriptures and applying them to our daily lives. But as members of the body of Christ, his church, we are to be teaching and admonishing one another in all godly wisdom, singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs with thankfulness to God in our hearts. And we are to do all for the glory of God and for the salvation of human lives and for the encouragement of the body of Christ, that we may all grow to maturity in Christ together as one body. And we need this mutual encouragement to help us to mature in our walks of faith in our Lord.

[Matt 7:21-23; Lu 9:23-26; John 1:12-13; John 6:44; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; Rom 12:1-2; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Co 10:1-22; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Gal 5:16-24; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:1-17; Titus 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; 1 Peter 1:15; 1 Pet 2:24; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]

In Faithfulness He Leads Me

An Original Work / March 20, 2013
Based off Various Scriptures
(Psalms 26:3; Psalms 86:11; Psalms 91:4-5; Psalms 111:7-8; Psalms 119:73-76; Isaiah 25:1-9; Isaiah 42:6-7; Hosea 2:16-20)

Teach me Your ways, Lord, and I’ll walk in them.
Give me a pure heart. I’ll fear Your name.
Your love is always, ever before me.
Continually I’ll walk in Your truth.
You will cover me with feathers.
Under Your wings I’ll find refuge.
My Lord’s faithfulness will be my
Comfort and my shield.
The works of His hands are faithful and just.
Trustworthy are all of His precepts.

Your hands have made me, and they have formed me.
Give understanding of Your commands.
I have put my hope, O Lord, in Your word.
Your teachings, O Lord, are righteousness.
Lord, in faithfulness You have
Afflicted me so I may learn of
Your unfailing love and comfort
And Your truthfulness.
You are my husband; You have betrothed me
In love, compassion and faithfulness.

O Lord, You are my God, I’ll exalt You.
In faithfulness You’ve done wondrous things.
You’ve been a refuge for those who’re needy;
A shelter in storms; shade from the heat.
This is the Lord, we trusted in Him,
Let us be glad and rejoice
In His salvation which He
Provided through the Lamb.
Open the blind eyes; free all the captives.
Tell them of Jesus: “Be born again!”

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I am taking wagers here. This OP is NOT about whether there will be a great tribulation in the future. I'm assuming you don't think there is. This post focuses on wagering on what you believe.

Let proposition P1 = There will be a great tribulation in the future.
P2 = There will not be a great tribulation in the future.

Between 0 and 10, how much weight do you put on each of the above propositions? The stronger your belief in a proposition, the higher the weight. Your weighting scheme will determine the betting odds.

This is not a lotto or gambling bet. It is a wager to mathematically and scientifically measure the strength of your belief. Put money where your mouth is. If you are interested in mathematically finding out the strength of your belief, then tell me those two weights. See Subjective (Bayesian) Probability.

I use to get my son to do a lot more math when he was in High School. But we just did the math for how many atoms in the body and there is 10 to the 23 power. Then we checked to see how many bits of information is on the internet which is 10 21 power. That means if you assign one bit to each atom you can store all of the information on the internet on the atoms of our body. Even if you cremate the body, all of the information would still be intact on those atoms.

With quantum physics a qubit could actually contain a infinite amount of information. This means every atom in your body could contain all of the information for all of the universe. This helps to explain entanglement but they warn us not to make to much out of entanglement. Still with entanglement every proton or electron in the universe past present or future are connected and can communicate to some degree.

Entangled qubits are correlated such that they cannot be described independently from each other. That is, whatever operation happens to the state of one qubit in an entangled pair, also affects to the state of the other qubit.

Yes, it's possible to store information on a single atom. In 2017, scientists at IBM Almaden Research Center in the United States were able to store one bit of digital information in an atom, which is a breakthrough in the miniaturization of storage media. This is a more compact way to store information than current magnetic memory devices, which require about one million atoms to store the same amount of data. In theory, this technology could allow for the storage of more than a billion books of text on the surface of a stamp.

Entanglement enables quantum computers to implement various protocols and algorithms that are not possible with classical systems. For example, it is used in quantum teleportation, which allows for the transfer of quantum states between two distant systems.

Quantum computers exist and are being used in scientific laboratories, universities, and supercomputer centers around the world.

Molecular computers, also known as DNA or biomolecular computers, are a new type of computational technology that use biological molecules to perform calculations. They use DNA, biochemistry, and molecular biology hardware instead of the traditional silicon-based technologies used in computers.
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In my life the greatest discovery was the transister. Before transisters we had tubes. In 1968 you could buy a transistor radio that played the Beatles and you could fit it in your pocket. Now you can put a computer on a phone and fit it in your pocket. The first computer I used was the size of a room.

Going to be changing a faucet in my house tomorrow. Pretty sure I know how to do it, but would appreciate prayers that I don't run into any trouble. Thank you in advance.

Join us for a detailed discussion on the GOP's stance and policies regarding contraception. This forum will delve into the historical and current perspectives of the Republican Party on contraceptive access, legislation, and public health implications. We will explore key updates, legislative actions, and debates within the party. Engage with experts, policymakers, and community members as we navigate this critical aspect of healthcare and its broader societal impact. Whether you're looking for in-depth analysis or the latest updates, this forum promises to provide valuable insights and foster meaningful conversations.

It is time to pray and witness to doctors.

Hi, gosh darn it you've seen this kind of thing - not from me, though, but elsewhere, so here I go. I hate to say this but I don't understand what's wrong with wanting a doctrine to be only in the Bible itself.

For many Protestants, devotion to Our Lady is the single biggest obstacle to their becoming Catholic. Even many Catholics admit that they struggle with relating to Mary, or fail to understand why the Church seems so obsessed with her. Underlying this confusion might be a simple question which lurks behind all the others: If Catholics are right about Mary, then why on earth does the New Testament hardly ever mention her?

This question can present a considerable intellectual roadblock for Catholics and Protestants alike. Sure, there might be (according to Catholics, at least) some clever exegetical arguments that show the reasonableness of the Immaculate Conception or the Perpetual Virginity. But it feels as if that approach still sidesteps the much bigger challenge, namely, Mary’s near-total absence in Scripture. Again, if she’s so important, then why is she mentioned so little?

Here we need to push back a bit. Contrary to popular belief, it is not the case that Our Lady barely appears in the Bible. She actually appears multiple times in all four Gospels, and she is depicted as an important figure not only at Jesus’s conception and birth, but also at His first miracle and at His crucifixion. In the Acts of the Apostles, moreover, she is shown to be present in the Upper Room at Pentecost, and a robust case can be made that she is the heavenly queen figure described in Revelation 12.

Now admittedly, Mary is largely absent from the New Testament epistles, but this can hardly be construed as a strike against the Catholic view. For one thing, there are many important doctrines and devotions which St. Paul and the other letter writers simply don’t address. The doctrine of the divinity of the Holy Spirit, for example, isn’t stated explicitly anywhere in the New Testament epistles, but nonetheless it’s a doctrine we should accept based on a reading of the Scriptures as a whole, especially as interpreted through the living tradition of the Church.

Another point worth remembering here is that many of the New Testament epistles were written before the Gospels, and so when we look at the New Testament as a whole, it’s actually the later books like Luke, Acts, John, and Revelation which give us the final word on Our Lady—and in all these books, she plays a major role!

Continued below.

Remembering the first commandment of God to Moses and my parents to me (adding the front door)... And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. - Exodus 3:5

"In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit"

I wonder why Protestants do not do this? I know that it's not made a rule in scripture, but I feel it's a part of christian history that should never be broken. It shows that our faith was always the Trinity, despite the lies that many cults and other religions claim. For example, Islam, Jehovah's wittness, Iglesia Ni Cristo, Mormons, etc all claim an original Christian church that never believed in Christ's divinity or the Trinity, but this sign serves to be a historical remembrance that we always did.

The reason why I have made this question and why I ended up thinking that this gesture has to be universally expressed by christians is mainly because of my experience with christian cults. I've been to JW's and the Iglesia Ni Cristo services, and they are very frightening and disheartening.. and despite them teaching false things about the Bible and rejecting the divinity, they for some reason end their prayers with "In Jesus' name", the way protestants do.
These cults will never end with the sign of the cross, they will never say "the Father, Son, and HS" because they fully reject the truth of God. Because of this, I feel that the sign of the cross gesture has to be seen as important to protestants as well.

When a naturalist encounters a scientific challenge he cannot explain naturally, he cannot claim a supernatural explanation to his problem without contradicting his belief in naturalism. Having examined sufficient evidence to be a supernaturalist, a biblical creationist does have the option of claiming a supernatural explanation, but when is it appropriate to do so?

Of course, the most obvious time that it is appropriate to say “God did it” as a response to a proposed scientific difficulty with Creation is when the Bible explicitly says He did something. From time to time, however, we might come across a new quibble, about which Scripture is silent, and to which we cannot immediately give a reasonable answer. It would be easy to respond to such quibbles by simply saying “God did it” as our answer to the problem. Such an answer, however, becomes a form of the “God of the Gaps” argument, where God is inserted to solve a problem (or as proof that God must exist in order for the problem to be solved).

The other day I met a priest named Fr. Douglas. I'd never heard of a St. Douglas so I searched online and cannot find one except one 16th century RC saint. Two questions: is there an EO saint named Douglas? And, for some reason I'd always assumed that priests take the names of saints. Is that not necessarily the case?

Can you pray for the conversion and salvation of my cousins who support pride nonsense and that they return to the sacraments?

Thanks in advanced