I wouldn't mind finding a new church, but being that I'm naturally so skeptical and inclined toward the philosophical appraisal of darn near everything, I don't really see any churches in my area that would allow me "to be me" and put up with my questions and evaluations of their specific Church Dogma and the presentation of further historical, hermeneutical, and sometimes scientific, research ...

I prefer a church denomination that doesn't assume the Bible comes in a hermetically sealed box from that church's own self-accredited packaging plant, especially not for the specific support of politics.

Does anyone know of a Christian Church like that? I don't, but if anyone here does, please let me know.

An interesting video youtube suggested to me:

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Jesus' teaching that one should treat others as they themselves would like to be treated, commonly known as the Golden Rule, holds a profound theological meaning. Do you agree that It encapsulates the empathic essence of morality, emphasizing the dignity and respect due to every individual? And would practicing this commandment lead individuals towards greater empathy and moral integrity, while guiding societies towards fairness, equality, and mutual respect?

TikTok user Tiff (@theunapologetictiff) posted the original video, which has since amassed more than 879,000 views, on June 28. In it, she says, “I am so upset, and I’m not trying to be dramatic, but I’m literally shaking.” She says she was just at Planet Fitness changing in the women’s locker room when a male staff member walked out of the women’s bathroom and saw her without a shirt or bra on.

So guy working at Planet Fitness peeps on woman changing clothes...and PF decides to tell her to relax and plays the whole thing off.

It doesn't appear that the guy is trans....but as PF allows anyone to use the restroom they feel comfortable in, he doesn't appear to be in any trouble. Besides, what difference would it make if he said he feels like a woman?

Judging by the response from staff, this isn't his first time. PF even runs a scary promo allowing underage girls to try the gym out for free.

Thoughts?

By Thursday, it will be 2 weeks since the debate. I expect Biden to drop out by next weekend. Two weeks is enough time to have the discussions and to review polls regarding the presidency AND THE HOUSE.
==============
CNN and MNBC will be happy to broadcast 2 or 3 or 4 debates among the top 5 so Democratic candidates (July 22 and couple after the Olypics makes sense to me). They could run the debates, or the party could appoint those who would ask the questions. Maddow and Stephenopolis come to mind. Networks could decide to have town hall interviews with the top candidates, or not.

The delegates would then decide in the old-fashioned way, at the convention. The country would be focused on the Democrats for several weeks.

This is the BEST chance for the Democrats to win the House and perhaps even the presidency, although that is now a long shot, now that Biden wasted a year of the country getting to know the candidates. The primaries were a fine opportunity, now lost.

I find as I look over the Hillsong scandal and at the churches, there is a worldly influence constricting us. The fear of man is also restricting us.

One cannot preach to sinners as before, or there may be a press circus or something less intense. And the repentant sinner can't preach, or they may be criticized. I think to some extent the world has always criticized us. But now they are condescending about what's right and honourable and may not tolerate our mercy and grace.

Remembering Nicky Cruz, John Newton and King David in Psalm 40. Set free, being set free, being attacked with aha aha. And there is also pimp to preacher Jan Ericksson. The Cross and the Switch Blade, and Run Baby Run. Still on Delafe testimonies sinners repent, but the need is for the reaper to overtake the Sower. We need more. We need a lot more grace and many preachers, stable ones. "Where sin abounds grace even more." Quote from Paul the Apostle.

Reinhard Bonnke was well reputable and had good success, and we need out reaches to the lost. Because Jesus wants all the world to hear the Gospel before He returns. I think the rules churches make restricts this. The government laws may not be designed with our interests in mind but are condescending. Their care is one dimensional. Sometimes even communist like, banning Bibles in nursing homes according to ACLJ.

When a man and a woman unite together in what is to be a Christian marriage, according to the Scriptures, the man is supposed to leave his parents, hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh, united as one, not to be divided. That is God’s design and purpose for marriage which the Lord had me write about recently in a document called, “A Godly Marriage,” which can be read at the link at the end of this writing (1).

And to “hold fast” to his wife is to be glued to her, to cleave to her (stick to; cling to; stand by her). And he is to promise to love and to cherish her, in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health, for richer for poorer, for better for worse, and forsaking all others, keep himself only unto her, for as long as they both shall live. And the wife is to promise the same to her husband. And both are to put this into daily practice in their married lives.

[Genesis 2:24; Hebrews 13:4; 1 Peter 3:1-7; 2 Peter 2:13-19; 1 Corinthians 5:1-2; 1 Corinthians 6:9-20; Ephesians 5:1-33; Colossians 3:18-19; 1 Thessalonians 4:3-8; Titus 2:3-5; Matthew 5:28; Matthew 15:19-20; Matthew 19:9; Mark 7:20-22; Romans 13:9; Galatians 5:13-21]

Now, with regard to the subject of obedience to other humans, whether they are our husbands, bosses, government heads, the police, pastors/elders, or parents (if we are children under their supervision), all obedience is subject first to God and to the teachings of the Scriptures and to his moral principles and his commandments for us in holy living. So we are never to submit to sin of any kind, never to compromise truth and righteousness, never to do what is immoral, and never to deny Jesus Christ and the truth of his word.

And if you are a husband, a father, a boss (earthly master), a pastor/elder, or a person whose job it is to uphold the law of the land, if you are a Christian, then you should not be harsh with those under your care, but you are to love them as God/Christ loves us. And you are not to be domineering, but you are to lead by example. And you should not be a bully or a tyrant, but you should love as Jesus loved and gave himself up for us so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. So love as you want to be loved.

And whatever we do or whoever we serve under, we are to work as though we are working for the Lord, and we should do all as is fitting (proper) in the Lord. So, we do not ever have to submit to evil or to compromise our faith and practice and our witness for the Lord in order to be in submission to those who are over us. And Jesus, and his disciples, and Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, and Daniel all serve as wonderful examples of how to put this into practice in our daily lives, being willing to die for the truth of God.

And then we are to place those in authority over us in the hands of the Lord, trusting the Lord to work in their lives according to his will and purposes. And then we should pray for them and for wisdom and guidance from the Lord each day to know just how best to minister to those in authority over us and how best to love them without compromising truth and righteousness, and without disobeying our Lord and sinning against him.

[Matt 4:17; Matt 7:21-23; Matt 11:20-21; Matt 12:41; Matt 21:28-31; Mk 1:14-15; Lu 5:32; Lu 9:23-26; Lu 13:1-5; Lu 15:2-7; Lu 24:45-47; Jn 3:17-21; Jn 6:35-58; Jn 8:31-32,51; Jn 10:27-30; Jn 14:15-24; Jn 15:1-11]

In Harmony

An Original Work / September 2, 2012
Based off Ro. 12:9-21; 1 Pet. 3:8-17

Love each other truly.
Cling to what is good.
Hate all that is evil.
Never lack in zeal.
Serve the Lord with fervor.
Joyful in hope be;
Patient in affliction;
Praying faithfully.
Honor one another.
Live in harmony.

Share with all God’s people
Who are found in need.
Do not be conceited.
Sympathetic be.
Love, and show compassion
In humility.
Keep your tongue from evil.
Peaceful you must be.
Honor one another.
Live in harmony.

God sees who are righteous;
Listens to their prayers.
But He’s against evil –
Is His to avenge.
Do not fear what they fear.
Suffer patiently.
In your hearts, make Christ Lord.
Serve Him faithfully.
Honor one another.
Live in harmony.

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(1) A Godly Marriage

See The new earth as "heaven"

Social media platforms are awash with conspiracy theories following the death of a Mexican man from a new strain of bird flu.

The theories are largely based on the false belief that the U.S. government is concocting a new pandemic ahead of the November election, four years on from the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, as a means to control the population and presumably tip the result in President Joe Biden's favor.

The Context​

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the 59-year-old man died in Mexico City on April 24 after developing a fever, shortness of breath, diarrhea, nausea, and general discomfort. They say his death was caused by a strain of bird flu never before found in humans – H5N2.

Continued below.

God bless, folks!

Resurrection Catholic Parish in Tualatin, Oregon, invited Buddhist monks to instruct parishioners on Buddhist practices last month and allowed the monks to carry out their chants and prayers in the sanctuary in front of the altar.

TUALATIN, Oregon (LifeSiteNews) — Tibetan Buddhist monks instructed Catholics in their religious practices and led them in non-Christian chants at a Catholic church in Oregon.

On June 26, 2024, five Buddhist monks were invited to Resurrection Catholic Parish in Tualatin, Oregon. According to the parish pastor, Father Bill Moisant, the monks, whom he does not name, came from the Gaden Shartse Monastery in southern India and are followers of the Dalai Lama. Photographs show that two of them gave a small group of primarily elderly Catholics a presentation on Buddhist “meditation” and led a prayer session in the nave of the church.

Continued below.

People have theorized for years that Lavigne died in 2003 and was replaced by a stand-in named Melissa.

Avril Lavigne has responded to that insane conspiracy theory that she died in 2003 and was replaced by a stand-in named Melissa.

On the latest episode of the Call Her Daddypodcast, host Alex Cooper asked Lavigne up-front about the long-gestating conspiracy theory, which surfaced over two decades ago after the success of her debut album, Let Go. "I mean, it's just funny to me," she told Cooper. "On one end, everyone's like, 'You look the exact same. You haven't aged a day.' But then other people are like, 'There's a conspiracy theory that I'm not me.'"

She joked that, ultimately, there are worse conspiracy theories to be on the receiving end of. "Honestly, it’s not that bad. It could be worse, right?" she laughed. "I feel like I got a good one. I don’t feel like it’s negative. It’s nothing creepy. ... Obviously I am me, it’s so dumb. I think that they’ve done that with other artists. I’m not the only one. I think, like, other people have that."

Continued below.

Hey I had a question- I have never felt the leading of God to do anything, it has been like this since I was saved 21 years ago, I never sense God's leading at all, nothing, I just have to guess as to what he wants. What should I do? Should I just do what I feel compelled to do and just assume God is leading me? I wasn't sure what church I should go to tomorrow morning but I asked God where He wants me to go but like always I never experience any leading at all, I have no idea what God wants me to do, should I just go wherever I want to and just assume God is leading me? I have to make a decision, I have to do something.

See When do we receive the Paraclete?

Two worlds!

Animals - The temporal bodies of clay we share with animals
The Gods - The eternal knowledge and spirit we share with the Gods

Noting...

Animals - Such pleasures are temporal, leaving us ahungered
The Gods - Such pleasures are eternal, leaving us sufficed

And Again...

Animals - Material and physical needs
The Gods - Intellectual and Spiritual needs

Animal pleasures without Godly wisdom are pleasures that are never long lasting.

Remember We Have been sanctified by the blood of Jesus once and for all. For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer sanctify to the purifying of the flesh in the old Temple service. How more shall the blood of Christ. Who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot. Purge (sanctify fully) your conscience (who we are. the man of sin) from dead works (sin, acts that cause death) to serve the Living God. For it was impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away our sin. Because if the worshippers were purged they would have been perfected, the conscience, who we are would have been purged and there would not have been a remembrance of sin every year. For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away our sin. But you know He was manifested to take away our sin and in Him is no sin. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. For by one offering He have perfected forever us whom are sanctified. Whereof this perfection the Holy Ghost has witnessed to us before when He saith, I will put my commandments in your hearts and in your minds will I write them. And your sins and iniquities will no longer be brought to my remembrance. Now where remission of these is there is no offering for sin.
Little children let no man deceive you. He that does righteousness is righteous EVEN AS He is righteous. He that sins is of the devil. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested. To destroy the works of the devil. Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he can not sin. For he is born of God, begotten by the word of truth. A new creature with the engrafted word.. God's Law in their hearts and minds. His word in our hearts and mouths that we do it. That is the faith that we preach. Because that is who we are in Christ. He is the first among many brethren, In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.
So Let us be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live. Partaking of His Holiness yielding the peaceable fruit of righteousness. For He has made a straight path for our feet to be healed.
SO exhort one another daily as we see the day approaching. For if we are sinning willfully, presumptuously, (Num. 15:30) after receiving the knowledge of this truth, there remains no more sacrifice for sin. Only Judgment and fiery indignation which shall devour the adversaries. He that set aside Moses Law died under two or three witnesses. How much sorer punishment do you think one is worthy that has done despite unto the Spirit of Grace. It will be a terrible thing to fall into the hands of God. For that which beareth thorns and briers will be rejected, and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned. So we say again, let's exhort one another daily as we see the Day approaching. For How shall we who are dead to sin live any longer therein? As Scripture says, The just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that are of faith into the saving soul. So, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us lest we ourselves are casted away. Look unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider Him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. For Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin. But God is faithful. He will suffer you to be tempted above that you are able to bear. But with the temptation give you a way to escape. For it is He that works in you both to will and do His good pleasure. Amen

Not the shot in the arm that the Dems were hoping for.

I’ll give Stephanopoulos credit, though. It wasn’t a softball interview.

This is what the "climate change" agenda is all about. Collecting more cash from the peasants.

Video of Oakland robbery aftermath:

When the owner called the Oakland Police Department upon arriving at the 76, he was allegedly told to “file a report online.” The owner then tried contacting OPD police chief Floyd Mitchell but was told he had to make an appointment. This will be the rest of the U.S. unless wokeness is stopped.

Suppose that Trump gets back in office and your personal situation improves do you dislike Trump so much that you would still want him out of office just because he is Trump?

Jesus said (Matthew 7:1): “Judge not lest ye be judged.” And many people since, including many Christians catechized by modern culture, have translated this to mean that the whole law and the prophets – indeed, the whole teaching of Christianity, is that Christians should simply refrain from assessing what others are and do. Especially, it seems, if what they are and do contradicts Christianity. It’s devilish madness, of course. And even as a matter of sheer logic, so obviously impossible and self-contradictory, that it’s hard to believe such nonsense has become so widely accepted as the very essence of what it means to be Christian.

And yet it has. And has been reinforced – intentionally or not – even within the Church. It’s become tiresome to have to point out how even the current pope and others close to him feed these confusions. But let us gird up our loins and, once again, try to make sense about this crucial matter.

The root of the recent problem began, of course, with the pope’s infamous remark – “Who am I to judge?” – on a plane back from Brazil early in his pontificate. A reporter asked about Battista Ricca, a prelate with a notoriously homosexual past in Uruguay, whom Francis had just appointed as director of the Casa Santa Marta, the Vatican guest house where the pope has chosen to live. (Francis’s remark actually wasn’t a judgment about homosexuality in general. It was – properly – conditional: “If someone is gay and is searching for the Lord and has good will, then who am I to judge him?”)

The smart-aleck response to “Who am I to judge?,” however, has been given for all time: “Who do you need to be?” And anyway, the reporter hadn’t asked what Francis thought about homosexuality. If you’re the pope, you’re the one who has to decide who is suitable, and not, for many sensitive positions serving God’s faithful people in the Church – like the place where you and many of your colleagues will be living. You’re not, at the moment, being asked about someone’s eternal destiny. So why pivot to a current cliché?

There’s no avoiding making such judgments, which may prove to be wise – or, as in this case, not, given the predictable misinterpretation of the pope’s words. And in the Church, as in all human institutions, such judgments inescapably involve not only competence, but morals.

Continued below.

Acts 26:23

that the Messiah would suffer and, as the first to rise from the dead, would bring the message of light to his own people and to the Gentiles.”

Click to expand...

Colossians 1:18

He is also the head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything.

Click to expand...

Revelation 1:5

and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him who loves us and has released us from our sins by His blood,

Click to expand...

Why is Jesus Christ referred to as the first to rise from the dead; the firstborn from the dead?
Please remember to give an honest, positive response backed up by scripture and reason in a loving manner.
If you are not using scripture to back up your response, or you are speaking from personal opinion, please preface your statements with "In my opinion," or "I believe."

Thank you.

You know, a chat about how he's going to send a few million immigrants to...wherever. How the country to which they'll be sent might react. The repercusions. His tarriff proposals. The possibility of dumping NATO. Not giving Ukraine any support. Coming out of the Paris Accord - again. Tax cuts for the big end of town.

Feel free to adress some or all of those points and any others, and quote the guy as necessary. But please, no schoolyard arguments along the line of 'But sir, sir. The other guy started it.' No trite arguments that 'he can't do any worse'. How about we concentrate just on Trump and look at specific pros and cons.

I am not sure why some Christians don't believe in global warming. I mean, Revelation 16:9 talks about great heat, which might be referring to global warming.

Besides, the motivation of minimizing or denying global warming is to allow industries to continue to emit gas. But, again, I don't think Christians should support it. Because microchip being mark of the beast and industries polluting the environment goes hand in hand. Of course, pollution itself is not the mark of the beast, but it is similar concept: manmade tampering with stuff God created (whether it be tampering with the environment through pollution or tampering with human bodies by inserting microchip implant).

Some Christians quote Genesis in support to being able to continue pollute the planet: basically they say God entrusted them with the role of making their own decisions of what to do with the animals or plants. But I don't think this is a good argument. Being entrusted with a role doesn't mean you can do bad things. On the contrary it means you are responsible in treating well something you been entrusted with.

Incidentally, some Christians talk about chem trails that they claim servants of future antichrist are deliberately creating. So, if they believe chem trails are a bad thing, why would they say it is just fine to pollute environment in more conventional ways?

Hi all. I want to clarify what is the SDA position on abortion?

I was talking to an Adventist in leadership, high up in the education system. He spoke about his trip to Auschwitz and seeing firsthand one of the places of the holocaust.

I replied saying yes it was a horrific tragedy. But there's a modern holocaust happening as we speak, occurring everyday. And that modern holocaust is the taking of unborn lives, in the vast majority of cases for the reason of expediency, unrelated to the health of the mother or child.

His response? Nothing. I mentioned it there times and all three times, no response. All I could think of was, "Wow. You make a fuss of keeping the "Sabbath", not eating "unclean" foods but don't care less about the killing of unborn children. That's awesome".

So what is the official SDA position of abortion, not related to the mother or the child being in immediate danger of life? And what do you think of an Adventist leader not caring at all about it?