Do Catholic schools teach theistic evolution in their science curriculum?
I was talking to a woman yesterday who goes to and used to work at, the LCMS church I belonged to, about their believe in a young earth and refusal to accept evolution. She said that even Catholics teach the same as the LCMS does. I told her she was wrong and that, as a matter of fact, Catholic schools teach theistic evolution in their science classes. Now I’m wondering if I was correct or not.

Lately I’ve really been struggling with anxiety and OCD, especially around intrusive fears about hell. It’s been taking over my thoughts and making it hard to get through the day. Sometimes I get stuck worrying about people I care about possibly “going there,” and other times I spiral into fear about myself.

Whenever I come across posts that talk about eternal torture or damnation, it makes everything worse — it triggers the anxiety and sends me into a loop I can’t easily escape. I know these thoughts don’t reflect who I am or what I truly believe, but they still feel so real in the moment.

“A freed Israeli hostage told CNN that his Hamas captors started treating him better after the 2024 U.S. elections.

"He got the hostages out," Omer Shem Tov said about Trump. "They were very scared of him -- the terrorists. They wanted Kamala to be elected."

"As soon as Donald Trump was elected, they understood that he wanted to bring us back home," he added. "So immediately, the way they treated me changed. The amount of food. I can say this, when Trump came into president, the way they treatest us changed, for me personally."


"More food, stopped cursing me, spitting on me."


Im not a Trump fan but I find this telling and interesting. Makes me wonder if the peace plan would have happened if Kamala was the president.

Thousands of private messages reveal young GOP leaders joking about gas chambers, slavery and rape.



And people are perplexed as why things like DEI exist.
These may be the future of the Republican party, but surely a apple from the tree.
"When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time."--Maya Angelou

I've been a tad sheepish of the threads I've been writing but I need to make another one.

This only applies to people, to whom it applies (yes, that sounds vague, lol).

How do you wrestle with the dilemma that you are finding it pointless anymore to dress pretty when going to church, because most people there are dressed as if they were going grocery shopping, or even hiking?

I feel better about myself when wearing a pretty dress, but other women are not dressing like me, and you know how catty women can be: "I bet she's dressing like that to find a husband."

I'm always a modest dresser, so that's not an issue.

When I have tried to dress for church like the others, I feel matronly and like I'm going to Walmart. However, I wonder if there is any point anymore in trying to look nice for church when I stick out like a sore thumb (that may be paranoia and not a fact). I am not overdressed IMHO.

'Heartbreaking, if he means it'

President Donald Trump prompted concern among some of his Christian supporters for comments he made over the weekend, suggesting he doesn't believe he's going to Heaven.

"I don't think there's anything going to get me in Heaven," Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Sunday on his way to Israel to sign a peace deal ending the war in Gaza. "I think I'm maybe not Heaven-bound. I may be in Heaven right now as we fly in Air Force One. I'm not sure I'm going to be able to make Heaven."

Trump was responding to a question that asked if brokering peace in the Middle East could help him "get into Heaven," which was a reference to comments he made in August that prompted a flurry of theological debate when he appeared to claim that ending the Russia-Ukraine war could help determine his eternal state.

"I want to try and get to Heaven if possible," Trump told "Fox & Friends" on Aug. 19. "I'm hearing I'm not doing well. I hear I'm really at the bottom of the totem pole."

"But if I can get to Heaven, this will be one of the reasons," he added about peace in Ukraine at the time.

Continued below.

Sounds like this Hegseth directive is being broadly rejected by media outlets, big & small, and across the political spectrum.

All of the big ones are in broad agreement (ABC, NBC, CBS, and Fox News), and even the very "MAGA-friendly" Newsmax is opposing it as well.

"President Trump's leadership in the Abraham Accords laid the foundation for today's breakthroughs, bringing hope to the people of Gaza and beyond." Context: Qatar, a key mediator in hostage negotiations, credited Trump's prior accords for enabling the 2025 Gaza peace deal.

"We thank President Trump for his unwavering commitment to peace, from the Abraham Accords to this historic end to the Gaza conflict—Egypt stands ready to build on this legacy." Context: Egypt co-hosted the summit and praised Trump's role in regional de-escalation, building on the 2020 accords.

The United States, under President Trump's guidance, has been instrumental in advancing Morocco's recognition of Israel, opening a new chapter of prosperity and mutual respect in the Middle East." Context: Morocco joined the accords in exchange for U.S. recognition of its Western Sahara claims, explicitly thanking Trump's administration.

What would you recommend, I didn't know where to post this so I thought it would be the most appropriate here

Back in 2013, a U.S. Air Force unit training to fly America’s most advanced military aircraft wore a patch inspired by the television show My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.

The Air Force confirmed it: bronies were flying jets.
“We train world-class pilots who will go on to defend our great nation,” said 1st Lt. Tom Barger, a public affairs officer at Vance Air Force Base in Oklahoma. “Fostering camaraderie, morale and unity on a regular basis and through small means—like a tastefully humorous patch—enhances our ability to complete the mission when working as a team is essential.”

The pink and purple patch—first spotted by My Little Pony fan site Equestria Daily—and worn by 24 flight students from Joint Undergraduate Specialized Pilot Class 14-05, referenced the cable cartoon show about a team of magical ponies.


Yooooo, this is just too awesome. As a brony myself I'm happy to see this happened.

And it helps combat stereotypes and shows cartoons aren't just for kids and can be enjoyed by anybody.

I have to go in this morning for either two root canals, or one root canal and one extraction. I am not a fan of dental work, thanks to the very first dentist I ever saw in 1965---a sadist whom I believe to this very day was an escaped Nazi. In any event, I am not looking forward to this, and if you could all pray that everything goes well today, I would be grateful.

The personal mobile phone numbers of Australian PM Anthony Albanese and the federal opposition leader Sussan Ley were made public on a free website.


It's tempting to make a joke about phoning the PM - "G'day Tony. Got your number from Sussan. There's a bunch of us down here at the pub and we were wondering how things are going with Donald? Heard any good tariff jokes lately?"

"We got one! 'I shot the tariff, But I did not shoot the subsidy!!' Not bad, huh?"

But it does indicate the increasing threat to privacy posed by AI.

Turkey has been deporting hundreds of foreign Christians and blocking their return by labeling them national security threats, according to an international legal advocacy group.

ADF International Legal Officer Lidia Rieder told a gathering of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe's Human Dimension Conference in Warsaw, Poland, on Monday that such designations are issued through internal security codes and have left local Protestant communities without leadership.

Since 2020, at least 200 foreign Christian workers and their families, totaling around 350 people, have been barred from the country under internal security codes N-82 and G-87, ADF International reports.

Continued below.

Australia took ten of the 15 world hot spots on Monday.

On Monday, the remote Pilbara station Mardie reached 43.5 degrees Celsius, making it the hottest spot on the planet for the day, according to online world temperatures site El Dorado Weather, which collates temperature data from thousands of stations around the world.

It was followed by Fitzroy Crossing in the Kimberley, and the Pilbara towns of Onslow, Marble Bar and Telfer.

Australian towns took out 10 of the top 15 spots.

Click to expand...

But it is not regarded as a heat wave - not yet anyway.

To meet the heatwave criteria, the BOM looks at the temperatures of both the day and the night.

When combined, they have to fall in the top 5 per cent of all temperatures across an average year to be considered enough for a heatwave.

These unusual temperatures have to hang around for more than three consecutive days

Click to expand...

An 1,800-year-old silver amulet discovered buried in a Frankfurt, Germany grave, still next to the chin of the man who wore it, has 18 lines of text written in Latin on just 1.37 inches of silver foil. That could be enough to rewrite the known history of Christianity in the Roman Empire.

The amulet—and the inscription—are the oldest evidence of Christianity found north of the Alps.

Every other link to reliable evidence of Christian life in the northern Alpine area of the Roman Empire is at least 50 years younger, all coming from the fourth century A.D. But the amulet, found in a grave dating between 230 and 270 A.D. and now known as “The Frankfurt Inscription,” was made to better decipher the inscription.

“This extraordinary find affects many areas of research and will keep science busy for a long time,” Ina Hartwig, Frankfurt’s head of culture and science, said in a translated statement. “This applies to archaeology as well as to religious studies, philology, and anthropology. Such a significant find here in Frankfurt is truly something extraordinary.”

Continued below.

Only by the mercies of God, and in his power, are any of us able to do what this talks about here. Only by the grace of God, in God the Father sending Jesus Christ, his only begotten Son, to die on a cross and to put our sins to death with him, are any of us able by faith in Jesus Christ to die with Christ to sin and to obey our Lord’s commands in daily practice. All this comes from God and is empowered of God and is gifted to us by God. Not one of us, in our flesh, is deserving of God’s love and grace. All glory belongs to God!!

But Jesus Christ did not give his life up for us on that cross just to forgive us our sins and to promise us heaven as our eternal home. He put our sins to death with him on that cross so that, by God-persuaded faith in him, we will now die to sin and live for God in walks of obedience to his commands, in holy living. By God-gifted faith in the Lord Jesus we are to surrender our lives to God to do his will, and we are to submit to his Lordship over our lives, and we are to die daily to sin and to follow Jesus where he leads us.

Because Jesus Christ put our sins to death with him, we are to die to sin. And because God raised him from the dead, we are to live new lives in Christ Jesus, no longer as slaves to sin, but as servants of righteousness. We are to give our bodies over to God as living and holy sacrifices to God, acceptable to God, which is our spiritual service of worship of God. For worship of God is not just singing songs of worship, and raising our hands, as we see many people doing, but it is in following our Lord in obedience to his commands.

And worship of God is not something we do in a “worship service” via singing songs of praise to God if our lives are not surrendered to the will of God, and if we are not living holy lives, pleasing to God. We may be going through the motions of “worship,” but true worship of God, of Christ Jesus, involves us dying to sin and walking in obedience to our Lord in surrender to the will of God for our lives, in holy living, empowered by God. Our lives are no longer our own to be lived how we want, but they are to be lived for the will of God.

And then we are no longer to be conformed to the ways of this sinful world. We should not look like, act like, speak like, think like, and live like the ungodly of this world. We should not blend in with the culture of the world to be accepted by the people of the world. But we are to be separate (unlike, different) from the world because we are now being conformed by God to the likeness of character of Jesus Christ, as we cooperate fully with God’s work of love and grace in our lives in molding us into his likeness.

For we are now to be transformed in heart and mind and behavior by the grace of God, empowered by God, by God-gifted faith in Jesus Christ. Our old lives of living for self and in sin should have been put to death by faith in Jesus Christ. Sin should no longer be our practice, but obedience to God in righteous and holy living is to be what we practice, by the grace of God. Sin should no longer have mastery over our lives, but God should now be Lord and Master of our lives as we now live holy lives which are pleasing to God.

[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 1:18-32; Romans 2:5-10; Romans 3:23; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-13; Hebrews 10:19-39; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:3-6; 1 John 3:4-10; Revelation 2:1-29; Revelation 3:1-22]

Oh, to Be Like Thee, Blessed Redeemer

Lyrics by Thomas O. Chisholm, 1897
Music by W. J. Kirkpatrick, 1897

Oh, to be like Thee! blessèd Redeemer,
This is my constant longing and prayer;
Gladly I’ll forfeit all of earth’s treasures,
Jesus, Thy perfect likeness to wear.

Oh, to be like Thee! full of compassion,
Loving, forgiving, tender and kind,
Helping the helpless, cheering the fainting,
Seeking the wandering sinner to find.

O to be like Thee! lowly in spirit,
Holy and harmless, patient and brave;
Meekly enduring cruel reproaches,
Willing to suffer others to save.

O to be like Thee! while I am pleading,
Pour out Thy Spirit, fill with Thy love;
Make me a temple meet for Thy dwelling,
Fit me for life and Heaven above.

Oh, to be like Thee! Oh, to be like Thee,
Blessèd Redeemer, pure as Thou art;
Come in Thy sweetness, come in Thy fullness;
Stamp Thine own image deep on my heart.

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Only By The Mercies of God
An Original Work / October 14, 2025
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

Says economic, crime woes linked to 'spiritual problem'

Like so many of us, Pastor Ché Ahn was waiting for a sign.

Before announcing his candidacy for governor of California in June, the 69-year-old pastor, author and global ministry leader experienced what he calls a divine calling.

“On April 28th at 2:22 in the morning, I woke up and I had an encounter with the Holy Spirit,” Ahn told The Christian Post on Wednesday. But when he realized he was being called to run for governor of California, Ahn recalled his initial response: “Please God, not that.”

Seeking confirmation, Ahn says he prayed for an invitation to the White House, which materialized days later: “I said, 'Lord, if this is of you, let me be invited by President Trump to the White House.'” When he returned from a prayer meeting, Ahn received a text saying he would be receiving an email from the White House.

“When I got the email, I said, 'OK, Lord, I’m in, I'll do it,’” he said.

Continued below.

This is a personal prayer of mine so I don’t want to say what it is. I just ask that everyone pray that this prayer of mine gets answered sooner rather than later. Thank you.

Purely personal but lately I've been wondering just when I first made my Christian confession.

I knew it was shortly after the Commonwealth Games in Brisbane in 1982, which ran from 30 September to 9 October 1982.

I had the flu at the time and I couldn't do anything except watch TV. I don't normally watch sport, but since there wasn't much else on I watched a fair bit of the games. Two names readily come to mind - Tracey WIckham who won medals in swimming and Robert de Castella ("Deek") who won the marathon. Some years later my then Presbyterian pastor said of Tracey Wickham that she would go through a terrible time, which she did.

It was not a good time in my life. I was out of work, going through a divorce, going to lose the home I was paying off etc.

But as I sat there a very persistent image of the "Newmarket Presbyterian Church" kept intruding into my mind. I'd had a bit of Sunday School when I was young at that church. It's a private home now, but at that time it was still going.

This image just didn't go away. It was persistent. Since I had nothing to lose and was thinking "There's got to be more to life than this!" I ended up going to the church after the Games finished and the flu was gone. A few weeks later I made a confession.

For some reason I've recently started trying to remember when I made my confession. I think it was probably in the early part of November. Using AI I got the following dates for Sunday in November 1982 - 7th, 14th, 21st and 28th.

I suspect it might have been November 14, 1982. I remember making my confession, half reluctantly, and then going home feeling as though I was "walking on air" (to quote another chap who had the same experience after he made his confession, years earlier than I did as he's nearly 20 years older).

In turn I met the pastor of that church (there were three churches in the parish, Wilston-Windsor-Newmarket). I soon gravitated to Wilston which was the main church and where he had his office. Of the three churches it is the only one still going as Newmarket was sold off, and while I think they may still have the property rights for Windsor, it is not being used.

The website for the Wilston Church follows and I can still recognise at least four people even though I haven't been there for 34 years - a former treasurer and his wife, an elder, and another lady who also did some organisation at the Masters Athletics.


In this scene, there is a door down towards the right hand end, which is the office where the pastor and I had a lot of dicussions. There was also a gym under the church. I enjoyed my time there, not because it was "Presbyterian" but due to the people.


Incidentally the Presbyterian Church of Queensland is in receivership, not because of parish churches themselves or pedophile court cases which have been a burden to a number of churches, but due to financial mishandling of their aged care facilities. Apparently the aged care function was not a separate business entity from the Presbyterian Church itself.


The night my father died (when I was still atheist) he predicted I'd become Christian and that as part of that I'd meet a certain pastor, who would "discourage (me) even more". That turned out to be the Presbyterian pastor as he admitted circa 1991 that "You needed encouragement, but all I've done is to discourage you even more!", quoting my deceased father back to me word for word.

But I learnt a lot from him and still hold him with a lot of respect. In turn he predicted I'd become Catholic, which I did circa 1996/97.

I received a Bible dated 7/12/96 as part of RCIA which was probably during the Rite of Welcome. This implies I was inducted into the Catholic Church during the Easter Vigil in 1997, which happened to be on 29 March, 1997.

So I think I've managed to pin those two dates down. Just a bit of useless information for forum readers.

Journalist Ben Appel is on a remarkable journey, one that has taken him from being a disciple to a doubter to a full-blown heretic, but not in the way you might think.

You see, he is a “heretic” today not because he no longer ascribes to the quasi-Christian doctrines he was taught in his childhood, but because he dares to dissent from the tenets of what he calls the “Church of Social Justice.”

But first, let me pause and rewind a bit, as an interesting history is at work.

In 2021, a conservative Christian friend sent me Appel’s fascinating long-form essay in Quillette, and to date, it is one of the most memorable articles I have ever read. That essay from a truly gifted writer has now taken shape more fully in an upcoming memoir to be released next month (I was honored to read a preview copy).

The memoir is called Cis White Gay: The Making of Gender Heretic, and in case anyone’s wondering why a review of a book like this by a man who writes that his same-sex attraction “made [him] feel whole” and who campaigned for the legalization of same-sex marriage (and is in one) is appearing in a theologically orthodox Evangelical publication which does not hide its moral and spiritual commitments to historic Christian sexual ethics, I’ll gladly explain. First, it’s because I admire gutsy, transparent people, even those with whom I disagree on weighty moral and anthropological issues. Second, I also believe it’s vital for Christians to enter into, learn from, and understand the stories of those whom they might assume function as an ideological monolith. It is here where the author breaks the mold.

Appel poignantly details what it was like being a gender-nonconforming boy in a conservative religious covenant community called Lamb of God, a charismatic Catholic group, in a suburb of Baltimore that was formally investigated by the Archdiocese for “cult-like practices” in the early 1990s. When he was 12, his parents split up, and he moved to a new neighborhood. Although his new community was a relatively short physical distance away, ideologically it was far away from the tight-knit, insular context of his childhood. In the new environment, he would be bullied and tormented at his public school for being effeminate, develop an obsessive-compulsive prayer life, become addicted to drugs and alcohol, and wind up in a psychiatric hospital.

Continued below.

Opponents organize 'Resist Digital ID' protest; gov't says it's safe and efficient

The U.K. Labour Party is pushing for a digital ID for its citizens, a reprisal of former Prime Minister Tony Blair’s attempt under his premiership two decades ago, this time under the guise of using it to stop illegal immigration. Many, however, are raising concerns and warning about its implications for security and civil liberties.

The Labour government released a statement on Sept. 26 announcing plans to institute a free digital ID for U.K. citizens, claiming it will thwart the employment of illegal migrants by enhancing Right to Work checks. It does not address the housing, monetary and educational assistance provided to illegal migrants who apply for asylum and receive benefits until their cases are decided.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer has claimed the digital ID initiative is necessary to combat the illegal immigration that has been plaguing the U.K.

Continued below.

Consider the verse below when thinking about the modern nation of Israel.

Isaiah 54:9 To me this is like the days of Noah, when I swore that the waters of Noah would never again cover the earth. So now I have sworn not to be angry with you, never to rebuke you again.

The Apostle Paul declares the obvious in Galatians 4:26-27. That Isaiah 54 is a prophecy about the New Jerusalem. The context of that chapter is Old Testament believer’s being illustrated as the wife of God suffering at the hands of their own wicked kings and the gentile nations; someday winning the nations by the gospel and through that inheriting the world. This is why Paul called the New Jerusalem the mother of all New Testament believers. OT saints in Ancient Israel gave birth to NT saints, both Jew and Gentile.

Here is how Isaiah 54:9 ties into the debate over the two extremes between those who teach the name Israel IS ONLY referring to the Jews and modern Israel and God's covenant with them. Verses those who say Israel is now the church and God's NT covenant. In both the OT and NT we see God is almost continuously angry with Ancient Israel for its sin. The reason for this is God chose both the saints and sinners out of one nation, Ancient Israel, to bring his word and the Messiah into the earth. It was his Normandy beach head for his long-planned invasion of planet earth to spread the influence of his invisible kingdom.

Once the mission God chose all of Ancient Israel for was complete. His focus became the expansion of that influence worldwide. First through Jewish believers that naturally added Gentile believers to that mix. This new mix of believers, illustrated in the Bible’s prophecy was given a new name- The New Jerusalem

Isaiah 62;1 For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent, for Jerusalem’s sake I will not remain quiet, till her vindication shines out like the dawn, her salvation like a blazing torch. 2 The nations will see your vindication, and all kings your glory; YOU WILL BE CALLED BY A NEW NAME that the mouth of the Lord will bestow.

That is why God would no longer be angry with his people. They are no longer a mix of ethnic Israeli's who had the faith of Abraham along with the ethnic Israeli's who refused that faith. Instead, his people, illustratively spoken of as God’s bride and the New Jerusalem consist of a mix of ethnic Israelis and gentiles who have embraced the faith of Abraham- in and of the Messiah.

Speaking to both extremes about this issue. This IS the Bible’s OT and NT doctrine on the matter. God will not smile upon anything else that is taught.

Does this mean ethnic Israelis, or Jews, who do not have or refuse the faith of Abraham are no longer God’s chosen people? That would depend on narrative you look at Bible's prophecy through. Which by the way is the main point of friction between the two extremes. One extreme says yes because there is end of the world prophecy in the Bible that revolves around a modern nation of Israel. One says no because only believers count as the children of Abraham by faith so the modern nation is an aberration not mentioned in scripture.

But what says the scripture? Well, according to many chapters of prophecy like Isaiah 54, 60, 61, 62, 65 Rev 20-22. Daniel 2 & 7 They say billions would come to Christ after the Roman Empire ends which happened in 1453 AD; and the natural result of that would be a world transforming for the better. We now know this was due to the general public, (illegally) beginning to gain access to their own Bibles to read themselves right when that empire ended. This is what the Bible means when it said the meek, or the saints, shall inherit the earth. It's why we went from the perpetual rule of kings and emperors to a growing free world of republics as it states in the passage below.

Isaiah 29:18-20 And in that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity, and out of darkness. The meek also shall increase their joy in the LORD, and the poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel. For the tyrannical oppressor is brought to nothing…….

Now we have the key to understanding why modern Israel exists. The process of meek inheriting the earth would providentially lead to the world having mercy on the Jewish people and bringing them back to the land promised to Abraham. NOT for some end of the world apocalypse. But rather as part of the process of the meek inheriting the earth. As stated in the prophecy below. The regions future is 10’s of millions of Jews, Arabs, Egyptians and Syrians finding the faith of Abraham in Jesus their savior. The natural result of theirs and the Bible’s influence will be the transformation of the region. It's how the prophecy below is being fulfilled. All the war, death and destruction is Satan’s doings through darkened hearts to try to stop this from happening. Over the long run, it is not going to work.

Isaiah 19: 23-25 In that day shall there be a highway out of Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrian shall come into Egypt, and the Egyptian into Assyria, and the Egyptians shall serve with the Assyrians. In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt and with Assyria, even a blessing in the midst of the land: whom the LORD of hosts shall bless, saying, Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel mine inheritance.

Good news is it not? Peace on earth, good will towards men news.

Last week I had written out a long post 3-4 times but deleted it, saying I was feeling angry and frustrated with my stepson because I basically felt like he was being lazy and not committing to the job hunt like I expected of him. I think I felt unjustified to feel angry because I know the job market's tough in my town, but he recently go hired at a McDonald's and at least for now is working full time while he trains. Still, it really irked me that if he wasn't at work he'd be sleeping in the middle of the day or playing video games at 3 in the morning.

I don't know if you guys remember the backstory here but in 2023 my step son decided not to move to CA with us and he stayed behind in NY and lived with his grandparents. He got into drugs including pot and psychedelics like mushrooms and possibly LSD. Then at the end of May this year he announced to his mom he was going to move down to TX and live with his dad (something he's never done before, his dad is the definition of deadbeat and has never taken the kids for more than 1-2 nights). My step son's stay in TX lasted about 10 days and culminated in a drug fueled mental breakdown that landed him in the hospital. After he got discharged we had him come to us in CA and he's been living with us ever since in our overcrowded 3bd house with his twin sister, us, and our two baby boys (2.5y and 8m).

Fast-forward to yesterday and I get a call from my wife wanting to explain some things that I was apparently in the dark about. The first being that a few days ago she caught my step son smoking pot in the garage. He didn't seem to care, and clearly thinks it's morally acceptable even as someone who supposedly had a bit of a Catholic awakening in recent months. She made him throw the pot away, which she's only assuming he did cause she didn't witness him doing it, and he very casually said he's smoked once before since he moved in with us.

Not only are we not okay with pot use, regardless of it's legality, but we have two kids under three now and we don't want them within a mile of any kind of drug use.

I told my wife we need to take away his access to his bank account and his iPhone cause obviously those two things are what's allowing him to order weed. She texted me a couple hours later and said she talked to him and he understood. She did those two things, plus imposed a 10pm curfew where he can't even go out in the garage to workout.

The problem is, he's a very manipulative person and he especially knows how to control my wife. He does it indirectly with his own emotions, she's very tied into him because she's always felt guilty that his dad was such a loser and never man enough to be a father. So my step son uses that against her and therefore doesn't seem to care about what she says, especially when it comes to discipline, because he knows when he has her by the scruff of her neck. For the record, he's a 20 year old man now and he's living with us rent-free. I've tried to broach the subject of charging rent but that's anathema to my wife, apparently kids in Hispanic culture can live with their parents for free as long as they want.

I think my wife is finally in a place where she's not afraid to boot him out though, because now she has to protect our little ones and she's finally starting to see that my step son isn't a baby like them.

I told her I think we need to impose a three strikes rule, and consider that he now has two already (his admitting he smoked here once before is retroactively strike one), this latest offense is strike two, and strike three is he gets booted from the house. I know my wife feels upset, frustrated, betrayed, manipulated and fed up. She's finally seeing that most of what he says is just platitudes and placating words but that he doesn't really believe anything he says.

What would you do in this situation?

Wondering what the difference is between meditation and contemplation? Thanks.