My daughter was a promise for the future. I named her Maeve, after an Irish warrior queen, because I believed she was going to change the world.

I’d wanted her desperately. When I found out I was pregnant, I was so excited I couldn’t sleep. That first night, my now-husband and I sat together on our back porch in the dark, just taking it all in and thinking about how dramatically our lives would change.

[her water breaks, far too early]

My doctor told me to go straight to the emergency room where they confirmed the worst: There was no chance my daughter would survive, and I was in danger myself. Without emergency intervention to end my pregnancy, I was at risk for infection that could lead to sepsis, infertility or even death.

But the hospital said they couldn’t provide the care I needed to save my life and health.

Ignoring my doctors’ medical advice, the hospital refused to treat me, claiming its hands were tied because of Missouri’s abortion ban. They said there was nothing they could do unless my condition got even worse.

We drove nearly three hours to Kansas, where a doctor initially gave us the option to induce labor to lower my risk of infection and give us a few final minutes with Maeve, so we could hold her and say goodbye.

Then, the doctor came back with a different story. These doctors’ hands, too, were tied because the situation was too politically heated.

[Four days later], we found a clinic in Illinois that was willing to treat me. I’ll always be grateful for the kindness and compassion of the doctors who helped save my life.

Today, the Supreme Court could have provided clarity that EMTALA protects pregnant patients in emergency situations, regardless of state law.

Previous coverage of her story.

Decision

Supreme Court Overturns 40-Year Precedent You Didn't Know Existed: 'You Could See Things Descend into Chaos'​

The "Chevron deference" has long been the backbone of how corporations are regulated. The new ruling strips federal agencies of their power to determine what's best for Americans

On Friday, June 28, the court ruled 6-3 in favor of overturning the "Chevron deference," a backbone principle for how the federal government keeps corporations in check. Chevron is the practice by which federal courts defer to federal agencies when sorting out ambiguities in a law.

"Using environmental law as an example, most statues use words like 'pollutant' or 'human health' or 'environmental health' or even words as seemingly straightforward as ‘water,' " he says.

But the way those words are defined might differ between a large corporation that doesn't want their factory runoff to be regulated, and the agency meant to enforce human health.

In those cases, when a company or person takes a federal agency to court, the court sides with the agency itself.

[Now, individual judges in individual courts will decide these issues. Neither the plaintiffs nor the government know for sure what the law means.]

"Removing the Chevron deference creates a situation where you could see things descend into chaos," he says. "It’s kind of unimaginable what the regulatory space looks like in a world where administrators and regulators can't be confident that their reasonable interpretations of their mandates are respected by courts."

I was disappointed by both candidates.

Trump did not mention many of his strident assertions, that he has
demanded that his followers believe. As with his tea party candidates,
they seem to hide their true beliefs, until they are elected. Then they try
to destroy the democratic system from within.

Biden is a man who seems unable to present basic facts about the current
strength of the U.S. economy, AND point out some new challenges that
America faces.

I do not find the Democratic Party or the Republican Party as representing
the moderate middle of American voters.

Again, Protestant Fundamentalists do not distinguish between teaching the Judea-Christian moral-ethical (ME) system, and "teaching the Bible".

In general, the Judea-Christian ME model is compatible with the concepts of reality, evidence, a fair rule of law, and justice, that the founding American documents uphold. (These are not compatible with Trump's view of reality and morality.)

But this is not what Protestant Fundamentalists want. They want their own theology taught. And that, is not teaching a generally accepted ME model.

As long as the Protestant Fundamentalists demand that their own theology is taught in American schools, this will be a violation of church and state, under the founding America documents. It will also not be in agreement with the sacramental form of Christianity, of the first 4 centuries. (That is, this theology does not agree with the other major European Christian groups coming out of Europe -- Catholic and Lutheran.)

The anti-intellectualism of many of the Christian groups that want to dictate what is taught in public schools, disqualifies them from deciding the intellectual curricula of schools.

That's the core problem.

Oklahoma's top education official orders schools to teach the Bible

What does this mean to work out our own salvation? Well, when we have a correct biblical perspective of our salvation it helps us in understanding what this is saying. For this is not about us trying to earn or to deserve our own salvation through our own fleshly “good works” that we think we are doing for God but while we still live the way that we want without regard for God and for his will and purpose for our lives.

For, by God-given and God-persuaded faith in Jesus Christ, we are crucified with Christ in death to sin, and we are raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, no longer to live as slaves to sin but now as slaves to God and to his righteousness. Therefore, we are to not let sin continue to reign in our mortal bodies, to make us obey its desires. For if sin is what we obey, and not obedience to our Lord, we will die in our sins, not live for eternity.

For Jesus Christ taught that to come after him means that we must deny self, take up our cross daily (die daily to sin) and follow (obey) him. For if we hold on to our old lives of living in sin and for self, we will lose them for eternity. But if for the sake of Christ we deny self, and die daily to sin, by his grace, and we follow him in obedience to his commands (New Covenant), then we have eternal life with him (see Luke 9:23-26; Romans 6:1-23).

And then we learn in the Scriptures that Jesus died that we might die to sin and live to righteousness and that we might live for him and no longer for ourselves. He shed his blood for us on that cross to buy us back for God (to redeem us) out of our lives of living in sin and for self so that we will now honor God with our bodies, and so that we will now live holy lives pleasing to him in walks of obedience and in surrender to his will for our lives.

1 Peter 2:24; 2 Corinthians 5:15; 1 Corinthians 6:19-20; Ephesians 4:17-24

So, working out our own salvation with fear and trembling just means that we are walking in the salvation already provided for us via Jesus’ death and resurrection, and by his grace, and by God-given faith in him, which comes from him, and which is not of our own doing. So, we walk in obedience to our Lord, and we put sin to death in our lives, and we now live holy lives pleasing unto the Lord, but all because of God’s grace, and in his power!


And this here is evidence of what it means to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling, by the grace of God, and in the power of God, under the guidance and direction of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God.

We are not to be people who fight and quarrel with other people, especially not with others of like faith in Jesus Christ. Now this is not teaching that we cannot stand up for what is right and contend with what is evil. We can! And we should! Jesus definitely did, and so did his NT apostles. And we are instructed in the Scriptures that we are not only to be sharing the truth of the gospel, and living it, but we are to expose the fruitless deeds of darkness for what they are so that others do not fall into their evil traps.

But we need to learn how to do this without getting into heated arguments with others to the point to where we do and say things we should not do or say. We all have to guard against this, for Satan loves to provoke us to the point of anger. And so we must control that anger by the Spirit. And we must walk away from pointless discussions that go nowhere, especially if they are ones that get repeated over again. In some cases, wisdom says to walk away, for it will only go badly if we stay and try to prove our point.

Yes, we definitely live in a crooked and twisted generation, and so much of that has also creeped into the gatherings of what are called “churches.” But remember here that the church is not a building, not a corporation, not a church denomination, and not a specific physical location. The church is us who believe in Jesus Christ with genuine God-persuaded faith in Christ. We are the church, the living stones in God’s spiritual house, his building, of which he is our cornerstone and head.

But we are not to be part of that crooked and twisted generation. For God has called us to be his holy people who are living different (unlike, separate) from the world because God is now conforming us to the likeness in character of Jesus Christ, by our faith in Christ Jesus as Lord of our lives. We are not to blend in with our culture so that people will like us, but we are to walk in holiness and in righteousness in obedience to our Lord and to his calling on our lives to be his holy people.

Therefore, we are to stand out as different, as odd, as peculiar because we aren’t like the world, because we are being conformed to the likeness of Jesus Christ. And we are to shine the light of truth and of the gospel of our salvation via how we live our lives to the glory of God, and via our witness and our testimonies for Jesus Christ and for his gospel. And this engages refuting the lies of Satan, for so many people professing faith in Jesus Christ are following the lies and not the truth that Jesus taught.

And we are to be people of God who are willing to be hated and rejected and thought peculiar and cast away and forsaken and mistreated by others who do not believe and live the same gospel we believe and obey, by the grace of God. And this is so that we can share the truth of the gospel of Christ with others without fear of their rejection or persecution of us. For many people are believing the lies, and so they need to hear the truth, and so we need to be those who are willing to sacrifice our lives for the sake of their salvation.

[Matt 5:10-12; Matt 10:16-25; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 6:22-23; Lu 21:12-19; Jn 15:1-21; Jn 16:33; Jn 17:14; Ac 14:22; Rom 5:3-5; Phil 3:7-11; 1 Pet 1:6-7; 1 Pet 4:12-17; 2 Tim 3:12; 1 Thess 3:1-5; Jas 1:2-4; 2 Co 1:3-11; Heb 12:3-12; 1 Jn 3:13; Rev 6:9-11; Rev 7:9-17; Rev 11:1-3; Rev 12:17; Rev 13:1-18; Rev 14:1-13]

I Stand in Awe

By Mark Altrogge

… You are beautiful beyond description
Yet God crushed You for my sin
In agony and deep affliction
Cut off that I might enter in
Who can grasp such tender compassion?
Who can fathom this mercy so free?
You are beautiful beyond description
Lamb of God who died for me

And I stand, I stand in awe of You
I stand, I stand in awe of You
Holy God, to whom all praise is due
I stand in awe of You

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I didnt watch the debate as it has reached a level of politics that I dont care for, but the newscasters this morning were almost cataclysmic of the shocking feedback they are getting. We can see it in the headlines..












I think Biden will have to refuse the nomination and they pick another candidate other than Kamala Harris, it cannot be seen as anything but a catastrophic failure.

1. Immersed into water
2. Sprinkled by water
3. Pouring water over the head

Is this just ritual?
What matters is your confession of Faith in the public.
Did the Bible specify the method?
Should we be immersed as Jesus did in the Jordan river?

Having watched the presidential debate, and not caring to make a comment about party politics, all I have to say on the debate is that the debate amounted to saying:
Indeed, the scriptures urge both Christians and Israelites to honor the elderly and cherish their wisdom. The debate emerges over whether this principle is absolute or if there might be a point when someone is too aged to govern a nation.

Scripture teaches respect for the elderly, as seen in Leviticus 19:32, which instructs people to stand up before the gray head and honor the face of an old man, emphasizing the importance of showing reverence and care to senior citizens.

As voters seek divine wisdom on their journey to the ballot box, these teachings remain a guiding light.

Those before Christ was born how were they saved?
Imagine you are a normal citizen during Moses time, you heard about the Ten commandments, you follow Sabath day, you give sacrifice of animals,
you tried to do good, but you are not perfect.
You really fear God and believe in Him.
However, you are still a sinner.
You never have chance to listen to the Gospel.
In this case, how can you be saved by faith?

Pro-Kremlin X accounts push fake Fox News articles ahead of debate​

Efforts to manipulate social media discussion around the debate underscore warnings from experts regarding the threat that disinformation continues to pose.

The fake articles, first reported on X by the account @antibot4navalny, an anonymous group of analysts tracking Russia-related influence operations, directed people to a fake version of Fox News’ website. That website appears to be part of a known Russian disinformation campaign that has mimicked legitimate news websites from Le Monde in France to The Washington Post. E.U. researchers dubbed it the doppelgänger network in 2022.

In March, Alethea, a company that researches online risks including disinformation, identified 81 websites and more than 5,000 X accounts as part of the campaign.

Laundering propaganda through Kremlin-created or approved news outlets is a tried and true tactic, but this campaign has taken on a modern twist. It uses a fake website that credibly imitates a legitimate news outlet, sharing links through a network of seemingly automated accounts in a way that is not easily detected by platforms and researchers.

The fake website looks almost identical to Fox News’ real website, and the fake article uses the name of a real Fox News reporter.

Another article shared by accounts in the network with the headline “Mission: Almost Impossible” included an argument that President Joe Biden would need only to remain on his feet to win the debate and that Democrats were plotting to steal the election. It also included dehumanizing language about immigrants, in furtherance of the conspiracy theory of widespread illegal voting by immigrants.

[Wait a minute, are we sure it's fake?]

“The story is fake,” a Fox News spokesperson confirmed in an email.

Hello Everyone!

I have a question regarding potentially entering into marriage. I'll explain the situation and I am looking forward to any guidance. I entered into a relationship with a girl almost 2 years ago. Things are going great, and we are now talking about marriage, children, etc. Here's where my question starts. She was married before. The marriage ended due to the husband having issues with alcohol. She told him to leave, and after 3 months, he entered into a relationship with another woman. He had a child with the other woman. He was the first to do so, she did not enter into a relationship first. I am concerned because in the Bible it states that to marry a woman who was married before is adultery. I have been praying about it, researching it, reading scripture and my thought process currently is that the Bible does grant divorce in certain situations, one of those being for adultery. Since he entered into a sexual relationship with another woman, he broke the bonds of marriage and thus I would not be committing adultery by pursuing a marriage with her. I would appreciate any guidance on this. Thank you everyone in advance.

I feel that it is difficult to understand these verses, did Jesus say that figuratively? Or is he serious we must eat his flesh and drink his blood?
Protestant said the cup and bread of Lord's Supper only symbolize Jesus' sacrifice.
But Catholic said the Eucharist really transforms the bread and wine into Jesus' flesh and blood, you are eating his flesh and drinking his blood.
What did Paul say about this?

John 6:
53 Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. 55 For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. 56 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them. 57 Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your ancestors ate manna and died, but whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” 59 He said this while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.

Well?

If anyone haven't told you
I love you in the Lord
You are worthy
You matter
You are God's precious child
You are great as you are
God's love to you

With all the talk about microphones being cut so the candidates cannot interrupt each other. I was thinking about the moderators. It is their job to ask the questions - not editorialize.

So I started this thread and every time the moderator asks a question and interrupts the candidate during his 2min reply. Simply write the candidates name in a simple post. We record it in real time then and we can compare the totals at the end.

Just an interesting experiment.

Hello folks. This is the Wall Street Journal's coverage of the Presidential Debate. I might not watch it, but as public service, here it is. The debate starts on June 27, 2024 at 8:00 PM CT or 9:00 PM ET (01:00 UTC on June 28, 2024 for the British folks). Use this thread to discuss the debate. Left, center and right are all welcome to join in the conversation.

Presidential Debate: June 27, 2024 (Age rating: 15+, due to heavy topic, and potential slander from both sides)
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AP News link below (no summary, as AP has strict copyright rules):

I stopped using Google for search years ago, but recently started using it again occasionally. The results page has something new on it, a section titled "People also ask", where it doesn't necessarily provide a link, but just answers related questions. I assumed this was done with AI, but today I received an answer which contained an opinion about food - "An American 'Full Yankee' is equivalent to the 'Full English' Breakfast. You can top this with brown sauce but no beans are allowed. If you want a breakfast with beans, go for the TexMex Breakfast Burrito which is much better than the British tomato flavoured mush."

So is this AI or not?

An Armenian citizen has been sentenced to a decade in prison in Iran under accusations of proselytizing, which is considered illegal under the country’s strict religious laws.

His conviction was not based on evidence but on the judge’s “personal intuition,” per the Islamic Penal Code of Iran, which permits judicial decisions on mere suppositions of criminal activities.

Hakop Gochumyan was sentenced earlier this month despite no clear evidence, the Catholic outlet Asia News reported.

Continued below.

I am wondering how Trump will do tonight. Will he attack and lose track of the topic? Will he discuss policy or water pressure?

I wonder as this was what he said at a recent rally:





Hillary Clinton said this about debating Trump:

Note the topic is Trump and how he will do tonight.

I prefer Real Clear Politics because it is inclusive across the spectrum.

Right now - hours before the debate:



Battleground states:

Over a thousand religious pilgrims have died of heat stroke in Mecca, news outlets tell us.

I have not seen a cartoon of the oceans boiling but that would be far more accurate than most of the editorial cartoons that I do see.

The evidence of global warming is all around us, yet I am often stunned by the arrogance of those who deny that it exists. At the least, many deny that global warming is caused by human activity.

One of the lines we hear is that carbon dioxide is just a part of the atmosphere. It is always been there and so is nothing to worry about. It is beneficial to plants. This notion has just enough truth in it to be dangerous. Is CO2 always harmless?


Contrary to this cheerful picture, carbon dioxide actually has a “permissible exposure limit” in workplaces.

<< The levels of CO2 in the air and potential health problems are ...

• 2,000–5,000 ppm: level associated with headaches, sleepiness, and stagnant, stale, stuffy air. Poor concentration, loss of attention, increased heart rate and slight nausea may also be present.

5,000 ppm: this indicates unusual air conditions where high levels of other gases could also be present. Toxicity or oxygen deprivation could occur. This is the permissible exposure limit for daily workplace exposures. >>

From a different source:

<< At 4%, CO2 levels can be fatal. >>

Why is CO2 potentially fatal to humans? It triggers the exhale reflex in the lungs. Above a certain level of CO2, you can only exhale.

The connection between carbon dioxide and global warming is straightforward to anyone who knows anything about chemistry. Carbon dioxide is O=C=O, oxygen double bond carbon, double bond oxygen. The carbon-oxygen double bond absorbs infrared rays on a wavelength crucial to the earth’s climate. Machines are in use every day that make use of this fact, namely infrared spectrometers.



Links
Toxicity: Wisconsin Department of Health Services
https://www.dhs.wisconsin.gov/chemical/carbondioxide.htm#:~:text=5%2C000%20ppm%3A%20this%20indicates%20unusual,harmful%20due%20to%20oxygen%20deprivation

Fatal Level at 4%

Carbon Dioxide Levels Chart

Discover what safe, elevated, and dangerous CO2 levels mean with our carbon dioxide levels chart. Learn how CO2 impacts indoor air quality and when action is needed.

www.co2meter.com

After mistakenly leaking the decision before releasing the final ruling, the Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that Idaho hospitals must perform abortions in certain emergencies.

The 6-3 decision, issued in Moyle v. United States, means that Idaho hospitals are compelled to perform abortions, despite it being illegal in the state.

The decision hinged on the court’s interpretation of the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA) that hospitals are required to provide abortions “when needed to stabilize a medical condition that seriously threatens a pregnant woman’s life or health.”

While Idaho law allows abortions only in cases to save the life of the mother, the court now holds that this is too narrow an exception.

Continued below.

People believe in a literal week of 24 hour days but no one can tell me when this week happened.

I have a very simple question. When did Genesis chapter one take place?

In 1658, Bishop James Ussher, an Anglican cleric and biblical scholar, wrote in his chronology "The Annals of the World" that the world began on October 23, 4004 BCE.

"In the beginning, God created heaven and earth, which beginning of time, according to this chronology, occurred at the beginning of the night which preceded the 23rd of October. If Adam was created on the SIXTH day that would be 23 plus 6 or Oct 29, 4004, So God rests for a day. Oct 30 then we see Adam in the Garden of Eden Oct 31 4004 BCE.

Genesis 2 7 "Then the LORD God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed the breath of life into his nostrils, and the man became a living being.d"

So are we going back to Oct 29, 2004? Then we read: Genesis 2:8 "8And the LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, where He placed the man He had formed. 9Out of the ground the LORD God gave growth to every tree that is pleasing to the eye and good for food. And in the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil."

In Genesis 1 first God created the animals and then man. In Genesis chapter two first God created man and then He creates the animals. In Genesis chapter 1 Man was told to fill the earth and subdue "it". In Genesis chapter two man was told "15Then the LORD God took the man and placed him in the Garden of Eden to cultivate and keep it." So which is it? Fill the earth or cultivate the garden?

Next we are told: "18The LORD God also said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make for him a suitable helper.” In chapter one we have male and female given the whole earth. In Chapter two we have a man and a women give the garden of eden. In chapter one the animals are created first, in chapter two man is created and then the animals and then Eve.

The Sixth Day

24And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, land crawlers, and beasts of the earth according to their kinds.” And it was so. 25God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that crawls upon the earth according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

26Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness, to rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, and over all the earth itselfd and every creature that crawls upon it.”

27So God created man in His own image;

in the image of God He created him;

male and female He created them.e

28God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and every creature that crawls upon the earth.”

29Then God said, “Behold, I have given you every seed-bearing plant on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit contains seed. They will be yours for food. 30And to every beast of the earth and every bird of the air and every creature that crawls upon the earth—everything that has the breath of life in it—I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so.

31And God looked upon all that He had made, and indeed, it was very good.

And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.