Interesting and helpful. When I was a Reformed Baptist I view Luther through a Reformed lens due to Bondage of the Will but that is simply not the case.

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Yours in the Lord,

jm

I'm in my mid 40s, really want to get married to a good Christian woman and start a family.

My 40s kind of crept up on me, a series of jobs to different countries meant I never was at a place long enough to meet someone to settle down - I had to leave when the work ended and two previous long term relationships ended in the previous two countries I left respectively.

Now I look back on my life and wonder whether all the career chasing was worth it. Maybe it would have been better if I lived a simple life and raised a happy family.

Even now while I am in Taiwan, Christian, English speaking women are rare enough and I will probably relocate again for work in several months tops. It is not uncommon for women here to not want to start a family.

So we finally get an interview with Harris. But it’s really not. They are partnering her with a babysitter…Walz.

Everyone who has seen any interview of any length knows why. She cannot be allowed off script. So it will definitely be interesting to watch how many times Walz has to chime in.

I have a theodicy that bases the root of evil amidst a good God who has all knowledge and might dependent on the fallen angels. I also think that God did not make some of the angels knowing they would fall and made Raphael and perhaps others even Michael...

So Lucifer, complete, only one rebellion, that can be finished with finality.

A greater angel or a number of them not made, maybe 2089 others. Could have been a great toll on the holy angels, God and young souls. More in number, strength, wisdom, injury effect. Able to tempt beyond resistance?

Lesser evil, maybe more than one rebellion, no final victory over it, testing without full efficacy.

With a full Satan, in strength and wisdom... we have a full new nature, final and full sanctification, greater glory, rewards and freedom.

What can I say to my friend who can't see enough care and love and wisdom in my short two page theodicy?

So in this article it gives contradictory information as to who leads NC based on the following two quotes. Was it a typo, or different polls, or what happened?

Overall, Harris leads Trump by 1 point (48 percent support to 47 percent) among all the respondents surveyed in Arizona, Georgia, Nevada and North Carolina

Click to expand...

Trump, meanwhile, takes the 1-point lead over Harris in North Carolina

Click to expand...

Here are the Ten Commandments from Exodus, in a revision of an existing English translation, tell me what you think, please.

Exodus 20:1 And God spoke all these words, saying,

• 2 "I am YHWH your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. 3 "You shall have no other gods before me. 4 "You shall not make for yourself a graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; 5 you shall not bow down to them or serve them; for I YHWH your God am a God exacting exclusive devotion, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.
  
• 7 "You shall not take the name of YHWH your God in vain; for YHWH will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.
  
• 8 "Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labour, and do all your work; 10 but the seventh day is a sabbath to YHWH your God; in it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your manservant, or your maidservant, or your cattle, or the sojourner who is within your gates; 11 for in six days YHWH made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day; therefore YHWH blessed the sabbath day and hallowed it.
  
• 12 "Honour your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land which YHWH your God gives you.
  
• 13 "You shall not kill.
  
• 14 "You shall not commit adultery.
  
• 15 "You shall not steal.
  
• 16 "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbour.
  
• 17 "You shall not covet your neighbour's house;
• you shall not covet your neighbour's wife, or his manservant, or his maidservant, or his ox, or his ass, or anything that is your neighbour's."

Does God know our name before we are born ? Does your name suit who you are ? What does your name mean ?

This here is an example of one of those passages of Scripture which must be read in its full context in order for us to get the correct understanding of what it is teaching. I know that the books of Galatians and Colossians cover the same subject. So to get a really good handle on this subject it would be good if you could read all three books in their full context. For the full context is especially critical with regard to this particular subject.

Let me summarize my understanding of what was taking place then. Then I will look at how this passage of Scripture can be applied to our lives today. For just like the word “works” is used in the Scriptures in two different ways, one in a negative sense, and one in a positive sense, so is this word “law.” But when it comes to Paul teaching on this subject he is generally using the word “law” to refer to the Old Covenant liturgical, ceremonial, sacrificial, purification, and dietary laws and restrictions, including circumcision.

So, when he said that the righteousness of God was manifested apart from the law, he is not talking about the commandments of God under the New Covenant and God’s moral laws. He is speaking of the liturgical and ceremonial laws of the Old Covenant, which were done away with when Jesus Christ died on that cross for our sins. They were all the things which were external that could be practiced without it doing anything to change the human heart or to lead anyone to repentance and obedience to God.

And the reason that Paul had to cover this subject so much was that there were Judaizers among the believers in Christ who were convincing many of them that they had to add on to their faith circumcision and some of the Old Covenant ceremonial laws and customs. But then we have people today who are distorting this subject and they are teaching a “lawless” faith in Jesus Christ which is of the flesh of humans, and not of God. But Jesus didn’t die on that cross so that we could now live in sin guilt and punishment free.

So many are teaching a faith that is of human origin and not the faith that comes from God, and is persuaded of God, and is gifted to us by God, and is not of our own doing – not of the will nor of the flesh of man. And they are diluting the meaning of faith to be some sort of words we pray or confess, or to some acknowledgement of who Jesus is and to what he did for us on that cross, or to some emotional acceptance of a false grace of God. And then they are promising them heaven, but regardless of how they live.

That is not the gospel of Jesus Christ, and it is not the grace of God which is bringing us salvation, and which is training us to renounce (say “No!” to) ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives while we wait for our Lord’s return. For Jesus said if anyone would come after him, he must deny self, take up his cross daily (die daily to sin) and follow (obey) him. For if we hold on to our old sinful lifestyles, we will lose our lives. But if we deny self, die daily to sin, and follow Jesus in obedience, then we have the hope and the promise of eternal life.

For “faith” in Jesus Christ means “persuasion of God.” And in the Scriptures, God persuades us as to his righteousness and holiness, and of our sinfulness, and of our need to die with him to sin and now live to him and to his righteousness in walks of obedience to him and to his commands. And we are taught that faith that is of God results in obedience to his commands and in holy living and us no longer walking in sin. And we learn that if sin is what we practice, and not obedience, that we won’t have eternal life.

[Matthew 7:21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 1:12-13; John 6:44; Acts 26:18; Romans 1:18-32; Romans 3:23; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-13; Hebrews 10:23-31; Hebrews 12:1-2]

Yes, God’s grace to us is his gift to us, but his grace requires that we die with him to sin and now live holy lives, pleasing to him, and that we no longer walk in sin. And that is his gift to us, because we can only live like that by his grace and in the power of God, and because of what Jesus Christ did for us in dying on that cross so that we can die with him to sin and be raised with him 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 (Romans 6:1-23).

So, don’t buy into the lies which are telling you that the faith to believe in Jesus Christ requires nothing of you other than your profession of faith, and that no works are required of you, and that you do not have to obey the commands of our Lord. That is a man-made gospel which is not of God and is not in agreement with the gospel that Jesus and Paul and the other apostles taught. For if we continue living in sin, and not in walks of obedience to our Lord, we will not inherit eternal life with God.

[Matt 7:21-23; Lu 9:23-26; 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 Pet 2:24; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2]

Songs in the Night

An Original Work / December 18, 2013

“About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.” Acts 16:25 NIV ‘84

Lord, I praise You forevermore.
You, my Savior, I now adore.
Hope in heaven awaiting me,
Because You died at Calvary.

I have been forgiven,
And I’m bound for heaven.
Jesus set me free from
All my sin, I say.
I will praise Him always!

Lord, I love You for all You’ve done:
Overcame death, my vict’ry won!
Jesus saved me, and now I’m free!
I rejoice in His love for me.

I will walk in vict’ry!
My sin is but hist’ry!
I am free to please Him
With my life today.
I will love Him always!

Lord, I thank You for giving me
A new life bought at Calvary.
Loving Jesus, I meet with Him.
Tender mercies now flow within.

Lord, I am so thankful;
Through my Lord, I’m able
To sit at His table;
Fellowship with Him.
I will thank Him always!

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Jesus is more than Wonderful. He is more than amazing. He IS LORD

Hello folks. Today is the day that the 2024 Paralympic games opened. This thread is a place to discuss the Paralympic games, which opened on August 28, 2024, with the first events starting on August 29, 2024. The 17th Paralympic games will end on September 8, 2024. If you have any questions about the rules of the games or events, I have downloaded the rule books for roughly all 22 of the events (which are plugged into my locally run artificial intelligence), except equestrian. Feel free to use this thread as a place to ask questions about the rules as well.

My thoughts on the Paralympic opening ceremony: This ceremony went really well, and did not use any dark symbolism. The music was good, and the dancing was incredible. In fact, one of the non-disabled dancers grabbed onto handicapped athlete's wheelchair, and spun her around. Like bro, that is so cool.

From Reuters: https://www.reuters.com/pictures/pictures-paris-paralympics-opening-ceremony-2024-08-28/


Also, anyone can post any news about any Paralympic sports on this thread, to consolidate all news related to this event here.

Ceremony Highlight (quote from BBC News):
"The staging of the event at the Place de la Concorde - the largest square in Paris - was designed as a symbol of the city putting the issue of inclusion for people with disabilities at the heart of society. While the Olympic Games had athletes traveling on boats down the River Seine in torrential rain, the opening ceremony for the Paralympic Games saw a parade take place on the route along the Champs-Elysees under spectacular golden skies."

Paralympics Explained (quote from Wikipedia):
The Paralympic Games or Paralympics, also known as the Games of the Paralympiad, is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of disabilities.

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Ceremony info:

Explanation:

I was supposed to die when I was born. By some miracle, I survived. My mom prayed that if I survived I would serve god. I’ve turned out terribly. I realize I’ve gone too far with god. I’ve committed terrible sins. I’ve hurt god's people including my family. I’ve been hiding my sins and have caused stagnation in my family’s journey. I didn’t notice it until recently but the devil has been using me for a long time.





All my life I’ve been wicked. I’ve sown corruption and wickedness and now I’m reaping the destruction. I have betrayed my family terribly and I’m no better than Judas. I’ve been scared to confess but the sooner the better. All my life I’ve caused so much damage and pain. I’ve done evil and depraved things.








So how can god forgive me?





I have lived a careless life without god. It’s a mystery whether I’m saved or could ever be saved but I had knowledge of truth and felt conviction for a time before I went completely off course.





I went against conviction and pushed the Holy Spirit away as much as I could. I loved my sins so much I ended up hating god, disregarding him and all he’s done for me.





I’ve harmed many people in terrible ways and caused pain to others, some being gods own children too. I know now I can’t fix it besides confessing but I’ve done every possible bad thing.








God has done a lot for me and I really failed him. I think that while I feel all of this and feel a lot of guilt, I might not truly be repentant.








How can god forgive people who hurt other people with knowledge of truth? Especially his own people. I don’t think I’m forgivable.





I don’t see how god could ever redeem me or the glory I once had. I easily gave myself away to Satan, I barely even tried for my relationship with god.





Now I want to return but I’ve done too much and it feels destruction may come my way. The things I’ve done are very much deserving of hell.



I feel god will truly ‘reward’ me according to my evil deeds. I want a fresh beginning but I’ve pushed god so far. It’s so bad the things I did, and still do.





I mentioned in my last post that God has revealed me to my pastor- I’m not sure whether it was a confirmation that it was too late but I know for sure that I also need to confess to him, even if it results for the worst.





The thing is I had already offended him and of course I want to make amends but I’m terrified of confrontation because he knows I’m not exactly a saint.








I know I'm on here a lot but hopefully this is the last time I come on here because I know I come on here more than I would like to. I realize that in the scope of my situation, my tone to things is very pity seeking and before these past few peeks I had seen how it had affected me and others, but I had never really thought of it as much as now or realized just how bad things are.

Harris - under-performing Hillary Clinton by this same time in her opposition to Donald Trump.


MSN

https://wharris-is-underperforming-clinton-at-this-point

===============================================
Not making any predictions here - but it is interesting what the bulk of the news is not reporting so far.

Family members of American soldiers who lost their lives during the pullout of United States troops from Afghanistan are defending former President Donald Trump after he has come under fire for an alleged altercation between a Trump campaign staffer and an Arlington National Cemetery official during an event commemorating their deaths.

Trump visited ANC on Monday, which marked the third anniversary of the suicide bombing at the airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, that left 13 American soldiers dead. The terror attack occurred as the U.S. military was in the process of withdrawing its presence from Afghanistan, which led to the Taliban's takeover of the country.

Video footage from Monday’s event, posted to Trump’s account on the social media platform Truth Social, shows the Republican presidential nominee laying a wreath at the cemetery.

Continued below.

From what I see.

1. There is 1 God
2. Jesus being God in the flesh
3. The Trinity
4. The Bible being the word of God
5. The belief in a heaven and hell
6. Nobody is good enough to go to heaven on their own

Please pray that the heavy rains in the provincial region of Gujarat, India immediately Stop:

A federal judge has ruled that an Ohio school district may have violated a teacher's First Amendment rights by forcing her to resign for refusing to use trans-identified students' preferred names and pronouns due to her religious convictions.

Judge Pamela Barker of the Northern District of Ohio issued an order earlier this month denying and granting in part competing motions for summary judgment filed by Jackson Local School District in Jackson Township to dismiss the lawsuit filed by former Jackson Middle School English teacher Vivian Geraghty.

The litigation is ongoing as several issues remain unresolved.

Continued below.

If yes, is Earth a young planet?

My mom passed away this morning, no longer have my parents in my life. Dad passed 8 years ago. She was rushed to the hospital and was an hour after I started working that I got the phone call. I put my tools down on my workbench and my boss noticed something was wrong.Told him my mom was rushed to the hospital, said clock out and he knew it was family related. Got there and met up with my 3 older brothers sitting with them waiting for the news. Doctor walked out and said she did not make it, a blood clot in her left leg. Going to creamate her, her wish not wanting a funeral and spread her ashes at her favorite lake where she loved to fish at. Boss said have the rest of the week off to grieve. She was a loving mom and grandmother. Said I was a blessing is one memory I have. It was when she was pregnant with me, was excited to hear she was going to have a little girl finally after giving birth to 3 sons.

Hello!

I am looking for a very specific community.

I would like to agree on the following points of belief:

The Torah, Gospels and Epistles are objectively true and eternally valid. This means: All of the apostles' precepts were inspired by the Holy Spirit and apply just as much today as they did back then. If it was a shame then for a woman to pray or prophesy with her head uncovered, it is also a shame today for a woman to pray or prophesy with her head uncovered. And the believing men teach the believing women, not the other way around. Women are different than men and have different tasks than men. There are always exceptional situations in everything. For example, it may be right for a believing woman to preach to a group of unbelievers because there is no one else to tell them about Jesus.

As a believer you have security of salvation. But we must obey GOD. We should also be in awe of GOD. GOD still chastens today. We must not emphasize the security of salvation and neglect obedience.
We hate evil. The church should be discreet in the will of the LORD. We don't love the world. We do not like films that are not written by the Holy Spirit. Not because we were ordered to, but because we understood that it is evil to watch something like that for pleasure. We go into the world to bring people to Jesus. There is no good reason to go out into the world just to enjoy it. We hate the lie. We strive to do everything in love and to love all people. But we hate evil.

There should be the opportunity to have fellowship and study the Bible every day. It shouldn't be compulsory. But there should be the opportunity to read the Bible together every day and talk about Jesus and ask questions. We should be like a family.
We have realized that Jewish teachings that hear and reject Jesus' words and reject HIM as Messiah, as well as Islamic teachings, are leaven, but we do not rise above Jews and Muslims. We don't hate Jews or Muslims either. We hate heresies, not people. We want all people to come to the knowledge of the truth.
We do not elevate ourselves above anyone because all good things come from GOD and therefore we cannot be better than other people. Only JESUS is good. We were simply given grace. We don't know why HE chose us. We did not choose HIM, but HE chose us. When we sin, we do it on our own. I have no opinion on free will.

We are always looking for truth, want to develop further and can therefore change beliefs at any time when we receive new knowledge.

Perhaps speaking in tongues and interpreting them is still relevant today, perhaps it has become less or has stopped. I have no opinion on that. Maybe the spiritual gifts have diminished, maybe not. I think all of them are possible. We should not rule out any gifts in principle, but rather examine everything with the Bible so that the Holy Spirit can work. God's Word is the standard for testing. In any case, prophecy and knowledge still exist today. So we should continue to seek prophecy today. GOD is sovereign.

It should go without saying: any sexual intimacy is only permitted within marriage. As believers, we only marry believing Christians and they usually only marry once. If our spouse commits fornication or dies, we are allowed to marry again. I don't know if there are exceptions. If, for example, the spouse abuses the woman psychologically or physically or vice versa, then that could be an exception, I haven't thought about that yet. But then he's not a believer at all or he's lost his way and has to turn back.

The earth is only a few thousand years old. The theory of evolution is a heresy. GOD created everything from HIM and through HIM all things exist. There was no Big Bang. We have chosen the Bible as the objective truth. We don't believe there are many truths. We believe that the truth is a narrow path and there are many lies in the world. Anything that contradicts the Word of God is a lie. We need correct interpretation to know the truth. To understand the correct interpretation, we must remain in God's Word. We can be wrong. We don't know if we understood anything at all. We just trust.

Who can help me?

PS: I come from Germany and used Google Translate, there may be a few translation errors.

Momo.

THE 2024 TRUMP CAMPAIGN POLICY PROPOSALS: BUDGETARY, ECONOMIC AND DISTRIBUTIONAL EFFECTS

• We project that conventionally estimated tax revenue falls by $5.8 trillion over the next 10 years, producing an equivalent amount of primary deficits. Accounting for economic feedback effects, primary deficits increase by $4.1 trillion over the same period.

THE 2024 HARRIS CAMPAIGN POLICY PROPOSALS: BUDGETARY, ECONOMIC AND DISTRIBUTIONAL EFFECTS

• We project that spending increases by $2.3 trillion over 10 years while conventional tax revenue increases by $1.1 trillion, for a difference in primary deficits of $1.2 trillion. Accounting for negative economic feedback effects, primary deficits increase to $2 trillion.

My sister lived with a group of girls in college, they were all from her evangelical campus group InterVarsity. All Christian girls. They graduated college over 10 years ago, and most of them have gone on and gotten married, started families, etc. One of her friends however has lately been having some mental issues that are disturbing my sister and the other girls, and the irony is if you knew this group a decade ago this girl would probably be the one you'd consider least likely to have these issues.

My sister just gave me an update today and said she and her roommates called in a wellness check on this girl (we'll call her Amber). Amber's behavior has become really erratic, apparently a while back she moved to a really isolated county a couple hours away, which is a strange move for a single girl in her early 30s to do. From the sound of things she's visiting in town right now and my sister says she's extremely thin and has stopped eating and even drinking water. Apparently Amber won't talk about it with anybody but another roommate shared that Amber told her she thinks it's a sin to eat and hears voices if she does.

When I heard that part I told my sister that Amber needs an exorcism. The hearing voices part makes me think she's 100% experiencing demonic possession, or at least demonic oppression. I realize there's mental health issues at play here as well, Amber's sister has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder so there is illness already in the family. When my sister and her friends called in the wellness check the authorities said Amber didn't fully qualify for a 5150 but if she went another 12 hours without eating, then she would. Unfortunately Amber has since skipped town and nobody knows where she is right now.

What do you think?

The 270toWin web site has an interesting map showing each state's EVs. Each state is color-coded as safe, likely, or leaning to either Kamala, or Donald. Blue for Kamala. Red for Donald. As of now, the site gives Kamala 226 EVs, to Donald's 219. Very close. The toss-up states are Nevada, Arizona, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, N. Carolina, and Georgia. That's 94 EVs up for grabs. And those are the states where Donald and Kamala will probably do the most campaigning. If the web site's current projections hold true, Kamala needs 44 EV's to win, and Donald needs 51. But there are still 68 days to go before Nov. 5.

270toWin - 2024 Presidential Election Interactive Map

The New York Times turns on Kamala Harris and slams her as 'a phony'​

The reliably liberal New York Times was among the first to suddenly change tack on Friday, taking aim at what many perceive to be Harris's fatal lack of clear policy with a brutal headline that read: 'Joy Is Not a Strategy'. In a sour commentary, NYT Deputy Opinion Editor Patrick Healy said he'd 'cringed' when former president Bill Clinton took the convention stage on Tuesday to claim that Harris would be 'the president of joy'

Well who did they remove you might ask...

Dead people.
People who moved.
Convicted criminals.
7000 non US citizens.

The idea that 7000 noncitizens were able to register in the first place is pretty wild.

How did that happen? Is it like AZ where you don't have to prove citizenship to vote?

The nerve of Democrats suggest there's no evidence of noncitizens voting. We have evidence 7000 minimum intended to in Texas.

At this point January 6th is looking more like their fault. I understand there's no evidence of fraud (or not much) but that's because they don't require evidence to vote. Can't find a crime that can be pulled off without evidence.