President Joseph R. Biden is too old to “effectively serve” another four-year term, according to a new poll.

The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll found more than three-quarters of adults surveyed, or 77%, believe Mr. Biden, 80, is too old to run for reelection.

This is a claim I've seen bandied around more times than once; that evolution is a 'theory in crisis'.

And yet not one person I've seen make that claim is able to actually say how or why it's in crisis.

So, this is my challenge: show me how and/or why the theory of evolution is a 'theory in crisis'?

If you say it's not, don't comment saying it's not, since that's not need for this thread.

...is apparently not going too well. Current US daily crude oil production is almost at its pre-covid peak and is on track to set new records later this year and on into next year:

The White House counsel’s office met with a top aide to Special Counsel Jack Smith just weeks before he brought charges against former President Trump for allegedly mishandling classified documents — raising serious concerns about coordinated legal efforts aimed at President Biden’s likely opponent in 2024.

Hey there, lovely folks! Let's dive into some date talk and unleash our creativity and imaginations! I'm all ears for your take on the ultimate date. Whether you're a die-hard romantic or someone who enjoys the simple things. Remember, the perfect date doesn't have to break the bank. It's all about those shared values, heart-to-heart chats, and real connections. Maybe you've got this awesome date memory you want to relive, or perhaps you're cooking up a fresh idea for a wonderful date night. Maybe you have the opportunity to take someone on a date, but you're stuck on what to do and would like some advice. Maybe you want to be taken on a date and would like to share what your ideal date would be in that regard. Are there any dates you've been on that have been memorable or that you unexpectedly enjoyed? What are you looking for in a date? How does your faith play a role in your dating ideas, thoughts, or plans?

This isn't necessarily about the person you would like to date, but more about the experience and the event in and of itself as a whole. So spill the beans, share your stories, and let's inspire each other to create moments that make hearts flutter. Your contributions might just be the inspiration someone else needs to create their own perfect date!

“I think he could be a key witness in this, of course,” Mr. Johnson said. “And you see the White House pushing back … and suggesting that he’s not a trustworthy witness. They say that about everyone involved in this — the idea that the president would be engaged in a pay-to-play scheme like this.

“And then [Mr. Biden] bragged about it on video. … Throughout this process, Mr. Shokin, of course, is an important voice in this because he was directly involved.”

He added, “He was the target of the president. And the idea that he believes there was bribery confirms what many of us are already thinking.”

Hello, I am a Turkish convert to Orthodoxy and I have a question. Since I speak Turkish there are several religious expressions in the everyday language that are typically associated with Islam such as:

Allah! ("Oh my God!")
Inshallah ("God willing")
Mashallah ("Wow")
Selam aleykum ("Hello/peace be upon you")

Etc.

It is quite natural for me to use such exclamations as a native speaker. My question is whether Oriental Orthodox Christians use these expressions as well, thus making it OK to continue using them? For me, the expressions are not necessarily Islamic since "Allah" is simply the Arabic name for God, presumably also used by Arabic Christians?

Anyone else get irritated with the phrase pity party, when discussing with someone what your going through. I've been going through allot of emotions, mental health issues and feeling run down. Two people from church yesterday asked how i was doing so i told them honestly how i was doing. One used the phrase pity party and the other said "that's just life" both made me feel stupid and misunderstood. Maybe I am having a pity party. And no duh that's life sometimes. But I feel like people are so used to me being this fake put a smile on and help everyone else, that if i dare be honest, then I need to do more to help others. I'm burnt out and need help this time from others in my life. Can Anyone else here relate to how i feel?

Been in hell all weekend. Paranoid, filled with lust so lots of porn, I basically feel spiritually dead now. Need prayers please.

But research on new fossils of Paleozoic lamprey larvae, published Wednesday in the journal Nature, have turned that story upside down. “It was very clear to me, like that morning icicle hanging off my roof right there, that we turned over a 150 year old evolutionary theory,” says Miyashita, who was a lead author on the research.

Click to expand...

I don't think so.

2 Samuel 11:

2 It happened, late one afternoon, when David arose from his couch and was walking on the roof of the king’s house, that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful. 3And David sent and inquired about the woman. And one said, “Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?” 4 So David sent messengers and took her, and she came to him, and he lay with her.

Click to expand...

That's it. There was no detailed description of the act. There was no mention of how Bathsheba felt about it.

Later, David arranged for her husband to be killed.

26 When the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband was dead, she lamented over her husband. 27 And when the mourning was over, David sent and brought her to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son.

Click to expand...

Again, there was no mention of any kind of resistance from Bathsheba.

How did she feel about the affair with David and then marrying David afterward?

God didn't like what David did and sent Nathan the prophet to tell David a parable, 2 Samuel 12:

4b [the rich man] took the poor man’s lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him.

Click to expand...

David was the rich man. Uriah was the poor man. Bathsheba was the lamb.

David was the most powerful man in the country. Bathsheba's husband was only a poor soldier. Bathsheba was an innocent lamb/pawn in this game without a strong volition against the king's actions. I don't think David needed to forcibly rape her.

In contrast, the very next chapter details Amnon raping Tamar in vivid language, 2 Samuel 13:

11 when she [Tamar] brought them near him [Amnon] to eat, he took hold of her and said to her, “Come, lie with me, my sister.” 12 She answered him, “No, my brother, do not violate me, for such a thing is not done in Israel; do not do this outrageous thing. 13As for me, where could I carry my shame? And as for you, you would be as one of the outrageous fools in Israel. Now therefore, please speak to the king, for he will not withhold me from you.”

Click to expand...

The writer described Tamar's protest.

14 But he would not listen to her, and being stronger than she, he violated her and lay with her.

Click to expand...

Amnon raped Tamar by force.

Did David forcibly rape Bathsheba?

I don't think he needed to. In any case, he abused his position of power over Bathsheba and Uriah.

Hi all. I'd like to do come outdoors worship and wondered if anyone had any good books/resources I could get. I've already got the Wild Worship Books but anything that would be a chance to get outside would be fab.

Many Thanks

Hey, here's my sermon from yesterday on Mark 7:31-37

Login to view embedded media
12th Sunday After Trinity
A brief sermon from our English services at Kitaosaka Evangelical Lutheran Church
(Pre-recorded for web)

The Rejected Stone
Lutheran Church
Osaka, Japan

2 Peter 2:1-3 ESV


False Teachers

False teachers are definitely now among us, and they are many in number and are multiplying. And the masses are following them for they are telling them what their itching ears want to hear. And they don’t have to be people who are in any official position of rule or authority over anyone, but they can be anyone who is sharing the Scriptures with other people and who is sharing what they are getting from the Scriptures.

Yet, when I speak of false teachers, I am speaking of those who are deliberately saying what they know is false with the full intention of deceiving people into believing their lies. And they are those who are deliberately on the attack against those who are speaking the truth of the Scriptures. And so they willfully twist the Scriptures to make them say what they do not say. For these people are not of God, but of Satan.

These are people who fake their Christianity so that others who profess faith in Jesus Christ will listen to them. These are those who are not living in submission and in surrender of their lives to Jesus Christ, but who are still walking according to the flesh, and not according to the Spirit. And so they alter and rework and falsify the truth of the gospel and the character of God, of Christ, in order to justify their lies.

Many of them are teaching a gospel message which makes no requirements for repentance (turning from sin), for dying with Christ to sin, and for living to God and to his righteousness. They make no requirements for walks of surrender and submission and obedience to our Lord, and none for us to be living holy and godly and morally pure, upright, honest, and faithful lives to the glory and praise of God. For they call that “works salvation.”

And so they find ways of excusing away sin by calling it something other than what it is. But sin is not of God, nor of the will of God, but it is of the devil and of the flesh and of the will of man. And it is against God. And if sin is what we practice, and if righteousness is not what we practice, it will land us in hell and not in heaven. And some biblical examples of sin are things such as lying, cheating, stealing, committing adultery and sexual immorality.

[Romans 1:18-32; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10; Galatians 5:16-21; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Colossians 3:5-11; 1 Thessalonians 4:1-8]

Walking in Sin

And speaking of sexual immorality, these false teachers of the people are leading many people astray to follow after their sensuality. Another word for this is licentiousness, and it means “immorality, depravity, shamelessness, wickedness, corruption, dishonesty, wantonness, self-indulgence, outrageous conduct, conduct shocking to public decency and lewdness – smut, obscenity, impurity, pornography, and the rejecting of restraint.”

And they are able to get away with this because they just call sin something else. For example, I was in a ladies Bible study group at a local church gathering about ten years ago, I think it was, and I brought up the subject of someone who was living in sexual immorality and in sexual addiction (idolatry). And their response back to me was to tell me that this person could not help it, for it was a sickness, a disease. Wrong!

And this is what many people are doing, excusing away sin by lessoning its true nature and by calling it some psychological illness that people can’t help. Or they claim that when they “believe” in Jesus that all sins are forgiven and so they can keep sinning without it counting against them. Or they say that God can no longer see when they sin, but that when he looks at them, all he sees is Jesus, even if they are vegging out on immorality.

But the truth of the Scriptures teaches the opposite of that. They teach that we are without excuse if we, after having been shown the divine nature of God choose to suppress the truth and to follow the lies, instead. We are without excuse if we exchange the truth about God for a lie, and if we worship and serve the created rather than the Creator who is God – Father, Son (Jesus Christ), and Holy Spirit (one God in three persons).

We are without excuse if after having made a profession of faith in Jesus Christ we go right back to living in sin, doing what we know is evil and is against God, yet all the while making excuses for our sinful behaviors or by lessoning or rebranding sin so as to make it less offensive and not something against God and not something that can affect our eternal security. But God will judge those who deliberately walk in sin.

For Jesus Christ said that not everyone who says to him, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one DOING the will of God the Father who is in heaven. And he said that if we want to come after him we must deny self, take up our cross daily (die daily to sin and to self) and follow him (in obedience to his commands). For if we hold on to sin, and if we do not renounce sin to obey our Lord, we will not inherit eternal life.

So, please take this to heart. Don’t be a hypocrite who professes faith in Jesus Christ but who then lives like the devil and/or who yields to the devil and to sin on an addictive and deliberate basis, and who then opposes God and the truth of His Word, and who attacks his messengers who are bringing the truth of the Scriptures to the people. Surrender your lives to Jesus Christ today, forsake your sins, and follow Jesus in obedience and in holy living.

[Matt 7:21-23; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 9:23-26; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14,24; Rom 12:1-2; Rom 13:11; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; 1 Co 1:18; 1 Co 15:1-2; 2 Tim 1:8-9; Heb 9:28; 1 Pet 1:5; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-17; 1 Pet 2:24; Tit 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 3:6,14-15; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]

Broken Cord

An Original Work / August 29, 2018

Your bond is broken with your Lord and Savior
And your testimony is separate from Him.
Your words not matching your actions today.
Repent of your sin and bow down and pray.
Live what you testify in truth always.

Purity’s lacking in your life and witness,
For you profess one thing, but other you do.
Not moral, spiritual. Still of the flesh.
Not living in truth to what you confess.
Lying about it puts you in a mess.

Living a lie is your practice, ‘tis true of you.
Masquerade righteousness – none of it true.
Your heart is not given to your Lord God.
Because of how you live, you are a fraud.
Turn from your sin and give your life to God.

Login to view embedded media

Urgent prayer for:

1) Need favor in getting apartment. Must move out of mom’s house. My credit is bad and I just started a new job.

2) Need more income to pay for rent. Not getting a lot of hours at work. Need another part time job or more hours to be able to pay bills and survive.

3) Need intervention for my elderly mom who is accusing me of abuse. She is 83 and is declining mentally and physically and needs help. I moved in to help her and she’s telling me I have to move out. We need a mediator and she needs support if I leave.

4) Need to pay late car payments of $4000 & protection from repossession. I was out of work for 6 months so I’m very behind. Praying for God’s protection and favor since I need my car to get to work.

5) Kip’s salvation. Kip is a friend from Jr high & high school. He would like to date and I like him. I don’t know if he is saved. He teases me about my love for Jesus. I only desire to date someone who I am equally yoked with. Praying for God’s will in this situation.

6) For protection for my son from family dysfunction and mental illness. He is a great kid who loves God and he’s having to see the reality of the craziness and toxicity of our family.

7) For all of my families salvation.

Thank you and God Bless you for prayers.

Is the Eucharist described as a sacrifice? ...and can you elaborate on it

Forgive my ignorance

Thanks

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy signaled Sunday that it’s almost certain the chamber will open an impeachment inquiry into President Biden once Congress returns from its August recess next month.

“If you look at all the information we’ve been able to gather so far, it is a natural step forward that you would have to go to an impeachment inquiry,” the California Republican said on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo.” “That provides Congress the apex of legal power.”

​

Van Eyck’s Ghent Altarpiece has, within it, my absolute favorite artistic representation of Mary (above). When I think of Mary as Queen of Heaven, which I certainly do today, August 22, this image comes to mind. It is one of 12 framed oak panels that makes up the whole 17 x 12 feet Ghent altarpiece.​

This is the most famous (not even a dispute about it) oil painting in the world. For art historians it is significant, because of its use of oil in the early Renaissance and the level of mind blowing photographic detail. It is also the most stolen painting in the world. Hitler was the last to steal it during World War II. Located in a salt mine in Austria, it was nearly incinerated by a bomb blast but was saved by the United States army. The film, Monuments Men was inspired in part by this true story.​

The panel that features Mary is overshadowed by the more famous center panel of the Mystic Lamb. Mary seated at the right hand of the triune God, is young and beautiful, her garments adorned with gems and jewels. She wears a deep velvet royal blue dress with a golden hem and a matching mantle.​

She is crowned with a magnificent bejeweled gold crown. The red garnets stand out. They are the same jewel used on the breastplate of the high priest for Mary, Joseph and Jesus' tribe of Judah. The flowers on her crown are fresh and real and at the same time take a prominent spot in between the jewels. These four flowers all mean something and say something about Mary. The lilies speak of her virginal purity and the columbines point to her humility. The lily-of-the valley calls to mind Song of Songs 2:1,​

Continued below.

YouTube Channel Video Devo
Login to view embedded media
“He Cares About The Details”
Matthew 1:17 NIV
Thus there were fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the exile to Babylon, and fourteen from the exile to the Messiah.

The other day, I was just reading through the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew 1. To be quite honest, I’m not all that crazy about reading through the genealogies in Scripture. I have a hard time following any of them and the details don’t get retained in my mind. They just don’t hit deep spiritually with me and I tend to read through them quickly so that I can get to other important things in the Bible.

Details are important in life. We need details when we do a project at home, at work, for school or somewhere else. Details are vital in doing anything. Even though I’m not crazy about those genealogies, God is and I need to remember that God is all about the details of life.

As I consider all the details of our lives, it reminds me that God always interested and cares very deeply about the details of our lives. When we go to God in prayer, sometimes we just pray generally. We may think, “God isn’t all interested in the nitty gritty details of my life. I don’t want to waste His time going into such deep details.” If we feel like this at all, we are very wrong. God deeply cares about every single detail in our lives.

Whether we think details in our lives are important or not or if we pray specifically for little details that concern us, we should know that God is always interested in hearing the details, no matter how much. He created us and knows the number of hairs on our heads. Why in the world would we ever think He is not concerned about the smallest details of our lives? He wants to hear us pray about little things that we might possibly think aren’t important. He cares about all of it. If it’s on our mind, He wants to hear from us on it.

Again, after reading the genealogy the other day, I honestly thought, “Oh boy, here we go again with all of these details I will not remember.” Then God immediately reminded me how important all the details of life are to Him. I felt guilty about rushing through those details to get to the rest of my reading.

The next time we read through any details that seem to bore us, make us yawn or just seem unimportant at the time, let us never forget that all details in life are important to God. He cares deeply about EVERYTHING we deal with in life, no matter how insignificant we may think they are.

Rev 16:12 And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared.

The Euphrates river is drying up, and has been. That can only mean we are in the last days... I know what I think is the mark, and how just as prophesied many have been deceived What do yall think?

Mat 24:4 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.

2Th 2:3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;

1Co 3:16 Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?

What next? Lockdowns?

In CF I've come across a number of Protestants who are convinced that Catholics teach and believe that Protestants are not Christians and are heading for hell.

I want to fix that hole in their thinking.

Protestants are Christians, at least most would be, I am sure. The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches this in these paragraphs.

CCC 818 "However, one cannot charge with the sin of the separation those who at present are born into these communities [that resulted from such separation] and in them are brought up in the faith of Christ, and the Catholic Church accepts them with respect and affection as brothers. . . . All who have been justified by faith in Baptism are incorporated into Christ; they therefore have a right to be called Christians, and with good reason are accepted as brothers in the Lord by the children of the Catholic Church."

CCC 819 "Furthermore, many elements of sanctification and of truth" are found outside the visible confines of the Catholic Church: "the written Word of God; the life of grace; faith, hope, and charity, with the other interior gifts of the Holy Spirit, as well as visible elements." Christ's Spirit uses these Churches and ecclesial communities as means of salvation, whose power derives from the fullness of grace and truth that Christ has entrusted to the Catholic Church. All these blessings come from Christ and lead to him, and are in themselves calls to "Catholic unity."

I don't think so, Galatians 1:

8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse!

Click to expand...

This topic is controversial, so maybe it belongs here in controversial Christian Theology. As the title suggest, I have been researching to find out if there is any proof that Matthew really wrote Matthew.

At this point the only way I could verify "who", would to have been an eye witness of who wrote it, have verifiable written statements from verifiable eyewitnesses., or God tell me who wrote it.

Some, if not many, claim that the internal evidence of this book proves that Matthew wrote it. What internal evidence? I read through Matthew today and did not find any internal evidence proving that Matthew wrote it.

Feel free to express your take on this and the reasons you believe as you do. THANKS!

I met a guy online through social media. I run a moderately popular account on Instagram where I post content about movies and TV shows. One day I had the conviction to use a TV character’s Christian faith as a way to talk about Jesus and to open up the floor for people to ask questions about Christianity. It was well-received and a lot of people had great questions that I was able to answer.

Over time, this one guy (college age and still lives with his family) was asking me a ton of questions about Christianity. He revealed that he was a Muslim living in Egypt (I live in the USA) who was seriously considering converting to Christianity (his father had planted the seed but I had the blessing of tending to the growing plant—I’m unsure if his father, who passed away recently, was ever saved but it sounds like he loved Jesus, so I really hope so). Over time I was able to answer many questions and he eventually said he was ready to convert. I walked him through the process and now he’s a Christian!

This is the first time I’ve helped lead someone to Christ, so I’m learning (and struggling) as I go. I know it’s extremely important to disciple new Christians instead of just sending them on their way after saying the prayer to figure things out on their own. I promised to myself that I’ll never abandon him and always be there if he has any more questions.

He was super excited about his conversion but since then he has had some tough experiences where I’m struggling to figure out how to help. He was excited and wanted to tell his family but was afraid of what they would do. He ultimately told them and they were not very supportive and wanted him to give Islam another try. After tremendous pressure from his family, he ultimately decided to affirm that he IS a Christian and that he’s not going back. He also wants to get baptized but he doesn’t really have anywhere to go. Egypt is also a country that requires you to list your religion on your ID and he’s struggling with whether he should get it changed (I said that regardless of what his ID says, it doesn’t change his heart, and that I don’t want him to put himself in any unnecessary danger).

Throughout these struggles I’ve frequently encouraged him to pray and trust God. I feel like a broken record, and while these are good things to do, I hate that I don’t have any other good advice. Also, because I live in the US, I am having trouble relating to his issues, and we live so far apart that I feel detached from him, like a long-distance relationship.

On top of all of that, I’m not even two months into a brand-new job that takes up a lot of my time and energy. I’ve recently started going to a new church where I don’t have a lot of relationships built up yet. (I left my last church because they handled a personal issue very terribly, so I don’t feel comfortable reaching back out to them.) I have a lot on my plate and not a lot of connections to help me out.

I feel so over my head and don’t know what to do. I want to be able to help him but I feel so inadequate. He reached out again today asking if we can hop on another call this week to talk. He says he doesn’t know what to do with his family and wishes he was born somewhere else. I don’t know what to say. I feel like I’d be petrified on the call because I feel so afraid.

I’ve tried encouraging him to find a nearby church but he’s afraid they won’t accept him because he’s still listed as a Muslim on his ID. The church we looked up online doesn’t really have any info on their website so I can only hope that it’s a good church. I tried to tell him that Christians are welcoming and accepting and want to love him, but I honestly don’t know what Christian churches are like in Egypt. He also has a teacher who is Christian and has answered a couple of questions. I recommended that he reach out to her and she can serve as a resource for him that is close by, but she’s afraid to say too much because she doesn’t want to lose her job or worse.

I’m struggling to find ways to help him because he’s in a completely different place with virtually no one to help him but me. His dad is gone (and he’s still very broken up about it), there aren’t a lot of Christians around him, and his teacher seems to be stepping back. But I feel so inadequate. He needs someone he can meet with in person that understands the struggles of being a Christian in Egypt and can invest more time for him. Are there any kind of Christian ministries that deal with this kind of thing? He’s just so conflicted and afraid right now. I’m asking for any advice you may have on the matter please!