I returned the keys to my old apartment but before I left an apartment employee had his underwear in a twist. he claimed I almost hit his car when deciding to turn right instead of left at a crowded stop sign. Everyone makes mistakes, and I don't think he should have gotten so upset. we didn't hit each other's cars as far as we know. but two months before then someone thought I dented his truck which I didn't do, which thankfully I was able to make a truce with him. I'm moved back in my parents now, and I feel like it was the right decision. I feel like God is trying to protect me since it seems like many people at that complex are out to get me. Whenever someone is against me regarding my driving, it's always been at that complex and nowhere else. Can you pray for my enemies and continue to pray for God's protection over me? I'm also praying that the cleaning charges after I had moved out won't be too expensive. I need to move on and get over this.

The deuterocanonical books, also known as the Apocrypha, are a collection of texts that were not included in the Hebrew Bible but were included in the Septuagint, a Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible used by early Christians. These books include Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Sirach (Ecclesiasticus), Baruch, First and Second Maccabees, and portions of Esther and Daniel.

The case for including these texts in the canon of Christian Scripture includes the fact that they were widely used and accepted by the early Christian Church. They were included in the Septuagint, which was the Bible used by many early Christians, and they were quoted and referenced by early Christian writers such as Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian, and Augustine. Additionally, the Councils of Hippo (393 AD) and Carthage (397 AD) both affirmed the canonicity of these texts.

Another argument for their inclusion is that the deuterocanonical books contain valuable teachings and insights that are consistent with the rest of Christian scripture. They provide additional information about the history of the Jewish people and the intertestamental period, as well as moral instruction and wisdom that is applicable to Christians.

In summary, the case for including the deuterocanonical books in the canon of Christian Scripture rests on the fact that they were widely accepted and used by the early Christian Church, were affirmed by key councils, and contain valuable teachings consistent with the rest of Christian scripture.

A cousin of the Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Cullors died hours after he was repeatedly tasered and restrained in the street by Los Angeles police.
Keenan Anderson, 31, a teacher and father, died at a hospital in Santa Monica.
Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) have released body camera footage of the 3 January encounter.
It shows Mr Anderson begging for help as officers hold him down.
The police who tasered Mr Anderson were called to a traffic accident in the Venice neighbourhood of Los Angeles at around 15:00 local time.
Police chief Michel Moore told a news conference on Wednesday that Mr Anderson had committed a felony hit-and-run in a traffic collision.

He said Mr Anderson had attempted to flee the scene by trying to "get into another person's car without their permission".
Footage shows Mr Anderson in distress when police arrive, telling the first officer "somebody is trying to kill me", although no visible threat appears on camera.

Click to expand...

I wonder why nobody is talking about this.

Believe in Jesus Christ to be saved. Thus, everyone will have faith alone in Christ Jesus and be saved. Your philosophical position doesn’t matter in terms of salvation, only having faith alone in Jesus Christ.

2 Corinthians 5:19: "In Christ God was reconciling the world to himself."



Antinatalism or anti-natalism is a philosophy that believes birth and procreation of sentient beings is wrong. The false belief of Eternal Conscious Torment can lead people down this path, like this Christian who says

https://tentmaker.org/forum/lounge/do-'eternal-hellers'-*really*-believe-it-themselves/

Quote from beartheweek

Start Quote: “I also decided that having kids was so horrible because it would be wrong for me to bring a new child into the world when they would be chosen by God to end up in either Heaven or Hell.It would be counterproductive for God to threaten us with eternal Hell because any person in their right mind that really believes in eternal Hell would never introduce a precious child into such a horrifying possibility. It's just not worth the risk when the majority of people will end up in Hell! I felt sorrow for my existing two very young daughters.” End Quote.

Why did God create mankind only for the vast majority of mankind to be tortured forever? Isn’t God always good? There are some people who we see as evil because they torture people for a long time, yet we’re supposed to see God as good when that torture lasts forever? Something doesn’t add up here…

Job 5:17-18 Happy the man whom God rebukes! Therefore do not reject the discipline of the Almighty. For, though he wounds, he will bind up; the hands that smite will heal.



Even with Annihilationism, that would still be a net negative towards suffering, since that means a person is born, suffers, and then dies, with that suffering just staying there. Who will be there to wipe away their tears? Or to heal their wounds?

Isaiah 25:6-8 cast over ALL nations. he will swallow up death forever. The Sovereign LORD will wipe away the tears from all faces; he will remove his people’s disgrace from all the earth. The LORD has spoken.



There exists Antinatalists who are also Christian and these are verses that they use



Ecclesiastes 4

Better Not to Have Been Born

4 Next, I turned to look at all the acts of oppression that make people suffer under the sun. Look at the tears of those who suffer! No one can comfort them. Their oppressors have ⌞all⌟ the power. No one can comfort those who suffer. 2 I congratulate the dead, who have already died, rather than the living, who still have to carry on. 3 But the person who hasn’t been born yet is better off than both of them. He hasn’t seen the evil that is done under the sun.



Luke 23:27-29

A large number of people followed him, including women who mourned and wailed for him. Jesus turned and said to them, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep for yourselves and for your children. For the time will come when you will say, ‘Blessed are the childless women, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!’



Matthew 19:12

For there are eunuchs who were born that way, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by others--and there are those who choose to live like eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. The one who can accept this should accept it."



Eunuch: Those who do not reproduce.

These Eunuchs come in three types.

1) For there are eunuchs who were born that way = Some people are born without the ability to reproduce or bear a child.

2) and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by others = Someone who used to have the ability to reproduce but now because of castration or any injury that inhibits their ability to reproduce.

3) and there are those who choose to live like eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven.

The disciple Paul would most closely fit that 3rd category, since he voluntarily chose to remain single.

Christian Antinatalists would most closely fall into that 3rd category, I imagine, since antinatalism is a philosophical position that people choose to take.

An antinatalist can choose for themselves whether or not they want to have kids, God gives us that choice. But each person must make the choice for themselves. Just like how each person must make a choice when to believe in Jesus Christ. You can’t force a choice. But given who knows how long, eventually all people will make the choice to believe in Christ Jesus and be saved.



In recent days, like in communities like r/collapse, I have seen more people take up this antinatalist mentality. Climate change will cause intense heat and intense cold in certain areas. New plagues released from the melting sea ice. COVID-19 mutations. Wars over the last remaining fresh water supplies. The Russian invasion of Ukraine will spread into all other countries. The possible use of nuclear weapons will always hang over people’s heads, as it always has, since they were first created. Riots in Brazil. Etc. Etc.

1 Corinthians 15:55: "O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?"



At the end of the day, Antinatalism is essentially another version of the Problem of Evil. Why is there evil in life?

To answer this, imagine a flash light. God says let there be light and turns the flash light on, creating light. But there’s darkness. God did not create the darkness, it’s just not visible because of the light. And creating that light is good. God right now, through Christ’s Universal Salvation, is in the process of lighting up the whole world. Making light is always good. And eventually all the darkness will be removed through light. Darkness meaning sin.

Psalm 10:15 Break the power of wickedness and wrong; hunt out all wickedness until thou can find no more.



God created Adam and Eve and by extension knew that the rest of mankind would be born after since He planned to have Jesus Christ be sacrificed on the cross since the foundations of the world were formed. He said that His creation was good. And this is true, everything that God does is good. So, it was not wrong for God to create us.

Romans 11:32: "For God has consigned all to disobedience, that He may have mercy on all."



Christian Universalism is the only sane way to reconcile God being good and still creating us. Sure, we may be suffering now, but in the future, there will be no more suffering. Because everyone will become a believer in Jesus Christ and be saved. And in Heaven, there will be the new City of Jerusalem, New Jerusalem, with a tree in the center with leaves for the healings of all nations. And a thousand years is like a day to God, so in the Lord’s time, we’re really only suffering a few days.

Psalm 13:5 I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation.

Fr. Matt mentioned in the thread on Universalism that I am wrong to say that there is nothing in the Bible regarding the tollhouses after death. What I am reading as apologia for the tollhouses appears to me to be "reading into the text" what people want to be there, rather than a deeper study of the issue in context with the rest of the Scriptures. In other words, just like Protestants, we can be subject to looking at a text with presuppositions rather than asking questions and doing a comparative study.

Let me start with one such text from Sacred Scripture:
The seed of the Aerial Toll House doctrine is ancient. What we do know from the Scriptures and early Patristic evidence is that when the soul leaves the body, it is met by angels:

[T]he beggar died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom (Luke 16:22).

Luke is a parable about the nation Israel. Unfortunately, rather than seeking the deeper meaning of this parable, people read it with a wooden literalism and have decided that this is an actual story that really happened. Our Lord taught many such parables, and at the end of them, you often see this verse:

Mark 12:12
And they sought to lay hold on him, but feared the people: for they knew that he had spoken the parable against them: and they left him, and went their way.

Now, Luke 16, another parable against the Pharisees and the nation of Israel:

The Rich Man symbolizes Israel. How was national Israel rich? Through her special relationship with God as the chosen people. Israel had the riches of God’s presence and leading, the Temple, and the relationship they had. The priests were clothed in purple and fine linen. I believe upon hearing these words, the priestly class listening to Christ would have begun to identify with it and take closer notice.

If national Israel was indeed the rich man who fared sumptuously every day, who was the beggar? It was the Gentile nations who had none of the riches of a relationship with God. No temple, no law of God, no prophets, and no true worship. In terms of the true riches, the riches of being God’s special and chosen people, they were bankrupt. The crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table could be the incidental hearing of the Jewish scriptures or seeing the worship in the Temple from the Outer Court of the Gentiles. These were crumbs, but not the full meal which the Jews enjoyed.

In parable both men die. When we think of death, it is normal to think of the cessation of life in the human body. But in scripture, death connotes something besides that. In Genesis 3 we see Adam and Eve die, but they are still alive. In the Parable of the Prodigal Son, the father says “For this my son was dead, and is alive again . . . ” In neither case do we see the cessation of physical life. What we see is separation, Adam and Eve from Paradise, the son from his father’s presence. In the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus, both men are separated from the condition in which they exist and find themselves in a new condition. Thus they “die” to their old life.

The rich man died to his existence and became poor. He was without all the luxuries and benefits which he had previously enjoyed, and this was a torment to him. This is a picture of Judaism, which no longer enjoys the special covenant relationship with God it once had. National Israel is no longer God’s special people. In the Parable of the Wicked Husbandmen, national Israel is cast out of the vineyard (the Kingdom of God) and replaced. These two parables describe the same event. National Israel’s covenant with God ended in AD 70 with the destruction of Jerusalem. They are replaced by the church, the nation of the Gentiles. Those who were once beggars for crumbs from God’s table now feast upon the riches of Liturgy, Sacraments, and the Word of God.

It is interesting to see how the beggar was brought to Abraham’s bosom. He was carried by angels. The word angel means “messenger.” Who were the messengers who brought the Gentile nations out of their spiritual poverty and into God’s rich and abundant mercy? The Apostles. They brought the message of the Gospel, the Good News of the Resurrection and God’s favor, to the ends of the known world, bringing with them the invitation to enter the covenant which began with Abraham. St. Paul says “Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham.” Abraham’s bosom is where the covenant father, Abraham, holds his children close to him in a special relationship.

On the other hand, in terms of their covenant with God being destroyed, national Israel was buried in AD 70 when Jerusalem was destroyed by the Roman armies of Titus and the Temple razed to the ground. This burial was confirmed by later attempts to rebuild the Temple being met with disaster and death.

In other words, this parable is a very weak attempt to prove connection to the idea of the toll houses.

there were 13 men at the last supper which was on a Friday.

hence Friday the 13th.

This is a claim I see bandied around so often and also very recently: that in evolution, DNA is not gained, it is only lost.

And yet, not once does anyone show it.

The difference in the number of chromosomes between animals and species is not the loss of DNA. It's just the way that DNA is divided

Radiation does break down DNA, true, but that is not the loss of DNA.

And recessive genes is not loss of DNA either, that is just genes basically being turned off.

So to the people who say that "DNA is lost", what exactly do you mean? And can you even show it?

Hey, something interesting- about a year ago I got on amazon and invested in a heated winter vest, it had a huge rechargeable lithium ion battery and a little button on the front with 3 heat settings. That winter I was driving down a back road in a rural area and I got stuck on a sheet of ice and couldn't get free, it was getting late and the sun was going down and it was already 7 degrees and the temperature was supposed to get below zero, I hit the button and the heat came on and I was nice and toasty warm! This thing saved my life! I was able to go to a local farmhouse for help and the people there were very nice and helped me to get free, after about 2 hours we got the car free and I made it home! I would highly recommend getting one of these it is only about $120 and will save your hide! If you want to have a look at the selection on amazon the link is here:

Amazon.com : heated winter vest

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Hi everyone- this is fantastic news! I just found this story on YouTube, apparently Elon Musk, the CEO of SpaceX, has given his life to Christ! I was about to commit to pray for his salvation every day but it turns out I don't have to! He has a stellar anointing, he is a genius and a visionary, he is out to change the world with his ideas! He has plans to construct a fleet of space vehicles called starships and then launch 3 per day and head for Mars, he wants to construct a city on Mars in the next several years! He is also the mastermind of the Tesla brand of electric cars that will do away with air pollution and climate change, he is also working on the Starlink satellite network that will provide high-speed internet everywhere on earth! He claims that his genius ideas come to him in the shower every morning, I think maybe he doesn't realize this but God is feeding him ideas!

This is scary. I don't get tornados where I live. But it makes me afraid to go on vocation, which I was planning on doing.

Hey y'all, it's been a while :'^)

I've come seeking some advice. I'd like to preface this by saying that since I am of the belief that homosexual behavior is(to the best of my knowledge)a sin, I'm looking for advice from Christians who believe the same. Not trying to be exclusionary per se, but I already know what the advice from the other side of the aisle will be and, due to the nature of this issue I'm having, it wouldn't help me very much.

Basically, I'm working on a game project. I've started a blog sharing progress about the development process and answering questions regarding lore and characters, and it's been going really well. However, since most of my followers are part of my generation(gen z, ages ranging anywhere from 16-26)a lot of them are LGBTQ+ and, if you're at all familiar with modern fandom spaces, a lot of them LOVE fanmade content.

Having said this, I've already received questions about whether or not I'll be including any LGBTQ+ representation in my works--to which I have politely stated that because I'm straight and cis(meaning cisgender/identifying with my assigned sex at birth), all of the characters I write for are also straight and cis and I pretty much keep it that way because it's what I know and are comfortable writing.

However, in the genre of game I'm making(which is a visual novel in case you were wondering)self-shipping/OC ships/fanmade content is rampant and encouraged in almost all cases. This means people often like to imagine their own stories involving my characters and their own characters--not all of which is true to the original story, and some of which may or may not include LGBTQ+ content. My compromise has been that as long as a line is drawn between the original and anything fanmade, if someone wants to imagine/think of one of my game characters as being gay and dating someone of the same sex, or to add in/draw whatever representation they want involving them, I'm not stopping anyone from doing so. I've also given permission to make mods for the game in case anyone is bothered by the lack of neo-pronouns or more diverse characters and wants to add their own and distribute it as a fan-edit of the game. I've also started answering questions like "How would [insert one of my characters here] be in a relationship with someone who does [x or y]?" using gender-neutral terms (they/them) so that people can fill in the blanks themselves as to whether or not the 'who' in the question is a guy or a girl. For example, saying "[So and so] appreciates them very much" instead of [So and so] appreciates [him/her] very much"

I guess I'm just wondering if I'm doing alright with all this. I'm trying very hard to not step on any toes and to be respectful while also not going against my own personal/spiritual beliefs. This sort of thing can easily blow up in my face, and I'd hate to have some sort of e-controversy before I've even finished my project.

Is my compromise acceptable? Or am I unintentionally encouraging sinful behavior?

Does Daniel encounter the Holy One with the greats Michael and Gabriel? This is in that Old Testament, Daniel.

Some scholars think Michael is a name for the Holy One, but most don't agree.

Daniel encounters 4 figures, he sees an Holy One on a throne of fire and mentions the people of the Holy Ones.

RED

BLUE

GREEN

I remember over 20 years ago reading the Left Behind series up until the Locusts of Rev 9 were discussed, and that's where I lost interest. I applaud LaHaye and Jenkins for holding to as strict a literal interpretation as possible, but for some reason it was too much in that instance.

Now I'm wondering if we've seen at least the beginning of the 1st Woe. I'll explain.

[Rev 9:1 KJV] And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit.

Stars aren't "hims". This star must be a non-literal reference. This sets the stage for the rest of the passage to be non-literal.

[Rev 9:2 KJV] And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit.

Smoke is often associated with judgment, probably because it affects more than the subjects of judgment. At the least it stings everyone's eyes where it reaches, and it reaches far into the air, vertically and horizontally.

[Rev 9:3 KJV] And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power.

We immediately see that these are not normal locusts, but have to be compared with the power of scorpions. Imagine if it were described the other way, and scorpions were given wings and made to swarm as locusts. Ouch!

[Rev 9:4 KJV] And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads.

The locusts don't even eat like normal locusts, but are only after the unbelievers. This is probably the hardest thing for my suggestion to fit.

[Rev 9:5 KJV] And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment [was] as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man.

Why 5 months?
And what is the torment of a scorpion like?
Here's a description from emedicinehealth.com:
Severe signs and symptoms of a sting from a scorpion include numbness throughout the body, difficulty swallowing, a thick tongue, blurred vision, roving eye movements, seizures, salivation, and difficulty breathing.

[Rev 9:6 KJV] And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them.

Does this mean they can't even kill themselves? Or does it somehow allude to a condition where they are kept alive medically? Or something else?

[Rev 9:7 KJV] And the shapes of the locusts [were] like unto horses prepared unto battle; and on their heads [were] as it were crowns like gold, and their faces [were] as the faces of men.

Here's where I think it might apply to today. "Horses prepared into battle" seem to associate with military might and speed. "Crowns" suggest governmental authority. "Faces of men" may go with the next verse's "hair of women" to indicate something akin to the transgender movement, which is being pushed strongly in our military.

[Rev 9:8 KJV] And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as [the teeth] of lions.

If the main point of these locusts is to wield the power of scorpions, why do they need "teeth of lions"? Because it indicates the authority of rulers.

[Rev 9:9 KJV] And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings [was] as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle.

"Breastplates of iron" mean they have been made impervious to attack, even possibly political or spiritual attack, while the sound of the wings like chariots and horses running to battle reiterates the speed and power of military action and enforcement.

[Rev 9:10 KJV] And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power [was] to hurt men five months.
[Rev 9:11 KJV] And they had a king over them, [which is] the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue [is] Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath [his] name Apollyon.

The main thing these creatures try to accomplish is the name of their leader, "destruction".

So here's my theory--the last few years are the time period spoken of. The stings are the covid vaccine, which is said to give immunity, but only for a short time before needing a booster (about 5 months, perhaps). Our military is one of the driving forced of the vaccine, along with the government. The same military and government has been pushing the transgender garbage, whose poster boy is "Rachel" Levine (man's face, woman's hair).


The same government was of no use against the Antifa and BLM riots, but allowed them to perpetrate their destruction.

The scorpion sting symptoms are reminiscent of either Covid or the vaccine (myocarditis, blood clots, strokes, and general loss of immunity to many diseases). Mostly people aren't dying from the vaccine, though some are, and the supposed purpose is to keep people from dying. Many who are refusing to take the vaccine are believers (which may account for the text that says the believers are sealed against the locusts).

What do you think?

stigmata, singular stigma, in Christian mysticism, bodily marks, scars, or pains corresponding to those of the crucified Jesus Christ—that is, on the hands, on the feet, near the heart, and sometimes on the head (from the crown of thorns) or shoulders and back (from carrying the cross and scourging).
Also includes the bleeding from these sites.

St. Francis of Assisi was the first recorded stigmatic.

Or was he?

Galatians 6:17 From now on let no one cause me trouble, for I bear the marks of Jesus on my body.

Greek word - Stigmata


"Francis was purportedly visited by a seraph who produced upon his body the five wounds of Christ."

Hi,

The topic of hell came up at a meal time with my family a while back. My Dad being on the fence when it comes to Christianity, challenged me to see whether I could find anything online about there being evidence for hell and to send him what I found.

I have only recently got round to getting back to him... considering all that is written in the Bible that Jesus said about hell, I explained in an email that if we believe Jesus was real and was who he said he was, then we can believe the words he spoke. So, considering this, I instead bullet pointed a few points justifying why we can believe in the Bible, that Jesus was who he said he was and as a result of these, why I subsequently believe in hell.

He replied saying: Is there any objective evidence available to you or me, rather than only writings from people who lived 100's of years ago and who we have no way of verifying their ability to draw accurate conclusions from the events they claim to have seen?

I only want to say something fairly brief in response (as I don't think he would appreciate a lengthy email after my first was slightly so) and I have a couple of ideas as to what. But I thought it may be worth me reaching out to ask others opinions as to what may be a good thing to say. I won't be disheartened if I don't get any responses to this, as I can have more of a think. But as I imagine most of you who read this are more spiritually mature than myself, if any thoughts come to mind for anyone, without you needing to think hard, I would be grateful to hear!

Thank you

There is alot of speculation on the internet, and concludes Lord Jesus' Birthday is in actuality September 11th, 3bc.

The conclusion is a Julian date, but I believe spectacular confirmations exist, that the date is Gregorian.

The basis for the 9/11/3bc. comes from the beginning of Revelations Chapter 12. The imagery was interperted to have astronomical meaning, and using computers, the date was nailed down.

That conclusion was very helpful... but then I added the 1260 days to Lord Jesus' Birthday, from Revelations 12:6, and it comes out to exactly, 2/22/2ad.

The 1260 days appears to be a kind of checksum. More confirmations exist. It's no surprise that 9/11 is so special, as the crooked evil of this world sought to tarnish it.

Can anyone recommend an OCA parish in Philadelphia or nearby?

Any favorite books on prayer apart from those by Met. Anthony (Bloom)?