Behold rain, like lively art.

ATFGI

JSRG said:

But now you are making a considerably different claim than the one you were making. Your complaint was that the system where a lower court could say the President couldn't do something, but then the Supreme Court (which could have people appointed by the President) could say the President could do it, was somehow dictator like.

Click to expand...

No, that is not what I said. Trump is the one trying to act like a dictator, it's the SCOTUS, specifically Thomas, Gorsuch and Alito primarily, who are aiding him.

JSRG said:

As I noted, that is literally the system that has been around since the Constitution was ratified, and it is not even unique to the United States, given various other democracies have this sort of system.

Click to expand...

I'm aware.

JSRG said:

Now you are essentially changing the subject to something different, and one that ironically is not even compatible with your prior complaint. Before, you were complaining about the fact the Supreme Court could overturn a lower court and say the President could do something even if that lower court said he couldn't.

Click to expand...

I did not complain about that. I stated that I am fully aware that the SCOTUS is the final word on constitutional issues. I also tried to be clear that I was offering my personal opinion that I disagree with the SCOTUS rulings which aid Trump in his apparent desire to act in a dictatorial manner.

I'll also grant that my opinion, and five bucks, will get you a latte at Starbucks.

JSRG said:

Now, however, your complaint is to apparently refer to Abrego Garcia... a time when the Supreme Court said the President couldn't have deported him the way he did and he should try to get him back. So it appears the example of the Supreme Court saying the President could do something a lower court said he couldn't is to point to the Supreme Court saying he couldn't do something, namely deport Abrego Garcia to the country he was deported to? Even setting that aside, Trump did (after a bunch of hemming and hawing) get him back anyway, so he ultimately didn't refuse.

Click to expand...

That Trump eventually followed the law doesn't change the fact that he actively denied due process for Garcia to begin with, which is part of the reason I claim he's trying to act as a dictator would. It seems he was prevented from becoming a full dictator by the checks and balances our government relies on to curb such ambitions. I applaud them, and I will even applaud the SCOTUS in upholding the Constitution in this instance, at least.

But my main point has always been that Trump is trying his level best to act as a dictator would, and the Courts should be a bulwark to that ambition, not an ally. If that point wasn't clear to you at the outset, I apologize.

-- A2SG, do my best to be clear, but pobody's nerfect.....

Akita Suggagaki said:

mindfulness

Click to expand...

Mindfulness if understood in a non-Buddhist concept; specifically, being mindful of our sins, as opposed to the buzzword kind of mindfulness.

I wish you hadn’t used that word, because it will cause needless alarm, and I hadn’t noticed you had used it, or else I would have objected to it; Nepsis has been stressed by Orthodoxy and also by those Orthoodox churches that would later enter into communion with the Pope after 1054, the sui juris Greek Catholic churches, since the first millennium.

Spiritual Jew said:

What do you think we should be doing to watch and be ready, Douggg? It's strange that you would talk about this "watch rapture view" without even explaining what you think that means exactly.

Click to expand...

Watch for Jesus sent by the Father to rapture us up from this earth as something good, the blessed hope, which we are blessed with the redemption of our bodies, and be taken by Jesus to heaven, to forever be with Him.

How to make sure that we are ready..... by being saved in Christ and to love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. And love your neighbor as your self. (Matthew 22:37-39)

Jesus looked up to heaven when he prayed. Watching for the Father to send Jesus to take us up from this earth, involves praying looking up to heaven as Jesus did, thanking the Father in advance, praising His holy name, for what He is going to do - redeem our bodies, and end our troubles in this life.

Also, pray with our heads bowed, humble before the Lord.

Lady Bug said:

I am suffering severely from a very, very lazy mindset this week and I'm getting concerned about it. It's been nearly a month since that day and two weeks since the funeral, and I need to get going with some important things and I literally don't know what to do next. I'm scared to ask anyone (real life) for help because I'm apprehensive of not being able to follow whatever advice they may give. I can't do this by myself anymore.

Click to expand...

His grace and peace to you

chevyontheriver said:

Conceptually interesting. How does that compare to the current psychology mindfulness craze?

Click to expand...

No comparison. Nepsis is a Greek Patristic concept focused on the avoidance of sin, whereas mindfulness comes from Buddhism which is not built upon a hamartiological framework but on “self-awareness” and which is ultimately connected to the Nihilist, annihlationist doctrines at the heart of Buddhism - the ultimate goal of Buddhism in its original forms was to escape the cycle of death and rebirth to non-existence, a delusion shared with other Indian religions.

Later, Mahayana Buddhism and others came up with the idea of “Pure Lands” which are reached by the Arishants who attain enlightenment and in that respect are closer to Christianity, but these forms of Buddhism were influenced by non-Indian religions of the Far East and are syncretic - pure Therevada Buddhism tends to shy away from them.

seeking.IAM said:

I wish we did a better job of recognizing our commonality and embracing each other as fellow believers instead of criticizing others over differences. The simple solution is if you disagree with someone else's belief or affiliation, worship elsewhere. There are a lot of good things about CF. Our sniping at each other is not one of them, in my opinion.

Click to expand...

I agree entirely. As you know, I disagree with some current practices of the Episcopal Church, but i love the Episcopal CHurch and I have never allowed my objections to some recent developments in the Episcopal Church to get between myself and my Episcopalian friends such as yourself. Indeed several of my favorite churches in the US, such as St. Thomas Fifth Ave, are Episcopalian (I’m hoping the boys choir at San Diego is revived soon - they’ve been trying to bring it back since Covid, so far without success, but it used to be the West Coast rival to St. Thomas; there are a few other youth choirs on the East Coast such as at Trinity on the Green. Distressingly, there are none in Canada that I am aware of.

I should add I would have joined the Order of the Holy Cross had it been possible for one person to stop the closure of their monastery on the West Coast. And I would return to the Episcopal Church if I thought i could help the church in a meaningful way to regain members. The liturgical diversity permitted in the Episcopal Church while retaining liturgical unity and the popularity of Divine Office services are inspirational.

Fervent said:

Those lists are questionably comparible to the modern institution of homosexuality, especially considering that there are at least two different practices that have been placed under the umbrella term despite possibly refering to more specific violations like pederasty.

Click to expand...

Per the forum rules, I don’t think that can be discussed, but you can look at what the early Church fathers said about it.

Blessings

The Liturgist said:

St. Paul made it clear that certain sins such as fornication, homosexuality, adultery, murder and other transgressions could jeopardize our salvation.

Click to expand...

Well said, sir! Repent or perish!

sjastro said:

The reason I have placed this in a science forum is the evidence from Egyptology which is a science/humanity hybrid field of study, statues of the 18th dynasty pharaoh Akhenaton who was the father of Tutankhamen is represented in a feminine form with breasts and wide hips and in some cases appears to pregnant.

View attachment 366743
​

Akhenaton's claim to fame is being the first individual in history attested by archaeology as a monotheist (OT individuals don't count as none have been attested).

Interpretations of these statues fall in three broad categories.
(a) Akhenaton had some medical disorder, maybe was an intersexual.
(b) A disgusting evil pervert (unfortunately a POV expressed in modern day circles).
(c) The statues indicate the ancient Egyptians differentiated between one's biological sex and gender identity which therefore contradicts the idea of gender identity being a modern construct.

I posed point (c) to the Egyptologist Dr Chris Naunton who responded as follows.

View attachment 366745

- YouTube

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

www.youtube.com

ChatGPT4 on the other hand gave a different response.

Click to expand...

The entire I identity as xyz is only about a decade old. True trans people have existed, but they were relatively rare.

A2SG said:

And he was arrested for the crime. So, problem solved.

Now tell me, how would banning trans women (which Heckel was not) from public women's rooms would have prevented this? Why penalize people who had nothing to do with the crime at all?

-- A2SG, if we found that Heckel had worn a cross instead of a skirt, could we then ban all Christians from bathrooms?

Click to expand...

I’ve made myself abundantly clear no male belongs in the woman’s restroom, which so called trans women are, to begin with.

Again.

2PhiloVoid said:

Don't look at me! I'm not the one here going around poking other Trinitarian Christians in the eye (unless they're racist or dominionists). However, I might be the one guilty of analytically snapping a finger or two when those fingers are used to probe my own eye-sockets.

I'm not going to put up with any of that sort of inverted, misapplied "spiritual" discernment. I didn't put up with it 40 years ago; I'm still not going to today.

Click to expand...

I was not looking at you in the slightest my friend! Actually I was not calling out any individual members of Christian Forums, but rather urging everyone tempted to continually attack a denomination, whether Catholic or a different denomination, to the point of beating a dead horse with tired arguments to take a look inward.

For example, I have criticized the mainline Protestant churches for recent doctrinal changes concerning homosexuality, but the flipside is I have very warm relations with members of some of these denominations, particularly the Episcopal Church (of which I was a member and which I love very much, despite its errors), and I don’t talk about these issues that much, except on those unfortunate occasions when something else occurs, but I do so from the perspective of being the chief of sinners - I do not regard the members of those churches as being morally inferior to me, or being more sinful than I am. Which is why I admire you as a member; you cannot be accused of a “holier than thou” disposition.

NxNW said:

Have I ever claimed otherwise?

Click to expand...

I don't know, have you?

NxNW said:

I mean, an example you can actually show me.

Click to expand...

I can't force a horse to drink. Nor can I make a blind man see.

NxNW said:

No, you just failed to clearly state your point.

Click to expand...

I wasn't really making a point there, just expressing a (lack) of surprise.

NxNW said:

What's the thread title again?

Click to expand...

Perhaps you should look at the contributions I have made, as I am not debating against evolution

NxNW said:

I'm still waiting to hear about this evidence.

Click to expand...

How do you define evidence? I've already identified several different types of evidence that exist, which demonstrates your cllaim of "no" evidence is false.

NxNW said:

How tall was he? What color were his eyes? What was the date of the Resurrection? Surely someone wrote these things down.

Click to expand...

This seems thoroughly ignorant of the types of historical evidence that exist for most historical figures, and just shows an unreasonable expectation likely from a lack of familiarity of how historical evidence works.

Hentenza said:

Sorry but I could never agree to increasing the power of labor unions. There is a lot of corruption among them. I witnessed their corruption personally during my professional career. What RD Kirk proposes seems a bit more reasonable.

Click to expand...

Heck, there is a lot of corruption in Congress. There's a lot of corruption on Wall Street.

“If labor is to enter into the life of the Republic, it must organize; for organized capital is already entrenched.” -- Theodore Roosevelt

BCP1928 said:

Apparently people really think doing all that would be Socialism.

Click to expand...

It would be a return to the 70s.

Fervent said:

So you say.

Click to expand...

Have I ever claimed otherwise?

Fervent said:

Other than the obvious one?

Click to expand...

I mean, an example you can actually show me.

Fervent said:

From your denial, I take it that you're a Jesus-mythicist. Did I misunderstand?

Click to expand...

No, you just failed to clearly state your point.

Fervent said:

Am I debating evolution? News to me.

Click to expand...

What's the thread title again?

Fervent said:

I've already stated my counterexample, in the circumstantial historical case for Jesus- resurrection.

No literary evidence? Or historical evidence? Testimonial? Seems quite bold to deny all evidence.

Click to expand...

I'm still waiting to hear about this evidence.

Fervent said:

Historical documents, communal evidence, testimonial evidence. The kind of stuff that circumstantial cases are built upon.

Click to expand...

How tall was he? What color were his eyes? What was the date of the Resurrection? Surely someone wrote these things down.

Makeup.

Ivan Hlavanda said:

The OT prophets never spent any time calling out the false leaders of Israel and their sins...oh wait

Click to expand...

They were in a position to do so because they had repented of the sins in question themselves, and furthermore the sins they criticized among the Israelis were real sins, and furthermore what they were actually doing, as implied by the word “prophet” was engaging in prophecy, about the coming of Christ our True God, which He confirmed in Luke chapter 24, before His Ascension, when he “Opened the books” for the Apostles and showed them how all the Law and the Prophets testified about him.

Furthermore, if we read the Prophets criticisms of Israel as only applying to Israel, and not generally, we do ourselves a disservice, because ancient Israel was so very human. Like all of us, it repented of a sin, only to return to that same sin, sometimes within the same generation, “like a dog to its vomit.” This is the human pattern…sin, get frightened, repent, get rescued by God, remain repenting for a while, get bored, return to sin, rinse, wash and repeat, do not fold, spindle or mutilate.

BNR32FAN said:

Oh there’s so many erroneous posts to address here but in respect of the OP I’ll just keep my mouth shut.

Click to expand...

I am not disrespected by your commenting upon them, as long as you don’t do so in a way that distracts from your own metanoia. And I am confident that you won’t, since you have evinced great piety on the forums and I regard you as a treasured friend, even though I disagree with some of your posts, I mostly agree with them.

RileyG said:

Yes.

Click to expand...

The statues of pharaohs were never made according to the artist's perspective but from the pharaoh's.

One of Egypt's greatest pharaohs Hatshepsut was a female who portrayed herself in male form with a false beard in some statues.
This wasn't a case of reverse gender identity but symbolic that her authority was equivalent to any male Pharaoh.
Her successors weren't terribly impressed and attempted to erase her from history.

RileyG said:

It has happened. Hunter Heckel of Virginia wore a skirt and sexually assaulted a girl in the bathroom. It occurred in 2021 when he was 15.

Click to expand...

And he was arrested for the crime. So, problem solved.

Now tell me, how would banning trans women (which Heckel was not) from public women's rooms would have prevented this? Why penalize people who had nothing to do with the crime at all?

-- A2SG, if we found that Heckel had worn a cross instead of a skirt, could we then ban all Christians from bathrooms?

SabbathBlessings said:

Sure, there are people who sin in all churches no doubt. Doctrine is what sets churches apart. There are many people who claim to be SDA's who choose not to follow our church beliefs, just like I am sure its the same for all churches.

Doesn't the CC claim the pope as infallible yet has done all these things, I know are not coming from the God of the Bible.

Click to expand...

The doctrine of Papal Infalliblity did not exist until the 19th century, its promulgation caused a schism with the Old Catholic churches, who are Roman Catholics that reject Papal Infallibility, another church the anti-Roman Catholic polemicists ignore (in this case completely), and furthermore it has only been used twice, to adopt a popular 19th century doctrine and in 1955 to adopt a doctrine, that of the Assumption, which had been part of the faith of the Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox since the 1st century, but which for some reason the celebration of which in Rome had lapsed for several centuries (as witnessed by the existence of ancient churches in Greece dedicated to it and ancient icons of it; the idea that the doctrine originated in 1955 is another anti-Roman Catholic, anti-Orthodox smear).

keras said:

Isaiah 66:18b-21, is a Prophecy of the great second Exodus. How the Christian peoples will travel to and gather in all of the Holy Land.

Click to expand...

More than 'possible' Leaf.
That Prophecy reads clearly; The Lords peoples will gather into the Holy Land. Many other Bible Prophesies confirm this and how they will be the Lords witnesses and His Light to the nations.
Then we are told how the Anti-Christ 'beast' will conquer them: Daniel 7:25 & Revelation 13:5-7 Some will be taken to a place of safety, Rev 12:14, but many must remain under persecution. Revelation 12:17

This truth destroys any ideas of a rapture, pre, mid or post. At the Glorious Return, those who are not still in Jerusalem, will be gathered there. Matthew 24:31

NxNW said:

Because I'm not vain enough to think I'm the center of the universe.

Click to expand...

So you say.

NxNW said:

Can you offer a counterexample?

Click to expand...

Other than the obvious one?

NxNW said:

One of what?

Click to expand...

From your denial, I take it that you're a Jesus-mythicist. Did I misunderstand?

NxNW said:

If you respected academic concensus, we wouldn't be debating evolution, now would we?

Click to expand...

Am I debating evolution? News to me.

NxNW said:

Surely you can produce a counterexample for an easy refutation?

Click to expand...

I've already stated my counterexample, in the circumstantial historical case for Jesus- resurrection.

NxNW said:

I dispute that there is any evidence at all.

Click to expand...

No literary evidence? Or historical evidence? Testimonial? Seems quite bold to deny all evidence.

NxNW said:

What evidence?

Click to expand...

Historical documents, communal evidence, testimonial evidence. The kind of stuff that circumstantial cases are built upon.

SabbathBlessings said:

So what about the sins of Rome that are truths? Are we to ignore them and allow for the cover up by the revisions of history?

Click to expand...

If they distract from focusing on your own repentence, than yes. As for the cover up “by the revisions of history”, a great many of the things people accuse the Roman Catholics of are falsehoods, or else are communicated in a way that ignores the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox and the Church of the East, primarily because most 19th century anti-Catholic polemicists were unaware of our existence or just thought we were Roman Catholics but with funny hats.