Latest activity

Akita Suggagaki · Jul 22, 2025

AV1611VET said:
It is Day One of the Creation Week and God creates Earth ex nihilo (from nothing) by speaking it into existence.

Heretofore the level of mass/energy in the physical universe is zero; since the physical universe didn't exist yet.

Afterwards, the level of mass/energy in the physical universe is now equal to the earth.

Here's my question:

What physical evidence would convince you this happened?

I submit there isn't any.

What say you?

I say even Nihil non est nihil. There is energy and substance in God's will before manifesting as creation.

fli · Jul 22, 2025

SabbathBlessings said:
Nice way to set up a question. If you would like to rephrase it I’ll be happy to respond.

The people Paul was referring to were probably debating about the meaning of Latin, Greek or Aramaic words. If that is not the language of the words you are debating about, I believe that the scriptures that I cited still apply.

The rest of us are debating about the meaning of scripture, not words. I you think that I am wrong to cite you and Dan Perez only because we all are debating words then report me to the board.

Carmenls · Jul 22, 2025

Please pray that my son Jake can be happy tonight. Please pray that God heals him mind and body and that there is nothing seriously wrong. I love him so much. He suffers so much. Please ask for God's loving healing mercy. Thank you and God bless you. Carmen

JulieB67 · Jul 22, 2025

I still love the fact that I can take the KJV and translate every word back to the Hebrew/Greek with a Strong's Exhaustive Concordance because many words do get lost in translation. For someone without many tools, I still like to utilize that to help get that original meaning at times when sometimes one word in English can be translated back to several different Greek words at times when it comes to different verses.

But I realize everyone will have their different preference.

DragonFox91 · Jul 22, 2025

You did well asking him about eternity - what happens after he dies.
He says nothing happens
You confront him on it by saying 'it all just happened?'
& he says he doesn't know & it's hubris to think otherwise, & the conversation moves on.

But you do know.

Hold your ground here & narrow in on this. You can attack here based on topics like creation (its design), life's origin (points to a Creator), & meaning (if everything is just an accident it doesn't matter b/c it's all just an accident). An honest atheist doesn't have a good answer for any of those, & he flat-out told you he doesn't, he doesn't want to think about it

& don't let him bounce you around, he's trying to overwhelm you w/ dozens of different topics he's just rapid-firing, but stick to the topics you feel strongest at.

You do well overall. You have a tempered spirit

.Mikha'el. · Jul 22, 2025

DragonFox91 said:
I was greatly alarmed the other day when I went to Barnes & Noble & the Young Adult & younger section (& spilling into the adult section) was all books on witches. Like 1/3 of the store. A long time ago, I might've told you 'who cares, it's just harmless fantasy.' Now I'm not so sure. Read the author bios. What do they believe about the world? How do they live in the world? Are these consistent w/ Christian character & sanctification?

I've gone the other way as I've gotten older. I used to think that if one reads a book featuring ghosts, witches, magic, and the like, it meant one promoted those things, or at very least accepted their existence. Now I think that's nonsense.

Platte · Jul 22, 2025

Job 33:6 said:
These texts too do not describe ex nihilo creation. Consider the creation of Adam for example. In chapter 2, he is not described as appearing out of thin air. Rather God takes pre existing material and molds it into Adam.

Ancient texts do not describe creation in ex nihilo terms.

And making something to do something, is not to say that an object is created out of nothing. I can make a sports team for the sake of playing football. But to create or to make something, does not inherently mean that the term is ex nihilo.

So when God makes the sun and the moon to rule the day and the night, that doesn't inherently mean ex nihilo creation.

And so much like the earth, the text simply doesn't clarify on ex nihilo creation. Rather this creation is ex materia, and/or functional. Not material.

The Hebrew word "bara" simply does not mean "ex nihilo". And anyone can do a simple word study of this in the Bible to prove that quite easily.

So Adam was created as a man from molded material? So explain what happened on the 4th day

BelieveItOarKnot · Jul 22, 2025

keras said:
In Romans 11:28-32: it does say some of the Jewish people will receive God's mercy, despite their continued rejection of Jesus. Romans 9:27
There will be two main criteria for this:
1/ They must be actual members of the House of Judah. Not those who call themselves Jews, but are not. Revelation 2:9
2/ They must show true repentance and remorse, as Jeremiah 12:14-16 tells us:..... I will have pity on them [Judah] and bring them back to their Land, if they learn the ways of My People, [Christians] and swear allegiance to My Name.
Note; the remnant Jews will be so ashamed of their errors, they will keep very quiet. Ezekiel 16:63

However; the main Christian peoples who will go to live in all of the holy Land after the Lord has cleared and cleansed it, Deuteronomy 32:34-43, Revelation 6:12, will be descendants of the ten Northern tribes; the House of Israel, joined by every faithful Christian from every race, nation and language. Isaiah 66:18b-21, Revelation 5:9-10
This will fulfil God's promise to the Patriarchs, that their descendants will inherit the holy Land. Ezekiel 34:11-16, Romans 9:24-26

So you think God just offs everyone else that doesn't make the cut?

FaithT · Jul 22, 2025

Job 33:6 said:
That's right. It doesn't say whether the Earth was there a billion prior or two seconds prior. It merely says that when God began to act on it, it was.

If I said "when I began to drive my car to work, it was raining outside"

No one would rush to the door arguing "wow! It began raining the instant you started driving to work!" Even though it is a possibility.

The point being that the text doesn't say either way. It's ambiguous as to how long, even if at all, the earth was present before God began to create it.

And I'm fine agreeing that I have to assume something. Because I acknowledge that the text is ambiguous.

Alternatively, you are also assuming something, but you aren't acknowledging your assumption. You're saying "no, it's not actually ambiguous and there is no possibility that the earth was present before God began to create it".

I get what you’re saying.

Akita Suggagaki · Jul 22, 2025

ThatRobGuy said:
There are several social implications at play here that are prohibitive to getting people to be willing to critique their own side.

With the way public discourse gets structured around such subjects, there's no upside to them acknowledging it.

Whether they do or don't acknowledge it, they're going to be labelled as "bad people" and it'll be framed as "that's why you shouldn't have voted for him and the right thing to do would've been to vote for democrats and let them do what they want for 4 years".

If you expect someone to bash their own side or something, there has to be some sort of incentive structure to do that.

If they turn a blind eye to it, then it's "You're a bad person for turning a blind eye to corruption"

If they say "yeah, Trump is corrupt, but I think the left has lost their marbles on the social issues, so I'd rather have Trump in there regardless of how corrupt his inner circle is because at least he'll be a bulwark against the excesses of the left", then it's "You're bad person for putting your petty selfish policy preferences over our 'sacred institutions'"

Same is true going in the other direction as well...

If a person's only choices are
"You're bad for picking that person and ignoring their obvious flaws"
and
"See, that's why you should've just forgone all of your policy preferences and voted for our guy"

...then I don't see what incentive there would be to hand the other side a loaded political gun to use against them.

The line of inquiry and channels of dialogue has to offer some sort of conclusion other than "and that's why should've just let us have power to do what we want for 4 years and put your own preferences aside" if you want people to be more open to self-criticism.

People in public office need to be able to take the critique that comes with the job. They have to also live with themselves.
I know I referenced the "Right" but it indeed goes both ways. We need people of character o both sides to hold their own accountable.

.Mikha'el. · Jul 22, 2025

I hate it when contestants on game shows don't listen to me when I know the right answers!

Jipsah · Jul 22, 2025

Rob7 said:
But when He didn't return, as they expected, they refigured the event, and understood that God said, " "Thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary" .. being the plan of Salvation, OT & NT ... It moved from the physical, sanctuary of the OT, to the Spirtual Sanctuary, in Heaven, where Christ moved from the Holy Place to the Holy of Holies, where he is officiating the Atonement, since 1844

Yeah, it's standard procedure for date-setters to come up with a very spiritual excuse for having their End Times forecasts turn out to be rubbish. The problem they all have is not believing what our Lord said:
"
Matthew 24
36“But about that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone."

42“Therefore be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming."

They stack hubris on top of ignorance, and are therefore compelled to fabricate a very religious-sounding excuse for their sure-fire can't-miss total-lock dates dates for our Lord's return come and go with incident, when simply accepting what our Lord exlicitly said wou;d have spared them their richly deserved embarassment.

Gene2memE · Jul 22, 2025

I propose a similar solution - retain universal suffrage, but impose severe limits on electoral candidate selection.

Candidates for any elected role must be able to pass tests based around knowledge, skills and applied competencies. The more important, meaningful and impactful the desired role, the more difficult and lengthy the testing. The testing for a lifetime judicial appointment or a presidential candidate should be substantially different from the testing for a city councillor or school board member.

The old English model of public service examinations would be a good starting point. India's current Civil Service Exam provides a model - multiple rounds of testing, conducted over a lengthy period of time (I think it's 12 months) with multiple different elements (there's a verbal exam/interview, a series of general knowledge exams and then another series of exams/assessments based around competencies and practical applications). I think the pass rate is about 1-2%, and you're only allowed a set number of attempts.

That way, no matter who the voter votes for, they know they're going to end up with a candidate that is qualified for the role they are seeking.

There are - of course - dangers and drawbacks to this. It may just end up creating a political class whose main skill is scoring high on tests (this was a common complaint of many English-style civil services). It may also discourage electoral participation by people who are potentially good leaders, but don't perform will in examination-type scenarios. Perverse incentives abound

Richard T · Jul 22, 2025

public hermit said:
Is hiring more conservative professors and admitting more conservative students a solution to liberal bias in American higher education?

Many people think so. The Trump administration, in threatening to cut Harvard’s federal funding, demanded that the university foster greater “viewpoint diversity,” including by recruiting faculty members and students who would restore ideological balance to campus.

But a policy of hiring professors and admitting students because they have conservative views would actually endanger the open-minded intellectual environment that proponents of viewpoint diversity say they want. By creating incentives for professors and students to have and maintain certain political positions, such a policy would discourage curiosity and reward narrowness of thought.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/10/opinion/viewpoint-diversity-conservatives-college.html?unlocked_article_code=1.VU8.2mRP.GDFxGd3Jorw0&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

Would a deliberate effort to hire professors with conservatives views backfire or create balance? The example of Robert Nozick is given in the article as an someone who had an obvious Libertarian view but was hired for intellectual rigor and not his politics. Is that a good example?

ETA: The author concedes that there is liberal bias in US universities.

I admit I was skeptical of South Dakota's law to try and insure that conservatives were represented as faculty in their colleges. Turns out it was pretty successful. Basically if your department had 5 liberals, the next hire needed to be a conservative. This legislative attempt was to help reach a balance. Here is one article on it. When Legislatures Become the Ally of Academic Freedom: The First State Intellectual Diversity Statute and Its Effect on Academic Freedom - South Carolina Law Review

prodromos · Jul 22, 2025

Apple Sky said:
No

No

No

So apparently we can't take you at your word.

Reluctant Theologian · Jul 22, 2025

Clare73 said:
I'm curious. . .can you give three of those ideas?

Recently we had a Bible lecture in our church that had this as a topic; it was a surprise to myself as well. Still if one thinks about it, it is not that strange. The Septuagint (LXX) Greek translation of the TNK/OT included those Deuterocanonical books and was the defacto Bible for Greek-speaking communities in the Roman Empire - the LXX is quoted heavily by the NT authors (about 70% of TNK/OT quotes in the NT are from the LXX). So the writings and thoughts of the LXX (including those Apocrypha) were abundant among the Jewish diaspora in the Roman Empire.

This observation creates an interesting dilemma if one adheres to strict word-for-word inspiration and infallibility for the NT writings; because of those many LXX quotes one also has to subscribe to the same authority for those LXX parts - which is merely a translation which is now known to have errors and inconsistencies (although some differences between the LXX and the Masoretic text are due to core manuscript differences).

Anyway, the core observation is that the LXX was simply a dominant element in the world of both NT authors and audience.

I don't have the full list of NT - Deuterocanonical similarities presented at that Bible lecture evening available myself, but here are three:

2 Maccabees 7:7–9
Hebrews 11:35–36

Sirach 5:7
2 Corinthians 6:2

Especially this last one is striking:

Sirach 28:2

Forgive your neighbor the wrong he has done, and then your sins will be pardoned when you pray.

Matthew 6:14

For if you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.

What surprises me in general is the seemingly extensive developing view and description of Wisdom (mentioned in Proverbs) into something that very closely mirrors the concept of 'Logos' in the Greek philosophical world (and bridged with the Jewish worldview by Philo) and ultimately then is used by John in John 1:1 to describe Yeshua coming from heaven into this world.

The Liturgist · Jul 22, 2025

Apple Sky said:
What ever I will still continue read it.

I’m not saying you should not read it, I’m recommending you study the Ethiopian Orthodox Church and its history and doctrines in order to fully appreciate the meaning of the work, the reason why they have those books and how they interpret them, and also how their faith has not only carried them through horrible famines but has also allowed them to evangelize groups one would think couldn’t be evangelized, such as the Rastafarians (who have a false understanding of the church and who smoke extreme amounts of marijuana, an activity which is prohibited by the Ethiopian church).

Christsfreeservant · Jul 22, 2025

“Do not fret because of evildoers,

Be not envious toward wrongdoers.

For they will wither quickly like the grass

And fade like the green herb.

Trust in the Lord and do good;

Dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness.

Delight yourself in the Lord;

And He will give you the desires of your heart.

Commit your way to the Lord,

Trust also in Him, and He will do it.

He will bring forth your righteousness as the light

And your judgment as the noonday.

Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him;

Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way,

Because of the man who carries out wicked schemes.” (Psalm 37:1-7 NASB1995)

There are many wicked people in this world, and not all of them are those who are being publicly identified as “evil,” but many of them are being publicly identified as “good.” And many who are being called “evil,” are not evil, but are “good.” So, please do not put your trust in what you hear or read or think you see on the internet or on television or coming from any other media source, pastors included. For lies and liars abound all over the place. And deception is huge just about everywhere you look these days.

But there are definitely real wicked people who are plotting and carrying out evil against those who have done them no harm. And many that they target are true followers of Jesus Christ. For Christian persecution is definitely on the rise, and some people making false professions of faith in Jesus are only helping in the charge against those who are true servants of the Lord Jesus. For some who profess to be good are our enemies, in disguise. And so they purposefully try to make Christians look bad so that we will be hated.

But we are not to fear these evildoers and what they might do to us. For our Lord was very upfront with us in letting us know that if we follow him with our lives that we will be hated and persecuted as he was, and that suffering is part of the Christian life, helping to make us more like Jesus. And if we are treated as Jesus’ enemies treated him, we will be falsely accused of wrong, when we are doing right. And we will have people who will lay mental traps for us to fall into, so that they will have cause to accuse us wrongfully.

But we are not to give way to fear of what they might do to us, but we are to put our trust in the Lord, and then keep on doing the good that we ought to do, as his followers, and as called of God to specific areas of ministry. And we do this because we love God, and we want to obey him, but also because we love our fellow humans, and we want them to hear and to believe the truth so that they can be delivered out of their slavery to sin, so that they will now walk in obedience to our Lord and to his New Covenant Commands.

And when this says that we should delight ourselves in the Lord, and he will give us the desires of our hearts, please know that if truly our delight is in the Lord, our desires will now be what he desires for our lives, and they won’t be sinful, fleshly, and selfish desires. And if we truly delight in the Lord, this isn’t just about feeling good and feeling happy, but it is about being joyful in service to him, with a desire to obey his commands and with a commitment to put sin to death and to live holy lives, pleasing to him.

And if we are slandered by those who oppose us, if they bring false charges against us in hopes to discredit us so that people will no longer listen to us –which was the intent of Jesus’ enemies always, and why they put him to death – then we must give it all over to the Lord, trusting that he will take care of us and that one day, maybe even after we die, the Lord will bring our true character into the light, and we will be exonerated of the lies spoken against us. For the Lord will plead our case for us. So we’re to have no fear!

For Our Nation

Professionally recorded in Nashville, TN
Via Gerry Peters, music producer and arranger
An Original Work / September 11, 2012
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

Bombs are bursting. Night is falling.
Jesus Christ is gently calling
You to follow Him in all ways.
Trust Him with your life today.
Make Him your Lord and your Savior.
Turn from your sin. Follow Jesus.
He will forgive you of your sin;
Cleanse your heart, made new within.

Men betraying: Our trust fraying.
On our knees to God we’re praying,
Seeking God to give us answers
That are only found in Him.
God is sovereign over all things.
Nothing from His mind escaping.
He has all things under His command,
And will work all for good.

Jesus Christ is gently calling
You to follow Him in all ways.

Men deceiving: We’re believing
In our Lord, and interceding
For our nation and its people
To obey their God today.
He is our hope for our future.
For our wounds He offers suture.
He is all we need for this life.
Trust Him with your life today.

Login to view embedded media
Caution: This link may contain ads

Because of Evildoers
An Original Work / July 22, 2025
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

RileyG · Jul 22, 2025

Neostarwcc said:
Sorry I forgot to update you all! He successfully had the surgery 2 weeks ago and is ok right now. He gets the sutures removed on Friday and will find out Friday if he has cancer or not. Right now he is in massive pain and the pain will get worse on Friday when they remove the sutures and will slowly get better over time. They've got him on prescription pain killers but they apparently do nothing. Please pray for him and I'll update you guys Friday on how it goes

continued prayers!

Latest activity

Latest activity

Filter

Forum statistics

Share this page