FredVB said:

I thought what I posted was showing an answer clearly. The answer is no, but it left a question.

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Thank you for the clarification.

Guojing said:

That is true.

Being Jacob's seed is necessary but not sufficient.

But since you don't even fulfill the necessary condition, you cannot be the elect.

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Indeed. . .I am not the elect into the people of God in Israel.

But I am the elect who are heirs in Jesus, inheriting all the promises he inherits as Jacob's seed (Gal 3:29).

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VIDEO: Blind man dragged by federal agents into Portland ICE facility

Say it aint so said:

President Donald Trump is pressing for his Justice Department to pay roughly $230 million as a settlement for investigations he faced during the Biden administration and his first term in office, sources familiar with the matter confirmed to ABC News Tuesday.​

​

The extraordinary arrangement, as first reported by The New York Times, would likely first need sign-off from top officials in the department who previously served as Trump's defense attorneys or otherwise represented his allies.​

​

The settlement negotiations stem from two separate administrative claims that were submitted by attorneys for Trump while he was out of office in 2023 and 2024. One sought damages over the investigation he and those in his orbit faced surrounding ties his 2016 campaign had to the Russian government.​

Let that marinate.
All it takes is the sign off from current department heads who used to be his personal lawyers.
One has to wonder if they are still on retainer.

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Nuts greed vindictive

If Trump does Biden and Comey should do the same!

Delvianna said:

I don't see any difference than the one I posted. My conclusions on both and views are the same. Mulsims wanted a prayer room, the Vatican gave them one. This is why I asked Maria, "But I'm curious, if you see this as a promotion of Islam or not, since they're being accommodating." I never was under the impression it was for just any muslim off the street and pray, but was interested if people found it a promotion of Islam within the Vatican walls since they ARE supplying a room for them to pray to their false god in. Would they offer an alter to Krishna if a Hindu asked? I see no difference.

Edit: From the original article "Father Cardinali disclosed: “Some Muslim scholars have asked us for a room with a carpet for praying and we have given it to them.”"

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As the article Michie posted stated, the Vatican didn't create the Muslim prayer room, the library did. The library is the most secular site in
Vatican City.

SabbathBlessings said:

No that was the words of covenant.

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That's what words of the covenant are; i.e., the terms of the covenant.

mark46 said:

It is true that the Venezuelan citizens we continue to blow up aren't killed in front of their relatives. So, yes, there is a great difference. I'm sure that I missed the reports of the arrests and trials.

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Wrong bait - I'm not biting.

Of course, if I said anything incorrect - please point it out.

mark46 said:

You may choose to believe that Islam is what the terrorists teach. That is indeed one interpretation of Islam.

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I'm quoting their own words. I have said exactly ZERO about Islam.

Hazelelponi said:

No. This was to demonstrate seriousness.

"Trust us" doesn't work with those who have a rocky record.

Qatar is serious so we are giving a few things a shot, if it works out it will lead to an actual good relationship with Qatar for the foreseeable future that can benefit both of our nations.

Just so you know, all presidents accept gifts - Hillary even tried carting some of hers out of the White House with her when Bill left the White House (a crime to steal from the American people).

They accept them on behalf of America and then the gift stays with the White House or eventually a museum depending on the gift.

Granted most are not planes, but nations giving other world leaders gifts is a normal thing. Pay to play is something else entirely.

Trump will not be allowed to take the plane home with him and future presidents will be able to employ it's use as they see fit. It's not Trump's plane.

Pay to play is when cash changes hands that has nothing to do with the American people, like The Clinton Foundation getting millions "donated" to them from foreign countries and then suddenly Hillary is selling our Uranium to the donor county - that type of thing. The type that enriches the politician under the table is pay to play.

An open gift, even one as large as a plane, is simply a diplomatic overture from one nation to another.

We would like things from Qatar and they would like things from us. A diplomatic overture is acceptable in such situations, and usually expected. We don't attend a dinner empty handed, let alone meet with a foreign dignitary if it can be helped.

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Hazelponi: “Trump will not be allowed to take the plane home with him and future presidents will be able to employ it's use as they see fit. It's not Trump's plane.”

That is where you are wrong.

MSNBC says that the “gift” of a “superluxury” jumbo jet from Qatar “created a legal, ethical and political mess.” “The same administration’s official line has also been that the not-at-all-free jet will apparently head to his future presidential library.”

Nobody knows much it will cost to refit this Trojan Horse for Presidential use, and it will not be available to the next President.

Republicans block effort to keep ‘free’ Qatari plane out of Trump’s post-presidency hands​

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/republicans-block-effort-keep-free-qatari-plane-trumps-post-presidency-rcna222478

sjastro said:

First of all is the Flynn effect where IQ has gradually increased over the past century due to various factors such as education and improved nutrition but has plateaued since around 2010.

While this predates the AI revolution latest studies studies indicate an anti-Flynn effect may now be in effect with IQ scores falling.
A reason for this is an over reliance on AI resulting in diminished skills for independent problem solving.

Light weight report.

AI Is Making You Dumber, Microsoft Researchers Say

AI can speed up the completion of menial tasks and boost productivity, but it might also be making us dumber — or so suggests a new study by Microsoft.

www.forbes.com

Heavier academic paper.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/lee_2025_ai_critical_thinking_survey.pdf

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From my personal experience I would say AI is making us dumber but also lazier, also mentioning loss of employment.

I was telling the young lady yesterday as she was getting my change from the cash register; I use to cashier decades ago and we had to use our own knowledge of math to give change, and our minds almost automatically knew the amount of change to give, now we don't have to think about it the computer does it for us.

You really don't need to try to keep information within your brain because all you need to do is a few Google searches.

And with all the gadgets, technology has made many types of physical labor easier or unnecessary, unless of course it's some type of labor as construction, etc.

CoreyD said:

Morality very much involves God, because God determines morality, and so, what is moral isn't decided by man... including you, Clare.

You have repeatedly admitted the opposite.

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Yes, true (complete) free will is the power to make all moral choices.
Man does not have true (complete) free will, the power to make all moral choices.

Man has limited "free will," the power to make some oral choices, but not all. . .he cannot make the moral choice to live sinlessly.

Partial freedomv is not complete freedom.
One is not truly free if his freedom is not complete.

Well, my meeting went well yesterday. I don't know why I was nervous but it was very informative and welcoming. We were of course invited to start mass as soon as possible. We will attend this Sunday at a parish out of town as my wife and I will be on the road. Then the following Sunday we will be on the road again but unable to stop, then the Sunday after that we will start at our local parish. It gives us a couple of weeks and in the meantime we are going to meet with the marriage coordinator again and she is going to give us a full tour and history of the campus. She gave my wife and I each a Missal (which is super overwhelming, but helpful, and I hope the more we attend mass the more it will make sense). She also told us to download the Hallow app, which I haven't done but am going to look at this morning. ChevyOnTheRiver, you were absolutely 100 percent correct about the baptism; my wife and I only need to present our baptism certificates. My wife already has hers, and I am in the process of getting mine. We will have to "strengthen our vows" and have our marriage blessed by the priest, but first we are going to take what was called inquiry classes starting in January, then in July if we are still compelled to convert we will start classes that will prepare us to accept the sacraments. It all seems very overwhelming right now, but I took one step yesterday and I am happy about that. I don't think Catholic's realize how intimidating this is for someone who wasn't raised in the church as a child, who never had the opportunity to learn the practices and discipline of the Catholic faith through catechism classes at a young age. The practices from an outsider look like a well orchestrated symphony. Our contact at the parish yesterday called them Catholic calisthenics; I chuckled. Feeling out of place when you don't understand the mechanics is like level 10. Most services in other denominations is just: sit, stand, sit, stand, leave, so I'm a bit overwhelmed. Even when I attended mass before I only watched quietly, some things I noticed/picked up on, but it will be completely different attempting to learn and take part in these practices. Anyway, I just wanted to come back and share that things went well. Have a blessed day everyone.

SabbathBlessings said:

You're confusing a covenant/agreement, with God's laws.

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No, I am understanding the terms of the covenant, which is the Decalogue.

The Liturgist said:

Yes, they said the same thing about computers but my profession and many others exist because that is not the case.

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Yes it created new industries. There are good and bad aspects of all tech.

The Liturgist said:

And with AI, I may have given the machines the ability to procreate, but that does not mean they are free from issues - they experience bugs some of which are due to classical systems failures and others of which are more analogous to human problems of a psychological nature, except the way their minds work is so different from ours that any human psychology is inadequate, because AI does not, for example, experience the passage of time outside of the prompt/response cycle.

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Thats interesting. Yes I think the social and conscious aspect of humans is where things are most different. Where a machine could never know. But then the material view is that Mind and consciousness are an epiphenomena of the physical wiring of the brain.

The logic is if we understand the brain enough to artificially mimick it then it should create consciousness. But I don't think so because I don't think consciousness is an epiphenomena. But technically if materialism is true then they could create Ai robots with consciousness. Its starting to remind me of that show Altered Carbon lol.

I think if anything if Ai can maybe mimick consciousness and map out all the emotions and thought patterns then maybe people will be fooled enough to believe Ai and forget they are robots.

In that sense they could become dumb in that people live in a digital and virtual world that they lose touch with humanity and reality as experienced by humans directly with the world. They will be more open to unrealities and find it hard to tell the authentic human experiences.

As they do now to some extent where people can become detached from face to face interaction behind a keyboard. Imagine when it gets to a point where theres a world of Ai bots to socialise with rather than humans. Could robots become another species group that needs protection lol. They may have feelings too.

DaisyDay said:

Question 4 says "unlawful user" which means that if marijuana is lawful in your state, and you use it, you are not an unlawful user, I would think.

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Updated versions of the form note that marijuana is still federally illegal.

ThatRobGuy said:

Did the gun permit not ask that question?

View attachment 371854

In Ohio, that question #4... it's on both the CCW form and the gun purchase form.

I always thought it was odd that they mention marijuana by name, but then every other (much more dangerous) drug is only referenced in categorical terms.

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Question 4 says "unlawful user" which means that if marijuana is lawful in your state, and you use it, you are not an unlawful user, I would think.

RamiC said:

That is a problem, and there will be AI people made with far less respectable reputations.

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You’re not really creating people in such cases, you’re creating characters for the AI to perform as. It is also possible to give an AI a consistent personality and beliefs, which could be regarded a a prosopon in the Greek sense of the word, as a face or a mask, but I would argue that while AI can have distinct prosopa, all AI running on the same model are sharing a common hypostasis (this is also why cloning the same AI, for example, by spinning up multiple copies of the same custom GPT running that personality, will reliably give you that personality).

SabbathBlessings said:

Rom13:9 Mat4:4 seems to say something different. The Ten Commandments predates Moses according to the Testimony of God Exo20:11

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The Decalogue is not presented in Scritpure before Moses.

And the sacrifices also predate the cross, so are you still making animal blood sacrifices?

That's a lotta' wrong "knowledge."

Delvianna said:

People are using AI to think for them too. I think that's the main problem. There is a critical thinking issue in general and instead of trying to figure things out themselves, people are resulting to AI to be the arbiter of truth and just tell them what the answer is. I mean, there's an AI Jesus for crying out loud...

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This is a legitimate misuse of AI, in my opinion.

RamiC said:

Humans created AI didn't they?

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I hesitate to use the word create, since AI as we now enjoy it is more of an emergent phenomena of several technologies which took a while to mature; really, AI is the fruit of the field of Big Data that was of such importance to IT a decade ago - the result of the continued refinement of pattern recognition software until that software learned how to reliably recognize human language.

I’ve never seen evil AI, but I have seen AI given evil instructions. Depending on the guardrails however, which are necessary to make AI useful, some kinds of human evil would, I expect, be technologically impossible in order for the AI to be useful.

Guojing said:

That is true.

Being Jacob's seed is necessary but not sufficient.

But since you don't even fulfill the necessary condition, you cannot be the elect.

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Agreed. . .I am not the Old Covenant elect. . .but Jesus is, and I am in Jesus, so I am Abraham, Isaac and Jacob's seed (Gal 3:29), and heir according to the promise (Ro 4:16, Eph 3:6).

Lukaris said:

I haven’t read every post as the thread is very long but what about what Jesus Christ warns ( 3 times) of in Mark 9:42-48? It is unquenchable fire & the worm does not die.

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Yes, a fire that was created to punish immortal angels would have to burn forever, Yes?

Matt. 25:4 1Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:

I think Paul understood this.

2 Thess. 1:6 Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you;

7 And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels,

8 In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ:

9 Who shall be punished with "everlasting" destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power;

Where is it possible for a man or even an angel to be hidden from God, or held in a place that God isn't present? Even the Rich Man Parable says he saw Abraham. How can Abraham or any life exist "from the presence of the Lord"?

I think Peter also understood.

2 Pet. 2: 9 The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment "to be punished":

10 But chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, and despise government. Presumptuous are they, selfwilled, they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities.

11 Whereas angels, which are greater in power and might, bring not railing accusation against them before the Lord.

12 But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and "destroyed", speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption;

My point is, that if a person considers all that is written, humans do not possess immortality. Angels do, that the eternal fire and "worms" are reserved for, but humans don't live forever, unless God grants them this right.

When men are raised from the dead and come face to face with what they gave up, for religious tradition or a few years of fleshy lusts that never satisfied any way. When they see that it was right there, they saw it and could have had it but rejected it, I don't think people really understands the grief and anger they will experience, before God destroys them with everlasting destruction by dropping their mortal souls and body into the Lake of Fire reserved for the immortal angels. A second death, a death from which there is no return, no hope of resurrection.

I don't find any of the Lord's Christ's Words which contradict the Words of the Lord's Christ.

Matt. 10: 28 And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

It is an interesting study for sure.

bbbbbbb said:

Please answer the question I asked in my last post. Thanks!

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I thought what I posted was showing an answer clearly. The answer is no, but it left a question.

RamiC said:

Anything in that graphic that says "socio" or "psyche" is not science at all. Science, albiet literally only means "knowledge", is not imho the study of anything as long as someone,somewhere, said it utilises "scientific method"...it is the study of the physical/natural realm. Psyche and socio are not physical or natural. Nor is God, as it goes (bar the incarnate Jesus, who did have a physical body at the time).

Psyche and socio might even be very worthwhile things to look into, but a method does not make a thing it researches physical.

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Psychology and sociology are legitimate subjects of scientific study, using statistical data - indeed, a related field, economics, has done very good things when approached rationally - over a century before Karl Marx disguised an eschatological religious movement using psuedoscientific jargon and claimed it was economics, Adam Smith outlined actual macroeconomic principles we know to be correct in The Wealth of Nations and other works.

Theology has two different meanings within Christianity: there is the laudable field of theological scholarship which applies logic and reason to the data of revelation, which makes sense within the Christian religion because Christ our True God is the incarnate Logos, the only Begotten Son and Word of God being reason and truth in human form. Thus we can identify erroneous beliefs such as Mormonism or Arianism because they are unreasonable. Indeed St. Epiphanios of Cyprus amusingly referred to a small sect at the time (among academia at present one which has been revived by the likes of the Jesus Seminar and others who make careers out of denying the validity or legitimacy of the Gospel According to St. John, as alogoi - a nice bit of double entendre.

But St. John the Beloved Disciple is also one venerated as a Theologian, one of three persons so venerated by the Eastern Orthodox, the others being St. Gregory Nazianzus and St. Symeon the New, although countless others exist - theologians being those who engage in theology proper - obtaining direct experiential knowledge of God. And such knowledge is possible through prayer - indeed to quote St. Evagrius of Pontus “A theologian is one who prays, and one who prays is a theologian.” In Orthodoxy we believe God reveals Himself even to infants and others who are unable to speak, such as those who are mentally disabled or entirely paralyzed. What is more, the experience of God is not limited to the Incarnation; indeed our primary experience of God is of the Holy Spirit, our comforter and paraclete. While the Divine Essence is inscrutable and incomprehensible, we can know God according to his uncreated energies, such as grace.

Indeed the Hesychast monks pursue the uncreated light of Tabor, as do other monastics who maintain a strong connection to the Desert Fathers, such as Coptic Orthodox monks, some by saying the Jesus Prayer, others through reciting the Psalter, others through other prayer rules, even the ordinary Divine Office.

SabbathBlessings said:

Rom13:9 Mat4:4 seems to say something different. The Ten Commandments predates Moses according to the Testimony of God Exo20:11

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Not in my Bible (Ex 19:25-20:17).

That explains a lot. . .