Larniavc said:

I think you mean Russia.

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Nah, England would have remained English. Continental Europe... Well depends on how far the Russians would have had the energy to push and depending on how well the other Allies would have kept their logistics working.

Hail Mary,
Full of Grace,
The Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women,
and blessed is the fruit
of thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary,
Mother of God,
pray for us sinners now,
and at the hour of our death.
Amen

Michie said:

Exercise and movement does lift one’s spirits. I know it’s hard to motivate when you feel so down but giving it a try might help. Continued prayers for you Riley.

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Thank you, I appreciate it

Larniavc said:

Yes I know. That is a big part of the problem. America has proved time and again it is unable to prevent its citizens from killing kids in schools with guns.

That is part of what has to change.

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That is not happening since it is a constitutionally protected right. In the UK 83% of kids 13 to 19 are killed with a sharp object but I don’t see you trying to ban knives. The hypocrisy.

Zaha Torte said:

When did we observe this?

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Scientists have been conducting experimental evolution experiments for decades and have observed, documented, and studied the evolution of all sorts of things.

New species have been observed to evolve many times. A few examples:

Clare73 said:

"Social," "environmental," "climate," etc. justice is a function of the populace.

Justice is the function of government.

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Another word for Justice is Righteousness.

There are two kinds of righteousness: Righteousness Coram Deo, that's the imputed righteousness which justifies; and Righteous Coram Mundus, that's the righteousness extended toward others.

The Christian is called to exhibit Righteousness, to live righteously. To live a godly life. That life is a life lived in our vocations toward our neighbors.

Do you disagree with this?

-CryptoLutheran

Gene2memE said:

Christianity doesn't support freedom of speech though. Not as a moral tenet or core belief. The historical prevalence of blasphemy laws in officially Christian countries attests to that.

For instance, criminal laws in the UK only prohibited blasphemy against Christian beliefs until the early 2000s (and this was the reason the famous Salman Rushdie case was dismissed in the early 1990s). In Australia, similar laws are nominally in place at the state level although in practice never enforced.

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I wasn’t aware of that at all, interesting.

Tropical Wilds said:

I literally just posted links that show that it had nothing to do with anybody finding them offensive.

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Ok….regardless, it’s not an issue.

dogs4thewin said:

that makes no sense.

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You give two options and then you invalidate one?

dogs4thewin said:

I am all or nothing type you save as many as you can or NONE at all

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Hentenza said:

I do not.

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Ok! Gotcha!

I think if consciousness beyond brain is true then as humans we exist to some degree within that realm as well as the physical world. We get glimpses of this even without NDE.

Our dreams though distorted may be a taste of this dimension. Its all strange when you think of reality, present tense as opposed to memories that can return and seem so real. I don't think this is just imagination and we are only at the beginning of understanding this.

So without qualifying what exactly the after life is or that there even is an after life there are some strange phenomena going on that cannot be explained by empiricle science.

It sort of makes sense. If there is a spiritual realm and some essense of us goes on then that essense is within us as humans. What we may call spirituality. What the bible says we can only know in part but will know and be known fully when Christ returns.

Some research mentions that our consciousness may be like a valve that is opened with NDE or OBE. Certainly people who experience this say that the experience seemed more real than everyday reality and truely believe this as though it happened in real life.

Its an interesting phenomena and one like any conscious experience can really only be fully understood by the experiencer themselves. Thus it can never really be directly measured. So first hand testimonies seem the most direct way to understand what is going on.

Wolseley said:

I agree. Can you imagine what it would be like if that guy was president???

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Nope!

AV1611VET said:

You're calling it an "observed fact," yet you can't tell us whether it came about by God, aliens, or nature.

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I said populations and new species evolving are observed facts. Read more carefully before replying next time.

Say it aint so said:

The sad thing is, they all know they are just humiliating themselves.

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Trump demands absolute loyalty to him. So they best be sycophants, if they want to keep their jobs.

Tropical Wilds said:

Pretend she was gay. Or trans. Or had an unwanted pregnancy. Experience has taught me that the same lack of love in those areas is more tolerable.

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Which misses the entire point. God loves us so much that God the Son died on the cross for us while we were still His enemies. If the One we call our Master loves us, and from the cross forgave those who crucified him, how then can we do otherwise toward others? Who they are doesn't matter, and for us that can sometimes be a hard thing, but it didn't matter to God, so how can we let that matter to us?

How, then, can we justify hatred of a person, regardless of who they are? Oh, the world does that, but Christians are to be of Christ and not of the world.

Looking over the posts, there's a whole lot of hate here. It's one thing to say that Ms. Babbitt didn't rate a military burial because of participating in the January 6 riot; quite another to hate her personally for that. Not that, I suspect, how she was buried mattered a whole lot to her, but it did to her family, and funerals are for the living, not the dead. My point being that while this section is open to non-Christians, should Christians agree with hate?

Looking at the hate, I really wonder if any Christian should be associated with CF at all.

BeyondET said:

these were the giants Nephilim, Anakim, Rephaim, Emim, and Zamzummim mentioned in the bible and Nephilim were pre flood so Goliath wasn't an Nephilim.

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The Anakim were a race of tall, warlike people, descended from the Nephilim, mentioned by the Israelites during the Exodus. They are found in the Book of Numbers and in Deuteronomy.

Larniavc said:

What has that got to do with this topic? Or are you saying gun crime is protected speech?

What are you even talking about?

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I criticized your country as you criticized mine.

River Jordan said:

We've observed, documented, and studied evolution happening for decades, which reveals the fundamental mistake you keep repeating. Whether the first life on earth came to be by chemistry, was created by God, or was placed by aliens, the evolution of new forms and species will remain an observed fact of reality.

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When did we observe this?

Tuur said:

This reminds me of the history of the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God. Written in 1937 by Zora Hurston, who was black, it was initially panned in the black community because they felt it wasn't the image they wanted to project. The novel remained obscure until the 1960s, when it was picked up and promoted as a feminist work. Today it's sometimes required reading in High School lit classes. In all that time, the novel wasn't what changed.

So, to be all so understanding, we can't mention some people who were dear to me as they don't have quite the "proper" image, even though the work they did helped give their children a better life and opportunities than they had.

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Its almost like you didnt read my post at all. I have no problem at all mentioning these people. Even having whole works of literature and film and art with these people at the center. I said that. "....should not be denied representation in the culture."

Kathleen30 said:

Rock one. You say that depends on how you define traitor. I guess it does. And considering the constitution you mention. It not only mentions protecting your nation from the outside when taking the oath . But also mentions protecting it from enemies within.

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Considering the lack of any actual enemies within, I don't find this argument convincing. People who are tricked or mislead into traitorous actions are still traitors. We have to accept some level of personal responsibility for our actions.

Kathleen30 said:

And that can equally refer to government and not just the people. Were these people really traitors. If so they would have come fully loaded but no guns were ever fired from the protesters.

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Being a traitor does not require violence or "coming fully loaded." Though it should be noted that some people did so (see those charged with seditious conspiracy, or the guy who was walking around in body armor with a supply of restraints).

Kathleen30 said:

It was a protest that spiraled out of control and became a spontaneous wildfire due to the highly charged election controversy’s from the 2020 election. Most were there to vent their protest and certainly not to betray their country

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I agree with that.

Kathleen30 said:

and certainly not Ashley.

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Her actions would belie that assertion.

Kathleen30 said:

I do think a wise president could have healed a great divide within in your nation. Instead the opposite prevailed for the next 4 years. And that of incarcerating many people in jail as traitors.

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Might I suggest avoiding right-wing characterizations of the events? About 1600 people were charged (of about 10,000 who trespassed on the Capitol grounds). Of those, around 500 were sentenced to prison time, with the majority getting a couple months at most. None were charged with treason - they were jailed for federal crimes including assaulting police officers, trespassing, obstructing an official proceeding, and, in about a half a dozen cases, seditious conspiracy. The longest sentences went to people convicted of violent felonies and those convicted of seditious conspiracy.

Kathleen30 said:

A majority of who were merely guilty of a trespassing fine. Nothing more as I said in my first post. A majority of those protesters were never traitors.

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I agree - and that's what the majority of those who were charged (who weren't even a majority of those present) received. Misdemeanor convictions with a sentence of a fine, community service, or home confinement.

Xeno.of.athens said:

it would be hard to be further from the truth. Unity requires is truth, honesty, forthright disclosure, clear definitions, clear statements of position, clear statements of belief. Without those things, no matter how much humility one pretends to have, no matter how much uncertainty one expresses, no matter how many times you say, "I could be wrong", no progress will be made.

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You are then asking for the rest of us to believe that the truth is the one that you put forward which is what your church believes. Under those circumstances unity will never happen. You will certainly will never say that you could be wrong.

durangodawood said:

For you, it reminds you of nice people. Thats great. Others are reminded of how it came out of a really racist stereotype, which they tried to adjust in increments over time to something palatable. But who wants to be reminded of all that from a lousy breakfast item? And what company wants their product saddled with all that freight? Leave it and move on. There's plenty of ways beyond breakfast syrup for us to be reminded of the memory of actual people.

I would agree with you that these nice people you grew up with should not be denied representation in the culture. But is a syrup logo the media that does them justice as real people?

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This reminds me of the history of the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God. Written in 1937 by Zora Hurston, who was black, it was initially panned in the black community because they felt it wasn't the image they wanted to project. The novel remained obscure until the 1960s, when it was picked up and promoted as a feminist work. Today it's sometimes required reading in High School lit classes. In all that time, the novel wasn't what changed.

So, to be all so understanding, we can't mention some people who were dear to me as they don't have quite the "proper" image, even though the work they did helped give their children a better life and opportunities than they had.

Note: They were dear to me, and kind, yet one got angry and threw battery acid on her husband. Locally, that wasn't considered much of a negative thing. Whether that's "nice" or not is left up to you.

I think it more the person, but it is also a societal issue.

When I attended high school waaaaaaaayyyy back in the day and waaaaaaay back in the sticks in a rural area - the opening day of deer hunting season was an excused absence. During hunting season most senior boys (and a few of the girls) that were fortunate enough to have access to a vehicle also had a shotgun or rifle in their vehicles in case they wanted to stop and hunt on way home from school. I know this may venture into off track territory, but I never knew of an instance where the animal didn't end up as part of food for the family.

Guns are more advanced now. But they really haven't changed that much. Guns were still deadly back then. Maybe society, values and people are what has changed more?

Mercy Shown said:

Then you must not believe God is eternal.

1. Romans 16:26

“…according to the command of the eternal God (θεοῦ αἰωνίου, theou aiōníou)…”

Here Paul explicitly calls God αἰώνιος → “eternal,” not bound by time.

2. 1 Timothy 6:16 (indirect but related)

God is described as the one who “alone has immortality” (ἀθανασία), which ties conceptually to His eternal nature. While αἰώνιος isn’t used here, it supports the same idea.

3. Hebrews 9:14

“…Christ, who through the eternal Spirit (πνεύματος αἰωνίου, pneumatos aiōníou) offered Himself without blemish to God…”

The Holy Spirit is called αἰώνιος → eternal, timeless.

4. 1 Timothy 1:17 (again, not αἰώνιος but closely parallel)

“To the King of the ages (βασιλεῖ τῶν αἰώνων), immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever.”
This uses the plural of αἰών (ages), closely tied to the same root.

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Dear Mercy Shown,

Scripture primarily teaches about the events that happen during the ages. It rarely mentions anything that happens before the ages began or after they will end. Because scriptures is teaching about the ages, it will say that Christ is the God of the ages, that He reigns during the ages and has honor, power & might during the ages, etc. When scripture want to say that Christ is eternal, it will say that He is incorruptible, immortal, has no end or words to that effect.

Here are the proper translations of the verses you quoted:

Rom 16:26 and now having been made manifest, also, through prophetic writings, according to a command of the age-during God, having been made known to all the nations for obedience of faith --

Scripture teaches what happens during the ages. Christ is the God of the ages. He is also immortal but that is not what Rom 16:26 is addressing here but it does so in your next quoted verse:

1Tim 16:6 who only is having immortality, dwelling in light unapproachable, whom no one of men did see, nor is able to see, to whom is honour and might age-during! Amen.

The start of this scripture says that Christ is immortal. At the end of the verse it refers to the honor and might that Christ possesses during the ages - the time that Christ reigns over mankind. Once the ages end, so will the reign of Christ over mankind. Why would the verse say that Christ is immortal at the beginning and then repeat that truth at the end of the verse? It would be redundant and unnecessary.

That same problem of redundancy occurs when "aion aion" is translated as "forever and ever":

Rev 19:3 And again they said, Alleluia. And her smoke rose up for ever and ever.

Doesn't forever mean without end? Why would the verse need to add another "ever" to "forever"? Does doing that make forever an even longer period of time? That translation makes no sense but this one does:

Rev 19:3 and a second time they said, 'Alleluia;' and her smoke doth come up -- to the ages of the ages!

As I said earlier, scripture primarily only teaches about the things that happen during the ages. It is mostly silent outside of the ages.

Here is your next quoted verse:

Heb 9:14 how much more shall the blood of the Christ (who through the age-during Spirit did offer himself unblemished to God) purify your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

When it says "age-during Spirit", it does not mean that the Spirit only exists during the ages. You should not read into it that way.

1Tim 1:17 and to the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, only wise God, is honour and glory -- to the ages of the ages! Amen.

Why would the verse say "eternal King" and then say that the King is also immortal since they mean the same thing. The correct translation is saying that Christ is the King of the ages and that He is also immortal.

Joe