Vixen

GoldenBoy89 said:

That's a risk I'm willing to take.

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That's the same risk how many millions took in the 50 years before you existed........ and everyone has suffered greatly for it. Happened in other countries also, and perhaps the whole population of earth has suffered untold harm because of it. And , sadly, with grief and pain once realized, all of our relatives, children, parents, cousins, neighbors, churches, schools, businesses too. (if I remember the topic.....)

tharkun73 said:

The fact that I'm trying to get you to engage on actual evidence is itself evidence that I care.

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God Willing this is true, I'll do a little web searching this evening and let you know if I find at least a few bread crumbs to help with your own search for truth.

BPPLEE said:

He's not. He just made a lot of them happy

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I'm glad but that doesn't mean anything about him getting into heaven.

Spiritual Jew said:

Then what do you make of this verse...

Hebrews 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

Why are you cherry picking scripture by drawing conclusions from what you read in Romans 3 without making an effort to find out how to reconcile your understanding of Romans 3 with verses like Hebrews 11:6? If what you said was true then it could not be true that God rewards "those who diligently seek Him".

So, instead of just scratching the surface of scripture and only looking at your cherry picked scriptures, you need to look at all of scripture and dig deeper. What does it mean when it says none seek God in one verse and that God rewards those who diligently seek Him in another? Is that a contradiction? Of course not. We all know there are no contradictions in scripture. So, what do we do then? Just draw conclusions from one of these verses while ignoring the other? No, that is not acceptable.

The sense in which none seek God is that none naturally seek God without any intervention from God of any kind. As Paul said in Romans 10:17, "faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God". So, faith and seeking God don't just happen, but rather happen by hearing the word of God.

So, without the word of God, which contains the truth about God, no one will seek God. But, once someone hears and becomes aware of the word of God, then they must choose whether to seek God by looking further into the word of God or to reject God and suppress the truth found in His word. He rewards those who choose to diligently seek Him after hearing or becoming aware of His word. As Paul said in Romans 1:18-21, God's wrath is on those who suppress the truth in unrighteousness and they have no excuse for doing that. If what you said was true, then man would have an excuse for suppressing the truth in unrighteousness and not seeking God. His excuse would be that he just naturally suppresses the truth and does not seek God and can't help but to do so. But, there is no excuse because every person is capable of choosing to either respond favorably after hearing the word of God while seeking to learn more or to suppress the truth that they hear.

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It’s true that God uses the foolishness of preaching to save, but there is still nothing that says just anyone can respond without God making the first move. Christ taught the gospel every day of His ministry, and still men turned away. What was it he said about why they didn’t respond? “He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.” That is what God does, he gives us ears to hear so that we can respond. We can’t choose to hear.

NewLifeInChristJesus said:

You have identified the main element of legalism. It is an attempt to be declared righteous (i.e., justified) by God on the basis of one's obedience to His laws.

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Then I am not promoting legalism according to your definition. Even if someone managed to have perfect obedience to God’s law, then they still wouldn’t earn their righteousness as the result, so the reason why we can’t become righteous as the result of our obedience is not because we fall short of perfection but because God’s law was never given as a way of earning our righteousness in the first place. That has always been a fundamental misunderstanding of the goal of the law. The one and only way that there has ever been to become righteous through faith (Genesis 15:6) and the one and only to embody that faith is by teaching how to be a doer of righteous works, which is how Abraham spread the Gospel that was made known in advance to him in accordance with the promise (Genesis 18:19, Galatians 3:8).

We embody what we believe to be true about God through our works, or in other words, the way to believe in God is by embodying His likeness through being a doer of His character traits. For example, by being a doer of good works in obedience to God’s law we are embodying His goodness, which is why our good works bring glory to Him (Matthew 5:16), and by embodying God’s goodness we are also expressing the belief that God is good. Likewise, the way to believe that God is a doer of justice is by being a doer of justice in obedience to His instructions, the way to believe that God is holy is by being a doer of His instructions for how to be holy as He is holy, and so forth, and it is through this faith alone that we attain the character traits of God. In other words, God’s Word is His instructions for how to believe in God’s Word made flesh and it is through this faith alone that we are declared righteous.

NewLifeInChristJesus said:

His laws include all His dictates that distinguish right from wrong. The first and greatest commandment is to love God with all your heart, soul, strength, mind, body, etc. The second greatest one is to love your neighbor as yourself.

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In Deuteronomy 6:4-7, the way to obey the greatest commandment in the Bible is essentially by being zealous for teaching God’s law.

NewLifeInChristJesus said:

Perhaps the third and fourth greatest ones are the commands to be perfect as our Father in Heaven is perfect and to be holy as He is holy. There are obviously many other laws in addition to these.

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It would be pointless to instruct people who have already sinned to have perfect obedience, rather Jesus was speaking in Matthew 5:43-48 about having a live that is full, complete, or refined, where we don’t just love those who love us but also love our enemies.

NewLifeInChristJesus said:

Jesus made it clear that fulfilling these laws is not reduced to carring them out in the flesh. Hatred and lust, for instance, break the laws concerning murder and adultery. Certainly, the societal impacts of physical murder are greater than murder committed only in the heart, but that doesn't aquit a person of breaking the law when he hates someone. What this means is that the declaration of a person as righteous must also include a declaration that the person's thoughts and intents are righteous in addition to his physical actions.

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The works of the flesh are all contrary to God’s law, so it is not obeyed in the flesh. We are commanded not to hate our brother in Leviticus 19:17, so Jesus was not teaching anything that was brand new.

NewLifeInChristJesus said:

You say nobody is perfect, and you are right about that. I think we also would agree that nobody is perfectly holy, that nobody is perfectly righteous, and nobody perfectly obeys God's laws. And if we could discern the thoughts and intents of peoples' hearts, then I am sure we would be even more convinced of these facts.

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The only reason why someone would need to have perfect obedience is if they are going to give themselves to pay for the sins of the world - the rest of us can thankfully have our sins forgiven.

NewLifeInChristJesus said:

What does this tell us? As you have already agreed, it tells us that "no one is justified (i.e., declared righteous) by the law in the sight of God" (Ga 3:11). God does not declare people to be righteous on the basis of their obedience to the law because no person passes that test. He knows the truth of the matter better than we do, and even we can sense that nobody is perfect, especially ourselves.

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That was never a test in the first place.

NewLifeInChristJesus said:

So, back to the question... Legalism is seeking to be declared righteous by God on the basis of our obedience to His laws. It is not simply a declaration from us that we are righteous because we obey God's laws. It is asking God, who knows everything and sees everything, to put His stamp of approval on our thoughts, intents, and conduct and declare that we are in full compliance with His laws. And those who preach legalism tell other people that they should seek God's declaration of righteousness through their obedience to His laws.

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There is still the is that many people are stated as being righteous by the Bible in spite of the fact that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

NewLifeInChristJesus said:

If you are not doing this, then fine. There is nothing wrong with trying your best to love God, to love your neighbor, to be perfect, and to be holy (etc). But everyone should understand that God will not look at us and declare us righteous on the basis of our success. He will only declare us righteous if we trust that Jesus' sacrifice for our failures to obey is sufficient for us.

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In Titus 2:14, Jesus gave himself to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people of his own possession who are zealous for doing good works, so the way to believe in what Jesus accomplished through the cross is by becoming zealous for doing good works in obedience to God’s law (Acts 21:20).

Underdog

Taz-Mania

Actually, salvation has everything to do with thought ...

Aaron112 said:

Most people never seek truth, so it is what it is.
I searched for years for truth, and I don't know how long for the mathematical/ scientific proof(s) I found, years ago.
It's not worth taking the time again for anyone who doesn't care.

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The fact that I'm trying to get you to engage on actual evidence is itself evidence that I care.

Sexret Squirrel and Morocco Mole

LizaMarie said:

Hey if you have a career you don't even have to carry the child anymore!! In fact lets just abolish parenthood and let the state raise them!!

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That's been done before.

Rocko’s Modern Life

Akita Suggagaki said:

Texas House Republicans unveil new congressional map that looks to pick up five GOP seats​

Texas House Republicans unveil new congressional map that looks to pick up five GOP seats

The first draft of the lower chamber’s new redistricting map targets Democratic members of Congress in the Austin, Dallas and Houston metro areas and in South Texas.

www.texastribune.org

Extreme partisan gerrymanders not only bake in results, but also result in maps that are deeply unrepresentative. John Adams famously wrote in 1788 that the House of Representatives – and by extension state legislatures – should be a “exact portrait” and “miniature” of the people as a whole. That doesn’t happen when district boundaries are manipulated in this way.

What Is Extreme Gerrymandering?

Understanding how extreme partisan gerrymandering works.

www.brennancenter.org

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After redistricting from the 2000 census and before redistricting from the 2010 census, the Congressional district that I live in looked like a barbelll. The town I live in was part of the bar that connects two large blobs to the east and west.

As if that wasn't crazy enough, the big city newspapers sold here didn't cover the district that we vote in. Also, we had no access to television news that covered the district we voted in. Comcast specifically refused to provide access to any television station that covered our Congressional district. We were allowed to watch television stations in Tampa, to the northwest, and if you are lucky, Orlando, to the north. Our Congressman lived in West Palm Beach, to the southeast. I complained about this peculiar situation. Comcast said that they were doing what the FCC tells them to do. The FCC said that Congress says that they have to follow the Nielsen ratings. I wrote to our US Senator and got a reply from an aide who said it was a local problem.

The problem with using the Neilsen ratings is that they don't ask the right questions. They never ask if you would like to have access to television news that covers the Congressional district that you live in. Instead, they ask what stations are you watching. The stations that people are watching are the ones that are available, so it all goes in a circle.

This is a very small part of why Congress isn't connecting with the people, and a small part of why voters don't know what's going on when they go to the polls, but it is clear to me that the system isn't working.

Qbert

G

sjastro said:

I recently saw the movie Interstellar directed by Christopher Nolan.
There must have been a considerable science input such as the Tesseract which is a 4D cube.

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Doing some research I found the science advisor was none other than the Nobel Prize winner in Physics Kip Thorne who wrote a book on the film.

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Kip Thorne is also an expert on the subject of wormholes having made major contributions to the theory when it was first proposed by Flamm in 1916.

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According to the theory advanced by physicists such as Thorne if positive energy in the form of matter and photons contacts a wormhole it will collapse. Therefore light cannot travel through wormholes unless exotic matter in the form of negative energy is introduced to keep the wormhole open.
As I mentioned previously wormholes only work in Hollywood, exotic matter keeping wormholes open is in the realm of science fiction.

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Apparently Kip Thorne was more than a science advisor on the film Interstellar.

Yes, absolutely. Kip Thorne was not just an advisor; he was a central and essential figure in the creation of Interstellar.

His involvement went far beyond a typical scientific consultation. Here’s a breakdown of his crucial roles:

1. Originator and Executive Producer
The project began with Kip Thorne. He had a long-standing friendship with Lynda Obst, a producer. In 2005, they started developing a science fiction film concept that would accurately depict the wonders of modern astrophysics, particularly wormholes and black holes. Steven Spielberg was initially attached to direct, and Jonathan Nolan was hired to write the script. When Christopher Nolan took over as director, he reworked the script with his brother but kept Thorne's core scientific ideas intact. Thorne is credited as an executive producer.

2. The Scientific Gatekeeper
Thorne's primary role was to ensure the science in the film was as accurate as possible, or at least grounded in real scientific theory. He established a rule for the director:
"Nothing in the film would violate established physical laws, and that all the wild speculations would spring from science, not from the creative mind of a screenwriter."

He provided the conceptual foundation for the film's most iconic elements:

• The Wormhole: Thorne designed the plausible visual representation of a wormhole as a spherical hole in space, not a flat disk. The shimmering, lensing effect around it is based on how light would actually bend around such an object.
• Gargantua, the Black Hole: This was Thorne's most significant contribution. He provided the complex mathematical equations for how light would behave around a spinning (Kerr) black hole. The resulting visual effects, created by Double Negative studio, were so scientifically accurate that they led to two peer-reviewed scientific papers (co-authored by Thorne and the VFX team lead).
• Time Dilation on Miller's Planet: The extreme time dilation (1 hour = 7 years on Earth) due to its proximity to Gargantua is a direct consequence of Einstein's theory of general relativity. Thorne calculated the necessary orbital distance and spin of the black hole to make this effect possible.
• The Tesseract (5D Space): While the depiction of a five-dimensional space is highly speculative, Thorne worked with the Nolans to ensure its representation was a plausible interpretation of higher-dimensional physics, rather than pure fantasy.

3. Where Art Took Over Science
Thorne was pragmatic and understood the needs of storytelling. He agreed to a few key departures from strict scientific accuracy:

• The Look of the Wormhole: While the physics of the wormhole's exterior was accurate, the colorful, journeyable interior was a creative embellishment. Thorne has stated that no one knows what the inside of a traversable wormhole would actually look like.
• Surviving the Black Hole: Cooper falling into Gargantua and surviving is the film's biggest scientific leap. A real black hole would spaghettify and destroy any matter. Thorne agreed to this because it was essential for the plot's emotional and philosophical core. He provided the "bulk beings" (5D humans) as a speculative, hand-wavy mechanism to explain Cooper's survival and entry into the tesseract.

In summary, Kip Thorne was the scientific heart of Interstellar. His involvement ensured the film's groundbreaking visual effects and core concepts were rooted in real science, making it one of the most scientifically authentic blockbusters ever made. His collaboration resulted in new insights into gravitational lensing and a unique fusion of scientific rigor and cinematic spectacle.

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eclipsenow said:

(I deleted my last post to put this one in - it's better!)

Who woulda-thunk-it?
Charlie Chaplin's 1940 "Great Dictator" speech - set to Andor.
It works for me. Sadly, more relevant than ever!
Login to view embedded media

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Not bad.

Pound Puppies

Spiritual Jew said:

The judging of the dead in Revelation 11:18 is contrasted with the rewards for believers. So, "the dead" there refer to unbelievers just as is the case with the dead that are judged in Revelation 20:11-15 who get cast into the lake of fire.

There's no reason to think that the dead will be judged at any other time than the time described in Revelation 20:11-15. Matthew 25:31-46 makes it clear that all people will be judged at the same time just after Jesus returns with His angels. When Jesus talked about the goats being cast into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels at that time (Matthew 25:41), that is the same event as those whose names are not written in the book of life being cast into the lake of fire (Revelation 20:15). Meanwhile, at that same time, believers will inherit eternal life (Matt 25:46) in the kingdom prepared for us from the foundation of the world (Matt 25:34) in the eternal new heavens and new earth (Rev 21:1-5). As Peter said in 2 Peter 3:13, we look for new heavens and a new earth in fulfillment of the promise of Christ's second coming.

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Revelation 11:15-19 is the reaction of them in heaven to the 7th angel sounding his trumpet. The reaction is that them in heaven are rejoicing. And the judgment in Revelation 11:18, the bema seat of Christ, will be of Christians of all levels, and rewards given.

The 7th angel does not sound his trumpet at the end of the seven years, but just past the mid-point. The 7th angel announces the third woe to the inhabiters of the earth. Revelation 8:13. Which the third woe is defined in Revelation 12:12.

The Odball Couple

Yarddog said:

I didn't know Trump was a Buddhist.

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He's not. He just made a lot of them happy

How clever of Hamas to disguise themselves as to impersonate defenseless mothers and starving children!

According to the 2023-2924 CIA World Factbook, Gaza has one of the youngest and most densely populated demographics in the world - where 42.5% of Gaza's population is aged 14 or less and the median age of the territories 2,141,000 inhabitants just 18.4 years territory's median age was just 18 in 2020,

GAZA vs ISRAEL DEMOGRAPHICS
*******************************************************
% of population ages 0 to 14 - 42.5% (Gaza) vs 36.8% (Israel)ar

% of population ages ages 15 to 24 - 31.7% (Gaza) vs 15.7% (Israel)

birth rates - 21.8 births/1000 population (Gaza) vs 17.5 births/1000 population (Israel)

median age - 18.5 years (Gaza) vs 30.4 years (Israel)

literacy rate - 97.2% (Gaza) vs 97.8% (Israel)

education - 13.5 years, 13 years male/14 years female (Gaza) vs 18 years - 19 years male 17 years female (Israel)

Given the senseless deaths and injuries incurred by friends and family primarily women and children), years of deprivation/humiliation, unemployed with no homes and future without hope , Netanyahu and his "motley crew" of right-wing have planted the seeds that will haunt Israel for generations - 100,000''s of young, well-educated Gazas

The deaths, injuries incurred by their friends and family, no homes to return and a future without hope, Netanyahu and his right-wing accomplices are sowing the seeds that will haunt Israel for generations - 100,000's of relatively well-educated Gazans, with nothing to lose, whose only mission in life will be to extract revenge will give rise to newer, mpre violent Palestinian terrorist groups, that will make Hama and Hezbollah appear ""PALE* in comparison!

With an aging population, a significantly lower birth and a military where Orthodox Jews have been exempt from enlistment since 1947, Israel will face the financial burden of maintaining a much larger standing military on active service - meanwhile, its private sector will find itself deprived of those contributions that much of the nation's most talented could have contributed during their mist productive years!

Whatever ?miral capital" Israel may have acquired as the result of thehttps://www.indexmundi.com/factbook/compare/gaza-strip.israel/demographicsOctober 6th attack by HAMAS has been effectively "SQUANDERED" by the Netanyahu Administration to the point where even some former supporters are now supporting the creation of a new Palestinian state!

This also represents ultimate irony since the only rational for Netanyahu to allow HAMAS to govern Gaza was based on the premise that it would never co-operate with the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank to promote an independent Palestinian state!

https://www.indexmundi.com/factbook/compare/gaza-strip.israel/demographics