Jamdoc said:

No, I'm not saying God is guilty of sin.

I'm saying that if God did everything, letting creation fall to ruin, and then redeeming it, for praise, I don't understand how being praised is so desirable that it's worth all the ruin and death along the way.

I already know that I'm wrong and God is right in this, and my valuation of praise must be off if I don't consider it worth the destruction of an entire planet, I just can't relate to that desire and that is frustrating and depressing.

Meanwhile you're accusing me of being proud and thinking I want to supplant God and be God myself, essentially accusing me of being Satan, being proud and wanting to supplant God and replace Him.
I can't even unscrew a jar or bottle without fumbling and bumbling it and it falling to the floor. I can't even hold a pen and write my name without my fingers jerking all over the place and making an illegible mess. I can't even walk a few hundred feet without my legs going numb under me and almost spilling me to the floor. I can't make a friend much less have people adore me nor do I desire it, I can't handle crowds, why would I want to be surrounded by one being praised?
I can't run a household much less an entire universe. Only God is qualified to do that. One of the promises of Jesus *is* authority and I am anxious about that because I know I'd be terrible at running anything even a closet or an ant colony.

Yet somehow you think I want to be God. I don't have the same desire for praise and worship He does, I can't even understand why He does.

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Yet if you know you're wrong; why do you keep insisting that "the glory of God" is for God's own selfish reasons? And if you don't understand what "the glory of God" is; why do you assume it's for reasons that are "narcissistically abusive"? (That is a phrase you used.) This isn't actually about "being autistic and understanding the meaning of the word "glory"." Even if you don't understand what it means; you just admitted that you are wrong about its meaning. So why cling to the assumption that God's motives must be self serving?

Lots of people in the course of this thread have given you plenty of examples of how God is NOT selfish. (God is actually the exact opposite of everything that selfishness is!) Yet you have disregarded EVERY single one of those examples. And the closest to truth self revelation you confessed was:

Jamdoc said:

I've asked God for help daily... for decades
and have not received it.

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And out of this anger; you assume your default perception / definition of God's motives of "glory" must be selfishness. You are angry at God because whatever it is you wish was different about your life, has not come to fruition. But why should your life be free of struggles. Mine certainly isn't. Neither is my son's. Neither was Jesus's. Or any other entity in this corrupt cosmos. Welcome to the consequences of the fall! Why should you be spared? No one else is.

And this is how and where you are accusing God of sin. And it's sin because you "don't consider it worth the destruction of an entire planet"; and or the suffering of your own life. And well..... why is that? How do you know it isn't worth the destruction of an entire planet (even though that isn't what happens). And I've explained that to you too. Yet in your mind; you are right and God is wrong. That is to put your own judgment above God's. (That you don't think His glory is worth the destruction of a planet.) Which is to accuse God of sin. You think you know better than God. That is called pride.

Now, let's throw this concept in here too: Holiness. (This will explain why corrupt things are either destroyed or refined.)
Do you understand what the consequence of God being holy is? This means that corruption can not stand in His presence. Anything corrupted with evil cannot survive His presence. That is why He told Moses, "You can not see my face and live." The inability for corruption to stand in God's presence isn't necessarily a result of God's "willful deliberation". It's a consequence of the nature of the entity that God is. And that nature is governed by holiness.

Thus the example I gave you of fire. If you throw a piece of paper into a fire; what happens to it? (It burns up.) Why does it burn up? (Because of the nature of what fire is.) But if you throw gold into a fire; what happens to the gold? (The fire burns off the impurities.) The "burning of the elements with fervent heat" is the Refiner's fire. That happens because the glory of His presence interjects the fullness of His purity into this corrupted space. And because corruption is impure; the glory of His holiness burns it off. And what rises out of that purification? (The new heavens and the new earth!)

Which brings me to... (poke you (again) with this revelation). The entire cosmos minus unregenerate rebellious men and fallen angels, will be raised incorruptible. When you consider the body of a believer raised to..... ehem - glory! Is that actually destruction, or is it not? The planet will not be "destroyed"; or not in the eternal sense at least. And believers raised to.... (there's that "glory" word again). Does that mean they are "raised to selfishness"? (Of course it doesn't; that doesn't make sense!)

So to all that God "raises to glory".... What does that mean?
If that equates to God being "selfish"; hey... I'll gladly praise a "selfish" God. (Do you remember the statement about people praising God because they are grateful?)

Certainly seeing how that "selfishness" saved my miserable life! I got something to look forward to beyond this miserable life!

Prayers for the Norwegian faithful!

Michie said:

Misogynist nonsense.

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Nope!

I pondered for years what it means in revelation when it refers to the 144K who have not defiled themselves with women.. I understood what it meant after getting married.

Women and children are a significant spiritual and physical liability you have to be willing and ready to accept.

For what its worth, I have never gotten hate mail on reddit except in one specific case. a man was asking what the ramifications are of a relationship with a woman who practices witchcraft. I explained to him, that such women will actively seek out a christian to ensnare because he is still required to love and pray for his wife, and so she will effectively "use him" for his spiritual protection/benifit.

The woman in question, found his reddit account and found my comment and needless to say she wasn't happy about it and insisted that her spiritual practices do not affect him.

prudent_commenter said:

I've known people that lost their virginity very late in life, and said that their entire value system changed afterwards. They were no longer interested in noble things, but rather things of the world. One in particular was study - knowledge. It dropped significantly after the deed was done. I can't at this time explain it, why and how.. but it is. There are different set of priorities of the world, and not of the world.

I believe that women bind you to this world. (With women being already of the world). And once you do it, there's no turning back from it. I know this because God gave me this piece of knowledge.

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So everyone is different, but what we do know is that hardly 5% of the population will ever regret an abortion. and what that tells me is, that's the upper limit for percentage of Christians in society.

My former girlfriend from 2017 was in a state of spiritual distraughtness over her sins of 4 prior relationships. For whatever reason i was warned not to make any commitment to her and do not expose her nakedness. this went beyond simply carnal relations, i was not to "pry into" her past sins, so i didn't.

The mayor should apologize. What a hypocrite and phony.

Yet he bawled when George Floyd died.

SMH

People have the right to follow their conscience. LGBT et al needs to understand that and move on.

There is no hate. There is no discrimination.

God comes first.

Period.

Lord have mercy! How terrifying!

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:

Are you referring to the Medjugorje Peace Chaplet?

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Yes.

Ave Maria said:

Thank you for your prayers, everyone! Unfortunately, I have experienced a setback. I had given my mom my utility check, electric bill, and ID because she handles all of my bills for me. Well, unfortunately, she lost all three items. I told my landlord because my electric bill is already past due, and she told me to contact the township's trustee so that's what I did. Unfortunately, they weren't open, but I did leave a message, so hopefully I will hear back from them soon. I'm afraid they might not be able to help me without my ID. My apartment complex will reissue me a new check if the old one hasn't been cashed, but if someone somehow cashed it, I won't be able to get that money back. It'll take a few weeks to get the new check if they can reissue it. I am so worried that my electricity will get shut off. If it gets shut off, I will be evicted and will be homeless again. PLEASE pray for me!

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Lord have mercy! May St. Rita and St. Jude intercede for you!

Hoping2 said:

Won't true contrition for sin produce a life without sin ?
Won't humility to God produce obedience to God ?
The answer is "Yes" to both questions.
Salvation IS the reward for our love for God and neighbor.

Stop right there.
My comments are about converted people.
That conversion can change, as actual salvation won't be assigned until the day of judgement/day of judgement.

I see no inconsistency here.
God cannot be tempted, but we can.
We are not God, just His children.
Jesus was tempted !
"Only reflecting the attributes of Father" only applies to the fruit brought forth, as 1 John 3:9 makes clear.
Attributes and characteristics are two different things.

As His offspring have crucified their past lusts, with the affections and flesh, (Gal 5:24); temptations/enticements have no power.
So you are correct.

What is the opposite of "legal" ?
Illegal !
Is that what you want to be ? Illegal ?
BTW, the only real legalists are those who want us to go back under the Mosaic Law.
Complete with circumcision, dietary rules, feast keeping, sabbath keeping, etc.

Folks can claim they are converted all their lives, but salvation will only be granted at our resurrection; either to eternal life or eternal damnation.
Everyday is a battle to remain on the narrow path, and there are many adversaries.
Heed the Lord's, and the apostle's exhortations and admonissions, and live forever.
"Drop your guard", and experience the lake of fire.
Our final judgement will be on how we lived: not on some self-repeated sayings.

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And I only know , where only one time that the word CONVERTED is used , Luke. 22:32 , speaking of Peter .

CONVERTED // EPISTREPHO , is in the AORIST TENSE , in the ACTIVE VOICE , MEANS THAT IT IS Christ interring , is a

PARICIPLE TENSE , IN THE Nominative Case , in. the Singular , means it will happen ONLY one time
and does not mean that they. are CHRISTIAN // CHRISTIANOS. , just means , a Follower. .

dan p

Thank you for your prayers, everyone! Unfortunately, I have experienced a setback. I had given my mom my utility check, electric bill, and ID because she handles all of my bills for me. Well, unfortunately, she lost all three items. I told my landlord because my electric bill is already past due, and she told me to contact the township's trustee so that's what I did. Unfortunately, they weren't open, but I did leave a message, so hopefully I will hear back from them soon. I'm afraid they might not be able to help me without my ID. My apartment complex will reissue me a new check if the old one hasn't been cashed, but if someone somehow cashed it, I won't be able to get that money back. It'll take a few weeks to get the new check if they can reissue it. I am so worried that my electricity will get shut off. If it gets shut off, I will be evicted and will be homeless again. PLEASE pray for me!

essentialsaltes said:

Okie doke, boss, but you're making my case for me about who's being the Nazis here.

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Yup. Hamas and their Palestinian supporters. Those are clearly rhe NAZIS. I think they are worse than Nazis.

If someone steals your car and kills someone with it, that is not your fault, though if you left the keys in it you might have a civil cuit. Guns will always be stolen, even the Federal Government has had guns stolen directly from them. Narcotics that kill are also stolen from hopsitals, clinics, pharmacies etc and they also kill (perhaps more than guns I imagine) So to put the blame on responsible gun owners for a theft of their gun seems unfair. A state could define responsible gun ownership though but it should not be allowed to infringe on the right of self protection. For instance, to protect yourself you can't have every gun in a safe all the time and still defend yourself from sudden threats. However, to leave a gun unlocked in a home where minors are seems justified for some regulation. The law would have to be crafted very carefully though. Perhaps some states have these laws now?
Also, currently there is no requirement for reporting a stolen gun. That seems strange to me. Many do self-report, but it is not required.
Here is the raw data though on how many guns are not registered. It is rare if they are. I imagine too that even of the 6 million, many have already been transfered from the registered owner to another person, perhaps even several times.

• Self-reported gun ownership in America increased by 28% from 1994 to 2023.
• Based on NICS background data and manufacturing records, it is estimated that there are 500 million civilian-owned firearms in the U.S.
• Only 6.06 million firearms are registered in America (the U.S. does not require registration for all firearms).

fhansen said:

I know the gospel for myself so I can relate it in my own words. I don't mind that the church Christ established along with the preponderance of early fathers happen to agree with me. I certainly don't parrot some novel gospel.

I'll put things in another way here. If a person thinks that being just in the eyes of God such that they will be able to see Him, they will be able to enter heaven, has nothing to do with actually becoming just/righteous themselves and living acccordingly, then they've adopted a twisted gospel.

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But your opinion doesn’t count. I see that you once again ignored the verses I posted. That is the problem with your church’s teachings. Tradition trumps the Holy Scriptures. Human opinion trumps the word of God. You need to have someone teach you the elementary principles of the actual words of God so that you can move from milk to solid food.

“For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the actual words of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is unacquainted with the word of righteousness, for he is an infant. But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to distinguish between good and evil.”
‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭5‬:‭12‬-‭14‬ ‭NASB2020‬‬

Be blessed.

RileyG said:

You aren't wrong at all.

Trans people are a very, very tiny minority.

I'd be more worried about white, straight, men shooting up schools because they are everywhere.

I'm so tired of all this violence.

Will our society ever learn?

So, so heartbreaking!

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Our society made up its mind after Sandy Hook.

We did nothing.

The second amendment is the alter on which we sacrifice our children, teachers and families so that one third of us are free to shot cans off fences using weapons of war.

MURICA!!! what a country.

Philip_B said:

Or perhaps you don't.

Genocide is the intent to destroy a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group in whole or in part, as defined by the 1948 UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. It involves acts such as killing members of the group, causing serious harm, inflicting conditions calculated to cause destruction, preventing births, or forcibly transferring children. The term was coined by Raphael Lemkin, derived from the Greek "genos" (race) and Latin "cide" (killing), and it is a crime under international law.

Key Aspects of Genocide

• Intent to Destroy: The most crucial element of genocide is the specific intent to destroy a targeted group.
  
  
• • Protected Groups: The definition applies to national, ethnic, racial, and religious groups.
  • Specific Acts: The convention lists five prohibited acts that, if committed with genocidal intent, constitute genocide:
    • • Killing members of the group.
      • Causing serious bodily or mental harm.
      • Deliberately inflicting conditions of life intended to bring about physical destruction.
      • Imposing measures to prevent births within the group.
      • Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

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The only group Israel is trying to destroy is HAMAS. If they would surrender rhe war would end. That is NOT a genocide.

timothyu said:

God. God works though us His dust formed entity. He is the spirit. When we became self-aware we shut off the conduit that allowed Him to work through us and took control ourselves. We became adversarial spirits and of no use to God. We can repent/change and reverse that misdeed thankfully. In that way our data we accumulate in life/animation which we assume is our identity but actually is the motivation behind our self-imposed identity, if useful and worthy, will be used to form a new being in the Kingdom to come. Kind of like the stuff saved on servers. The dust remains dust and was never a part of who or what we are.
.

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this seems very weird to me.

like you're saying the original sin is self awareness. i don't believe that.

Always in His Presence said:

And it is not just Republicans speaking out about his push:

Below are statements from various sources explicitly opposing California Governor Gavin Newsom’s bid to gerrymander congressional districts...

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So, you're saying that gerrymandering is wrong? Got ya.

Oh, sorry. You're saying it's OK? Ah, I understand.

But wait...you just argued against it...

Ah, but earlier you were all for it.

Except that what you just said...

Gosh, I wish you guys would just pick a lane and stick to it.

Do you think you will get a different answer?

Hentenza said:

You have a lot of words here but no scriptural evidence. You are just parroting what your church erroneously teaches.

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I know the gospel for myself so I can relate it in my own words. I don't mind that the church Christ established along with the preponderance of early fathers happen to agree with me. I certainly don't parrot some novel gospel.

I'll put things in another way here. If a person thinks that being just in the eyes of God such that they will be able to see Him, they will be able to enter heaven, has nothing to do with actually becoming just/righteous themselves and living acccordingly, then they've adopted a twisted gospel.

Kathleen30 said:

Is it ? Sex is sex and the marriage bed be undefiled. Perhaps outside of marriage any act of sex outside of marriage is deemed abominable to the God. Bro as to Revelations 21: 8 how many within the church lay claim to at least one of those attributes mentioned but have now passed from death unto eternal life who have practiced such things . It can only be referring to those who have not accepted Jesus Christ as their saviour

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Grace is nothing more than a free gift. And that free gift is our access back to the tree of life (Jesus) which Adam caused us to lose by disobeying God. Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: (Romans 5: 12) But to maintain your grace you must keep the law. (1John 3:4) Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law. Now we have just read the biblical definition of sin, the transgression (breaking) of the law (commandments.) It doesn’t matter what you or I think sin is, it’s what God says sin is that counts.

Paul says in (Rom. 4:15) Because the law worketh wrath: for where no law is, there is no transgression. If there is no law there is no sin.

Paul said in "1 Corinthians 6:9" Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, 6:10 Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.