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  • CF has always been a site that welcomes people from different backgrounds and beliefs to participate in discussion and even debate. That is the nature of its ministry. In view of recent events emotions are running very high. We need to remind people of some basic principles in debating on this site. We need to be civil when we express differences in opinion. No personal attacks. Avoid you, your statements. Don't characterize an entire political party with comparisons to Fascism or Communism or other extreme movements that committed atrocities. CF is not the place for broad brush or blanket statements about groups and political parties. Put the broad brushes and blankets away when you come to CF, better yet, put them in the incinerator. Debate had no place for them. We need to remember that people that commit acts of violence represent themselves or a small extreme faction.

Can man, without the light of faith, by his reason alone, know that God exists?

I don't think we can come to a conclusion on the question without bringing our conclusion to it. What Paul says on the matter is not necessarily that we can, without prior understanding, reason ourselves to anything approaching God.
But enough that we are condemned for refusing to acknowledge it.
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Advice on inquiring at my local parish with four young children

Hello all,

It's been a long time since I've posted anything on CF. The last time I was active on the site, I was a member of a Baptist church. Since then, things have changed for me in my faith and the Lord has led me in a new direction. That direction is to search out Orthodoxy. I want to visit my local parish with my family as an inquirer of the Church, which has been a couple years in the making if I'm being honest. A couple years ago, I made a friend from work that is Orthodox and had converted from a protestant denomination several years prior and when he invited me and my family, I visited the Parish he's apart of with my wife and three young children. For me, the Liturgy very much stood out and the way the worship occurred and was performed, it was very apparent to me that it is distinct and different from anything I had ever experienced before. There was a certain holiness to it that I had never before witnessed in my life, if that makes sense. The problem I had during that visit was that my children (which were four years old at the time), were very difficult to keep under control without disturbing the others during the service. It was one of the reasons my wife and I were ever hesitant to return, because we felt embarrassed and overwhelmed by that dynamic. The thing is that now I can't resist the fact that I've been called to return and inquire about the Church and having looked into the faith on my own since then, I've come to the conclusion that I have to pursue it - there are so many tenants and doctrines of the faith that have come to make complete sense to me. There are still a couple things I wrestle with doctrine wise, but ultimately, my wife and I have to visit and then meet with the father of the local parish where I live and start this path. The only problem is I'm anxious about visiting with my family. The last time we had only the three kids, but now we have four. The eldest three are 7, 6, and 6 years old, and the youngest is about 10 months. What are the common strategies for families such as mine that attend Liturgy? I don't ever want to be a disruption to the others during the service, and the strategy of coming late is not something that I would really prefer, especially being inquirers of the Church with the intention of starting down this path. Also, to be fair, now that the eldest three are older, they may behave better and more naturally, but I'm not sure since Liturgy tends to be way longer than any of the protestant services we have attended in the past. The parish I will be attending has a service that is about two and a half hours long.

From what I can tell the one that I will be attending is a smaller mission and so I'm not sure if they have a room dedicated for children that become angsty and bored or disruptive. Any advice, strategies or tips? My children will behave when we correct them, but only for so long since their attention spans are so short at that age. Having to continually correct them during the service is the part I'm particularly concerned about, even if I try to do it as quietly as possible.

Thank you in advance for your time and responses. :)

There’s a Giant Flaw in Human History

But how does it support the claims of ancient technology and lost knowledge? Which other GT have been named?

We know that modern humans have existed for perhaps 300k years. People's existence by itself is not strange.

Let's excavate it before it is used as evidence of anything.

But not evidence for ancient technology or lost knowledge.

Which most believe it's a natural formation.

How is volcanic glass hinting at a metallurgical precursor?

Expertly balanced? What is the meaning of that? View attachment 371822

Are you sure about the timeframe?

What are the connections to ancient technology and lost knowledge? There are archeological traces of hominids predating modern humans. That is not enough.

Empirical, based on experience. It is the normal way to learn. What do you mean?
Don't you find it frustrating you have to proof read @stevevw links as he has a long history of butchering their true meaning.
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Former Trump Adviser John Bolton Criminally Indicted

Complete and utter lack of any evidence? People unfriendly to Trump have pointed out to various problems with it, including the left-wing Vox (which, while saying some of the conservative/Republican attacks on the conviction are excessive, acknowledges there are some legitimate things to take issue with).

I didn't vote for Trump, but I still think Bragg's prosecution against him appears highly questionable and fairly blatant lawfare. Given that, I'm not going to blame anyone for not finding those convictions a reason to not evote for him. The excesses of that case probably made a good number of people take the much more credible-looking Jack Smith prosecutions less seriously.
Yes, some do see problems with Trump's criminal fraud trial, but the fact remains: the jury found him guilty, and the judge did not vacate their decision. So it stands. If an appeals court in the future sees these legal issues as being significant enough to overturn the verdict, that, and only that, will indicate to me that these problems actually make a difference. I'm not a lawyer, nor do I have anywhere near the experience or knowledge of NY financial law to make a determination myself.

As to the lack of evidence, I stand by that. Legal theories and arguments are all well and good, but no one has yet been able to prove, with evidence, any actual misconduct or malfeasance in the case. And any claims of bias on the part of the judge are weakened by the sentence he imposed: an unconditional discharge. No punishment, no jail time, nothing. Not exactly the actions of someone out to get him.

I'll leave legal arguments to the appeals court, as I'm not qualified to evaluate them, but arguments are not evidence. And anyone claiming "lawfare" with this, or with James' civil case against Trump, has yet to provide any actual evidence of misconduct or malfeasance.

-- A2SG, and both guilty verdicts continue to stand....
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Teens Who Savagely Attacked Well-Known DOGE Staffer Avoid Jail Time

No the charge would have been different. Permanent injury is a Felony. This was not a felony.
Therefore, the punishment too. I'm not sure what you're arguing as we both seem to agree that with different circumstances and results, the punishment would have been different. Now there wasn't permanent injury and the kids were underage, possibly first timers in court (don't remember this one and no one answered before, but not a sticking point). Therefore, jail time was deemed excessive for this case.
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Losing friendships and Matt 24:12

Of course I do not know the people you are talking about and I don't know your church. I have found that every person is unique. So, even if a few do the same thing, this does not mean they all have the same reason!!

So, each one can speak for oneself.

And I would say Jesus did not limit Himself to some group of ones who were like Him, but He shared with all kinds of people and loved any and all people enough to invest time in loving all different sorts of people.

His love is creative, for this.

So, I would say pray and be ready for love, however God has this go.

"And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma."

Of course I do not know the people you are talking about and I don't know your church. I have found that every person is unique. So, even if a few do the same thing, this does not mean they all have the same reason!!

So, each one can speak for oneself.

And I would say Jesus did not limit Himself to some group of ones who were like Him, but He shared with all kinds of people and loved any and all people enough to invest time in loving all different sorts of people.

His love is creative, for this.

So, I would say pray and be ready for love, however God has this go.

"And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma." (Ephesians 5:2)
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Losing friendships and Matt 24:12

You are correct. There is nothing in the Bible about a peer group. At our church we have lunch between services. I have been praying about who I sit by during that lunch. I have noticed that it has worked out for me to sit by younger and older people but not my peer group. I need to be good with that. Today I sat by a 70 year old and a person around early 30's so it was good to hear their perspectives. I appreciate the thoughts. Thanks.
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Hamas now executing Palestinians who tried to help peace.

not if Israel stays out of the way and the Arabs provide the security force to disarm Hamas.
I'd be amazed if that materialises. I can't see Israel tolerating a regular army presence of another arab country in Gaza any better than they tolerate hamas. Besides that, if the IDF couldn't take out hamas, what makes you think the arabic militaries can do it? Think Hamas will just roll over because now it's arabs coming at them? They have no problem killing muslims. For evidence, check the OP.
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What’s on your mind?

It's a shame that this section of the forum is not active.

I used to write here all the time; it was an awesome little outlet for me, but then I was called “dramatic,” so I just went back to doing the more fun posts of CF.
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Vance tells Marines they’ll get paid despite ‘Schumer shutdown’

I don't recall a "It's the right thing to do" exception to the appropriations clause.
Well, the fix is already in. If he doesn't "manage to pay them", the evil democrats were just too strong in their power grab towards the purse of loyal american soldiers.
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Hamas now executing Palestinians who tried to help peace.

Now that the war is over, perhaps at least Netanyahu can be removed via democratic processes. That's up to the people of Israel and their judicial system.

Removing Hamas is far harder.
not if Israel stays out of the way and the Arabs provide the security force to disarm Hamas.
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There’s a Giant Flaw in Human History

I had to look that one up. The wikipedia page has a long list of "see also" articles including numerology, neoplatanism, and various esoterian, dualistic, and mystical movements. Among these is theosophy which is ... (you didn't see this coming) influenced by Connolly's atlantis mythology. It's all a big bag of "ideas" that keep getting scrambled into new movements.
I grew up near San Jose, CA home to the headquarters of a Rosicrucian sect founded by an east coast adman turned guru named H.Spencer Lewis who was heavily influenced by Donnolly. Except Lewis believed in Lemuria instead. But they have a nice place, a park and meditation gardens, pseudo-Egyptian architecture. There is planetarium and a small but apparently respectable Egyptian museum. When I was in school it was considered an improving field trip--to see the mummies. Why the funerary practices of a vanished ancient civilization should be of concern to 20th century California schoolchildren was not explained to us, but it was fun seeing the mummies and all the statues and stuff.
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Leviticus 20, Charlie Kirk, and Homosexuality

This does not negate the fact that He deliberately broke the law. Perfect example of what is meant by " weightier ".
As with the Leviticus passages, context matters. Jesus did not deliberately break the law in John 8, but prevented it from being broken through false testimony. When Jesus said "he who is without sin," he had a specific sin in mind and it takes understanding the legal procedures of Torah to understand what happened there. The person who throws the first stone in a case like the woman caught in adultery is her accuser, and through throwing the first stone was testifying to the guilt of the accused at risk of being cut off by God. The one throwing the stone was saying they personally witnessed the act of adultery, which if the men's statement about her being caught in the act were true they would have been in full rights to do so. There certainly wouldn't have been any consciousness of general guilt or a need for perfection to participate in the legal action, so when Jesus said "he who is without sin" what he was saying is if you can make that accusation without lying then throw the stone. He called their bluff, and evaded their trap. And in doing so prevented the law from being broken.

As for Leviticus, the book is about how to prevent contamination of the land so it doesn't vomit the people up and is principally dealing with religious practices. Its various bans must be understood in reference to the religious practices of the Canaanites and the social implications within the ancient near east's hierarchy. We cannot simply hold them up as universal dictates, we have to work through the context.
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Vance tells Marines they’ll get paid despite ‘Schumer shutdown’

“I bring greetings today from our commander in chief, Donald J. Trump, and he wanted me to tell each and every single one of you that he’s proud of you, that he loves you,” Vance said. “And despite the Schumer shutdown, he is going to do everything he can to make sure you get paid exactly what you deserve.”

It's the right thing to do.
I don't recall a "It's the right thing to do" exception to the appropriations clause.
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