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weary2025 · 2026-02-21T07:13:43-0600

WolfGate said:
No. Laws should either be enforced or if they no longer fit society’s needs they should be changed.

How the government is choosing to currently enforce immigration laws is wrong. Both morally and in many cases constitutionally.

But what about the sin of breaking immigration law? Every nation has immigration laws.

under grace1 · 2026-02-21T07:08:39-0600

weary2025 said:
I can only speak for myself. My mind is a battlefield. I war against the old me. Somehow I escaped lust. I will never go back, I pray.

That's great, but my original point was, to obey outwardly is not so hard. Jesus said the Pharisees cleaned the outside of the cup, but the inside was very different. I don't believe any of us will perfectly obey on the inside, however much we may desire to. As you say, our minds are a battlefield, would they be if we faultlessly obeyed in our minds?

jamiec · 2026-02-21T07:08:31-0600

Mercy Shown said:
Eph 2: 1 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh[a] and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. 4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

If you are worried about your salvation, hear the good news of Epistle to the Ephesians 2:1–10.

Paul does not begin by telling us to try harder. He does not say, “You were struggling and needed improvement.” He says something far more radical: “You were dead.” Not weak. Not confused. Not mostly alive with a few bad habits. Dead in trespasses and sins.

Dead people do not debate techniques for self-resuscitation.

And yet look at us. We argue about baptism — dunking vs. pouring vs. sprinkling — as though the precise amount of water determines eternal life. We debate holy days, music styles, food, and drink, as though heaven is secured by liturgical precision or dietary discipline. We divide over beverages, calendars, and worship formats as if Christ were waiting for us to get the details right before He decides to save us.

But Ephesians says we were spiritually lifeless. We “walked according to the course of this world.” We were enslaved to desires. We were, by nature, children of wrath. That means salvation was never about fine-tuning our religious behavior. It was about resurrection.

Then comes the hinge of hope: “But God…”

“But God, being rich in mercy…”
“But God… because of the great love with which He loved us…”

When we were dead, He made us alive together with Christ.

Notice the direction of movement. We were not reaching up. We were being raised. We were not negotiating terms. We were being rescued. Grace is not God helping the willing; it is God awakening the dead.

And why did He make us alive?

The text gives the reasons:

Because He is rich in mercy.

Because of His great love.

To show the immeasurable riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

So that we might walk in the good works He prepared beforehand — not to earn life, but because we now have life.

None of those reasons are:
“Because we were baptized correctly.”
“Because we kept the right day.”
“Because we avoided the wrong beverage.”
“Because our music passed inspection.”

Salvation is by grace, through faith — and even that is called “the gift of God.” Not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

If you are anxious about your salvation, look away from yourself. Look to the One who raises the dead. Your hope is not in the strength of your grip on Him, but in the strength of His mercy toward you.

The good news is not that you have finally gotten serious enough.
The good news is that God is rich in mercy.
And He makes the dead alive.

The world is not ending this very instant, for most people, so for most people the question is pretty pointless. And there is far more to Christianity than narcissistic navel-gazing about whether one is “saved”, or not. The Christian life is not primarily about being saved. The Gospel is primarily about the Βασιλεια του Θεου - the Reign, Rule, Kingdom & Kingship of God; & thus, of Christ. Salvation is a result of that.

Salvation is a three-stage process, not a single finished event in the past. It is

- a past event
- a present way of life, happening now
- a hope to be fulfilled in the future.

“- None of those reasons are:
“Because we were baptized correctly.””

Baptism is obviously not a reason why God made people alive; denying that Baptism is a reason God has made us alive, is a straw man. The fact remains that Baptism saves, according to 1 Peter 3.21. Baptism is a means by which salvation comes. It is not the Author of Salvation, any more than the Bible is; but both the Bible, & Baptism, are among the created means by which God works to real-ise the salvation of the members of the community of salvation AKA the Church.

Firstlightdawn · 2026-02-21T07:07:06-0600

dlamberth said:
That kinda of sounds like Panentheism to me.

I am not trying to explain anything. I am just quoting the Bible. For me something covered with eyes sounds like wheels within wheels. Although wheels within wheels makes a lot more sense. A solar system for example is made up of wheels within wheels. “The universe is built in layers: solar systems inside star systems, star systems inside galaxies, galaxies inside clusters — wheels within wheels at every scale.”

KevinT · 2026-02-21T07:07:01-0600

The Liturgist said:
chatGPT attempts to satisfy the user - so output is biased based on user preferences. For this reason I advise people not to rely on it as an authoritative source on questions that pertain to any subjective, controversial or disputed issue.

There is also the issue that even in a new conversation or thread, it will pick up elements from other conversations, and those will influence future output. For example, I like to debate with ChatGPT on topics of quantum mechanics. Then, and subsequent conversations, sometimes it will pull such themes as examples, so I know it has at least summarized that this is an area I am interested in. It probably knows that I am SDA, so will be more likely to flavor outputs along that line.

Having said that, I think one can look at the fact that it presents and evaluate them for truth. But I probably also need to be careful to think about what it is NOT saying. I have heard that one way of trying to avoid such an echo chamber is to ask it to strongman an argument against that position. To hear the other side.

KT

Warden_of_the_Storm · 2026-02-21T07:05:15-0600

Firstlightdawn said:
Then why does he claim there is no beginning, even though that is the first word in the Bible. Also why does he say the universe is not expanding?

That's not what he was saying "There's no such thing" in response to. Go back to his post and see what he was replying to.

DaisyDay · 2026-02-21T07:01:48-0600

rambot said:
Whatever happenned to Bill Clinton testifying?

Republicans were pushing him so hard; gonna hold him in contempt and everything.

And then the Clintons agreed to a FULL AND OPEN hearing....and I haven't heard a single stitch about any of that.

What's going on there?

They already submitted written answers to questions. Supposedly, these hearings are in furtherance legislation, not just for sound bites and showboating.

St_Worm2 · 2026-02-21T07:01:41-0600

Hammer Time

weary2025 · 2026-02-21T06:59:01-0600

jamiec said:
Being wealthy is not a sin. Being dirt-poor is no evidence of righteousness. A Prosperity Gospel-in-reverse is no truer or better than what it reverses. Both, not just the Prosperity Gospel, are theologically defective.

Why do people think that if you preach against wealth that you are preaching poverty? The apostle Paul teaches that we should have equality by sharing. Thats not poverty necessarily

weary2025 · 2026-02-21T06:56:49-0600

Im tired of how I feel. What happened to me? What can I do to find relief? I want to think good things but I feel so dead. I want to feel joy. It would be like water in the desert.

SabbathBlessings · 2026-02-21T06:54:02-0600

weary2025 said:
I suppose you believe one way and I believe another. I've studied the new testament commandments and I was never left with the impression that I must rest on Saturday or Sunday

I know that's popular- I believe the Sabbath is a commandment of God written by God, spoken by God. Exo31:18 And still a commandment in the NT Luke23:56. NT shows God's people keeping God's commandments Exo20:6 John14:15 1John5:3 Rev14:12 Rev22:14 God wrote and spoke His commandments and collectively God them His Exo20:6 Jesus said the Sabbath was made for mankind - so unless one is not a man, they may be missing out on some important blessings God is trying to give His faithful Isa 56:2 Isa 56:6

prodromos · 2026-02-21T06:27:01-0600

HantsUK said:
Don't know about Obama, but Trump does. Is there little wonder that people distrust official American organisations when they have a President who frequently 'mis-states' and is factually wrong?

Amazing how Trump is able to live rent free in so many people's heads. Totally off topic, but you just had to bring him into the conversation

Tuur · 2026-02-21T06:18:19-0600

essentialsaltes said:
Doubtful in the extreme. A talk show had a guest.

Uh-huh. Sure.

BelieveItOarKnot · 2026-02-21T06:16:30-0600

Linda426 said:
We are to hold all evil thoughts
Captive,

Well at least you admit having evil thoughts to take captive. You might also agree with Jesus that said evil thoughts defile us regardless of taking them captive.

Tuur · 2026-02-21T06:08:40-0600

chevyontheriver said:
Sort of. Once we have captured ALL of the possible efficiencies then the increased number of consumers will obviously increase electrical demand.

Uh-uh: We’re seeing that right now. I know, because every year I have to run the numbers for work. That’s why energy demand increases despite individual use decreasing. The population increase offsets energy use decrease.

As is usual with such things, such tends to follow a logarithmic curve of increase or decrease. I look for the same here.

John Bauer · 2026-02-21T06:04:50-0600

Unqualified said:
I think it has more to do with Catholicism.

Lutherans also observe Lent, do they not?

weary2025 · 2026-02-21T06:03:45-0600

Teachers give people a false sense of security in my opinion. Its the easy way out. The hard way is to examine yourself and your church gainst the scripture. I believe every teacher fails to preach the whole truth. For example, I believe politics lead people astray, but I hear no preaching warning their flock.

Valletta · 2026-02-21T06:01:22-0600

FireDragon76 said:
The article is sensationalistic and doesn't rest on serious analysis.

Tearing down homeless encampments wouldn't do anything to protect homeless people, and would likely make their situation more precarious, not less so.

Mamdami has received so much negative feedback about the 20 deaths that he has reversed course and decided to do homeless camp sweeps.

John Bauer · 2026-02-21T06:00:58-0600

The Barbarian said:
Two alleles for a given gene locus in a population. Each with frequency of 0.5. Since the information for this gene would be the sum of each frequency multiplied by the log of each frequency, the information for that gene would be about 0.301. Now let's suppose a new mutation occurs, and eventually all three alleles have a frequency of about 0.333 each. (I used these to make the numbers simpler for you; if you like, I can use different frequencies) Now, the information for that gene is about 0.477.

Correct me if I am wrong, but your calculation appears to measure allelic frequency uncertainty at that locus (Shannon entropy), not functional or semantic information in the gene.

johnnypapa · 2026-02-21T05:42:14-0600

February 21, 2026

Morning Prayers

Morning Prayers | Traditional Catholic Prayers

A selection of traditional Catholic prayers for the morning, widely recited in the pre-conciliar Church, rendering adoration of the Divine Majesty, thanksgiving for His protection during the night, and consecration of the day to God's service.

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Our Morning Offering – 21 February – Lord be Blessed! By St John of God

Our Morning Offering – 21 February – Lord be Blessed! By St John of God

Our Morning Offering – 21 February – Saturday after Ash Wednesday Lord be Blessed!(A Prayer of Thanksgiving and Self-oblation)By St John of God (1495-1550) Lord be blessed!for in Thy great kindness…

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Divinum Officium

Divine Office

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The Morning Offering

Morning Offering for February 21, 2026

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Saturday After Ash Wednesday propers & commentary (Gueranger)(EF)

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The station for today is, as noted in the Missal, in the Church of Saint Trypho, Martyr; but this Church having been destroyed, many centuries ago, the station is now in that of Saint Augustine, wh…

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Saturday After Ash Wednesday propers (EF)

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Saint Peter Damian, Bishop and Doctor of the Church—Optional Memorial

The Great Banquet

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Saturday after Ash Wednesday; Opt. Mem. of St. Peter Damian, Bishop & Doctor readings & commentary (OF)

Saturday after Ash Wednesday; Opt. Mem. of St. Peter Damian, Bishop & Doctor - February 21, 2026 - Liturgical Calendar

Not only fasting, private prayer, and almsgiving, but also corporate worship helps to form the thorough Christian. All worship centers in Christ, the one mediator. His presence and priesthood are the hope of the world Through Him as their Head, all His members give the Trinity due homage,

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Daily Gospel

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Saturday after Ash Wednesday – 21 February – Our Lenten Journey With St Thomas Aquinas – Saturday : The Grain of Wheat

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Lent Day 4 - Saint Severianus, Martyr, Bishop

FEBRUARY 21, 2026 – LENT DAY 4 – ST. SEVERIANUS, MARTYR, BISHOP.

One bishop dares say no to the bloody Eutychian coup in Jerusalem. Soldiers drag Severianus out and kill him. Chalcedon costs blood. His brutal stand inside.

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Sermons for Everyday Living - St Paul, Our Guide for Lent 2/21/26

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February 21st, 2026: St. Paul, Our Friend & Guide for Lent; I Just Can't; Quick to Hear, Slow to Speak; Let God Remove the Log From Your Eye

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Fasting

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Roman Station Church - Basilica di Sant'Agostino
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johnnypapa · 2026-02-21T05:38:25-0600

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

eclipsenow · 2026-02-21T05:37:57-0600

keras said:
Why don't you put a white robe over a donkey and call it a saint?

Why don't you put an astronomical event over an ancient Middle Eastern battle and call it a CME?

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