Sir Joseph said:

I think Texas's school prayer time may be an intentional move like Lousiana's posting of the 10 commandments in public schools to retest previous Supreme Court rulings. Yes, the new State laws do seemingly defy current Federal law, but some of us equate such Federal laws and rulings as bad decisions that not only oppose God but also betray our nation's Founding Fathers and Christian heritage.

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US law has nothing to do with god. God is only mentioned in the US Constitution once, and that's to denote the date. Period. And specifically, the First Amendment guarantees freedom of religion for everyone, which directly goes against christian teaching.

Sir Joseph said:

With a Supreme Court now comprising more conservatives than liberals, it's possible that additional reversals like Roe vs Wade and the Lemon test lie ahead that could restore God back into the public arena - as it traditionally was for 350 years.

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I suppose it's not impossible that the conservative majority will ignore the US Constitution and throw out the First Amendment and literally tons of legal precedent and turn the US into a christian theocracy, but I find it highly unlikely. Even for Thomas, Alito and Kavanaugh.

Sir Joseph said:

I know the misguided belief in separation of church and state is popular today,

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It was popular 324 years ago, too. Especially with Thomas Jefferson, who first used that phrase, saying it was the basis for the First Amendment's protection of freedom of religion.

Sir Joseph said:

and thus even liberal Christians will climb on the band wagon to oppose reintroducing any form of God, the Bible, or Christianity into the public schools, government, or cultural arena.

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It was never constitutional to do so before, per the First Amendment. This has been decided law for a while now, since Engel v Vitale in 1962.

Sir Joseph said:

Those who do so, like supporting evolution teaching over creationism, serve the Devil well in my view, helping to transform America from a Christian nation into a secular one. I understand why Atheists would favor a godless society, but I'm distressed that a majority of Christians blindly support the same cause.

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The US is not now, nor has ever been a Christian nation. But don't take my word for it, President John Adams said as much himself: "As the government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian Religion..."

Sir Joseph said:

Let me add a different perspective, making this whole prayer in schools issue comparable to the abortion issue. It goes back to the U.S. Constitution and America's Founding Father's intent to establish a nation of states united by a very limited Federal government. We have written documents, as well as historical evidence, that religious beliefs and moral values were in fact supported by the states with little federal intervention until the first significant 1948 Supreme Court ruling. Since then, the Federal government court system has steadily taken over all of the states' rights concerning religious and moral values. This, I claim is both unconstitutional and morally wrong. Instead of having thousands of school districts and 50 states being governed by representatives that reflect the local citizenry, we have a panel of 12 Supreme Court Justices

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There are only 9 Supreme Court justices.

Sir Joseph said:

assuming all authority - which too often goes far beyond merely interpreting the constitution.

Might I suggest that no matter how you feel about what should be taught or done in the public schools, a freedom loving American should prefer the states and local school districts dictating their religious and moral value policies rather than a group of 12 individuals in DC.

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Again, there are only 9 Supreme Court justices.

Sir Joseph said:

Like abortion, such sensitive issues should be left up to the citizens and representatives of each individial state to decide (as other criminal laws are). And what about those cases where local districts or certain states want to do or allow deplorable things? That's why we have state and federal legislatures capable of passing necessary laws. Overall though, I find it hard to defend, constitutionally or morally, a Federal government restricting the rights of state and local governments to support the Christian religion, be it in schools or in society overall.

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Personally, I feel many decisions, like those concerning religion or those concerning medical decisions, should be left to the individuals involved, and should not be decided by politicians for us. But I may be in the minority in that.

-- A2SG, sure seems like many religious people want the government to make medical decisions for people (usually other people), can't for the life of me figure out why.....

Pornography addiction is at high numbers among professing Christians. According to AI, which also agrees with other statistics I have read over the years, about 75% of professing Christian men and about 40% of professing Christian women, and up to 50% of pastors report viewing pornography. And many children are vulnerable to be included in these statistics, as well. And smartphones in the hands of adults and children alike make for easy access to pornography in secrecy, even in the corner of a crowded room. But many “Christians” are not viewing this as adultery, but that is truly what it is. For..


And the very sad reality in all of this is that the church at large, in the USA, anyway, is largely pacifying these professing Christians in their sins of idolatry and adultery rather than to call them to biblical repentance and to purity of devotion, both to the Lord and to their spouses (for those married). For they don’t want to offend the sinners, because they want them to come to their gatherings, so they either justify or rationalize or pacify or ignore the reality of this epidemic sin and adultery issue rather than to demand a change of heart and mind resulting in a change of behavior via repentance.

So, pornography use and addiction is the “elephant in the room,” i.e. “a major problem or controversial issue that is obviously present but avoided as a subject for discussion because it is more comfortable to do so” (source AI).

But this is not an issue to be ignored and swept under the rug as though it is a minor offense not worth mentioning. This is not only sin against God, but it is sin against one’s spouse (if you are married), and it is adultery, and it is destroying many people’s marriages and families. And it is the catalyst that is sending many people to hell because they want to hold on to their sin and to their pornography, which they want more than they want their spouses, and more than they want to be delivered (saved) from their slavery to sin so that they can now serve the Lord Jesus with their lives in obedience to him.

Professing Christian, please know that the Scriptures teach that if sin is our practice, and not obedience to our Lord and to his commands, that we will not inherit eternal life with God, no matter what we have professed with our lips. For we are not saved from our sins and on our way to heaven based on lip service only. We must be those who deny self, die to sin daily, by the Spirt, and who walk (in conduct, in practice) in obedience to our Lord’s commands, in the power of God. And this is not saying we will never sin, but sin should not be our practice, our habit, our addiction. But now we should be servants of the Lord Jesus Christ.

[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 2:5-10; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:1-6; 1 John 3:4-10; Revelation 2:1-29; Revelation 3:1-22]

Send a Revival

An Original Work / June 25, 2011
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

Send a revival to this nation, Lord, I pray.
Bring us to our knees, Lord, humbly today.
Teach us to daily walk in your footsteps.
Guide us in your truth, and may we find rest.
Send a revival to this nation, Lord, I pray.
Bring us to our knees, Lord, humbly today.

Be our desire and our hearts’ pure devotion, Lord.
Make us a people who walk close to you.
Change our hearts to conform to your likeness.
May we love others who are in distress.
Be our desire and our hearts’ pure devotion, Lord.
Make us a people who walk close to you.

Teach us to be an example of your love, Lord.
May we serve others as though serving you.
Keep us in fellowship with you, I pray.
May we obey you in all things today.
Teach us to be an example of your love, Lord.
May we serve others as though serving you.

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The Elephant in The Room
An Original Work / February 21, 2026
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

d taylor said:

Jesus takes away the sin of believers and unbelievers, the slate has been wiped clean. An unbeliever remains a sinner, but all of the sins they will commit are forgiven. Just as all sin a believer will commit has been forgiven.

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That sounds like universalism...

I hope I misunderstand.

He sounds like a mentally disturbed, unbalanced person that had some kind of fetish for bones and being around imagery of death (perhaps due to a misplaced sense of transcendence). Hopefully, he receives psychological care as an intervention.

Apple Sky said:

As I've said before, God's word is my proof.

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But God's word does not even mention the moon landings, the shape of the earth, a huge wall of ice around the earth, the Garden of Eden being in the Arctic, a giant magnetic rock at the North Pole causing tides, a black sun, or any of the other notions you have put forward on the Conspiracy Theories forum. It does mention the sun rising and setting, but you say you don't believe that the sun rises or sets, but just gets farther away from our part of the earth, then returns the following morning.

Does the light of Shabbat allow the light of mercy to enter the human heart more freely than on ordinary days?

Tellyontellyon said:

What is the point of Lent... do Christians have to do it? Has it got any bearing on salvation?

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Lent, like most other special periods or days some Christians keep (like Christmas, Easter, Advent, Trinity Sunday, etc.), is not even mentioned in the bible, so certainly Christians don't have to keep Lent, and it has absolutely no bearing on whether or not somebody is saved.

Deep Truth said:

After Jesus returns, he will inspect those who have survived the tribulation...

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1st off, I don't believe the 3.5 year Reign of Antichrist is a "tribulation" period to punish the world and something the saints simply have to "survive." Rather, the Great Tribulation, as described by Jesus, is a punishment of the Jewish People throughout the present NT era.

It was not originally described as a punishment of the entire world, but rather, a punishment of the Jewish People. Since Jewish Sin is being punished, Jewish believers are described as being persecuted.

But this is not the Reign of Antichrist, since Jesus was speaking primarily of the suffering of Jewish believers in the 1st generation of the Church. Certainly believers in other nations will suffer in the Reign of Antichrist but this period is not described in the Bible as being the "Great Tribulation."

I think some mistakenly describe the Reign of Antichrist as a period in which God judges the world by degrees--similar to how Egypt was judged in Moses' time by a number of successive plagues. In fact, the book of Revelation uses similar language to that of the Plagues to describe how the Antichristian world will come to its end, just as the Egyptian Army came to its end through the Plagues and at the Red Sea.

But the last Plagues mentioned in the book of Revelation is taking place at the time just before the coming of Christ, and not throughout the 3.5 years of Antichrist's rule. It is designed to punish Antichrist at the end of his rule, and not so much during his rule.

As such, the Plagues are not something the Church has to "survive." The way the Church "survives" is by resurrection at the coming of Christ, and not necessarily by living through this period of time. The time of punishment is at the end of Antichrist's rule, and Christians, whether they live or die in this time, are not suffering "punishment" the same way Antichrist and his followers are.

Deep Truth said:

and will separate the righteous from the wicked, the sheep from the goats (Mat 25:31-46). I believe this is represented by the 1290 days and 1335 days from the abomination of desolation in the middle of the week (Daniel 9:27 and 12:11-12), when combined with the 300 men that were killed in Susa and the 75,000 who hated the Jews and were killed in the king's provinces in Esther 9:15-16.

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2nd, the 1290 days and the 1335 days in Dan 12 refer, I believe, not to the Reign of Antichrist, but rather, to the Reign of Antiochus 4 of Syria. His reign of terror against Jerusalem lasted 1290 days, and end with his death. But it may have taken more days to deliver this news from a distant land all the way to Jerusalem, namely until the 1335th day.

3rd, I don't believe the Abomination of Desolation takes place in the middle of a supposed 70th Week (Dan 9). There were two Abominations of Desolations in the book of Daniel, and not just one. Antiochus 4 is described as an AoD in Dan 8, 11, and 12. And the Roman Army is also described as being an AoD in Dan 9.

The 70th Week was completed with the death of Christ, which took place midway in the 70th and last Week, dating from approx. 457 BC. That's when the Persian ruler initiated the final phase of a policy of Cyrus, restoring Jerusalem and the Temple worship. Following these final temple reforms of Artaxerxes, Nehemiah completed the building of Jerusalem's walls, followed by the completion of the city structure.

I do recognize there are different views of this. This is just mine.

o_mlly said:

Our shared fallen humanity does require the grace of Christ's sacrifice, and His prophetic witness in order to achieve our personal transformation. Hobbes saw as much. Who better than Christ is there to socially contract with?

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My understanding of Christian theology, shaped by studying both patristic sources and neopatristic theology, doesn't lead me to conclude that one must be a confessional Christian or live in a confessionally Christian state to recognize what we would call natural law. It's a basic idea in classical Protestant thought that Jesus's human nature and particularly doesn't "enclose" the Logos or Reason, and it's also consistent with what I know of patristic theology as well. To my knowledge, this is close to the teachings of the Catholic Church (Lumens Gentium), that while the fullness of revelation is found in the Church's teachings, this doesn't imply that the Church encloses all truth, or that other religions or worldviews are necessarily divorced from participation in God's creative and redemptive activity. When we see a non-Christian living out recognizeable virtues, this isn't an exception to a rule, but demonstrates a deeper coherence in the Christian worldview than merely a strictly nominalist account of salvation or formalistic account of grace.

Time travel

Plucked chickens are all naked.

In Xanadu I saw sunsets.

SAWST

Minister Monardo said:

Philippians 3:6 Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.
"touching the Righteousness which is in the Law" like Paul he is blameless.

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Saul was blameless concerning the legalistic/mosaic side of the law of rite, ritual and ceremony, he was not blameless concerning the ten commandments, as he told the Romans(Rom7:7-11)
The worst of sinners could not have been blameless concerning the entire law and therefore committed no sin

Apple Sky said:

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All the image data was from low level satellites which only capture a small part of the Earth's surface, hence why it has to be photoshopped. Regardless of the release of that particular composite image, there were many, many single image photos of the Earth taken from space by the Apollo astronauts. I've given you a link to archives of those images in the past. Did you bother looking through them?

Yeah, Obama misstated that the later release was a snapshot. NASA never claimed it was. The editing of his address is deliberately misleading. Gotta lie to flerf.

dlamberth said:

The mystics of the various world religions have a somewhat varied experience of reality. It has to do with consciousness and like you say "what we observe". They observe existence a bit different than most of us.

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Mysticism as commonly understood now days refers more to late 19th and early 20th century Modernist construction based on an imagined universality, but now days many scholars of comparative religion and mysticism are more reluctant to argue that mystical experience can be fully separated from the embedded contexts in which the experiences happen. The language of "consciousness" and "pure experience" comes out of that older tradition. More modern accounts of mysticism tend to recognize anything universal must be mediated by the particular experience of a given community of interpretation. That points to dialogue rather than making sweeping claims about other religious traditions without serious engagement with their symbolic structures.

Here's where I think Christian theology offers something unique in terms of mystical theology: love implies personhood, something that many Asian mystical traditions tend to not recognize as a valid or ultimately real category (buddhism explicitly does not, though there was an ancient, but now heterodox school, the Pudgalavardins, that did). Certain forms of Vedanta gesture towards this, but it's rarely given the importance as in Christianity. Christian notions of personhood have implications that ground Christian mystical theology in ethics that's more holistic and relational than merely saying the world is an illusion or appearance.

I don't use any term other than Christian.

Larniavc said:

Not until the person in the White House has no connection with Epstein.

Then it’ll come out like a torrent.

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If the current president was implicated then the previous administration would have opened the floodgates. They tried everything to prevent him from running for office again. You don't think they wouldn't have used Epstein against him if they could?

o_mlly said:

How long did God take to restore David's kingship after his sexual sin, not to mention his murder?

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Did David ever lose his kingship?

I posted that long ago. I decided to remain Catholic.

Richard T said:

You give me pause with libertarian thought as I have never heard it framed that way. I have however been an advocate that we are nearing the end of the age of acquisition, where the love of money is going to be dealt with. I always figured it would be a democrat, but God wants to align his church so no one seems better than Trump to stage a reversal of fortune moment. I always questioned how a nation can get turned around when there is so little humility. The coming collapse will bring that.
I sometimes say the dollar has "in God we trust" but that trust is not known for sure until you have no dollars.
Thanks for the teaching though you are quite articulate. I think we arrive at the same conclusion though in different ways.

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Most neoclassical economists weren't justifying their economics in terms of notions of individual freedom. Ordinary people hear "freedom" in the rhetoric and they think of the right to afford the basic necessities of a stable lifestyle, but that's not what actual neoclassical or "libertarian" economists mean by "freedom", which was freedom from all limitations on social obligations apart from market logic.

Of course, people have increasingly lost faith in that notion of freedom now in the Anglophone world, so they turn to figures like Trump, but underneath the rhetoric is the desire to impose something much worse than capitalism - an oligarchic and feudal order based on patronage, rents, and extraction. The focus on the Trump regime in promoting stablecoin is just another example of this kind of rentier extraction, and not an exception, since it privatizes what was originally a public good - money, and exchanges it with a private asset.

In the UK, the neoliberal establishment used a quite different tactic against the rise of Jeremy Corbyn in the Labour party - channeling populist anger by throwing around accusations of anti-Semitism and present Keir Starmer as the "sensible, reasonable" alternative, with the goal of managing people's anger with pleasantries, managerial language and lowered expectations under the logic of market realism and austerity.

Richard Murphy has alot videos about economics from a critical perspective as retired professor of business management, and former insider in the corporate world of business accounting. He's also morally grounded as a Quaker, so his critiques are coming from a place that recognizes that human beings are social by nature, which goes against alot of the individualistic assumptions of neoclassical economics, that just seems human beings as isolated individuals. He's one of the sources I go to if I want to dive into anything on news related to economics.

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Maria Billingsley said:

Because prediction markets are dangerous and the President( TMTG) , Truth Predict, just expanded his company to do so. This is self dealing.
When will MAGA see the evil in this administration.
Let us reason....PLEASE!

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If the President desires to use his office to enrich himself, that’s “fine”, says I.
Make it a bit “difficult“ though, and make him fight for it, lest he does something “else” if he gets bored of it.

Bradskii said:

This might be a problem for you to understand, but people live where they want to live, assuming that they can afford to live there. I don't know what Spielberg is worth but my bet is that he can live absolutely anywhere he likes. And if it costs him x amount of dollars to stay in California or to move to NY then he ain't gonna worry about it.

I live in one of the most expensive suburbs in Sydney. Which means one of the most expensive in Australia. It costs us more living here than almost anywhere else in Oz. But if we moved, it would have nothing at all to do with the finances. It's irrelevant even for me. I'm absolutely certain that someone with Spielberg's money isn't at all concerned with money. You pass a certain point and it becomes more than you need, which means using him as an example of a gazillionaire moving from somewhere he wants to live because he's worried about his bank balance is...risible.

And you used the Daily Mail as the source of this 'argument'?

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“Wealth” is when you don’t know how much you owe.