• Starting today August 7th, 2024, in order to post in the Married Couples, Courting Couples, or Singles forums, you will not be allowed to post if you have your Marital status designated as private. Announcements will be made in the respective forums as well but please note that if yours is currently listed as Private, you will need to submit a ticket in the Support Area to have yours changed.

  • 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.
  • We hope the site problems here are now solved, however, if you still have any issues, please start a ticket in Contact Us

  • The rule regarding AI content has been updated. The rule now rules as follows:

    Be sure to credit AI when copying and pasting AI sources. Link to the site of the AI search, just like linking to an article.

Joy, tears and chants of "freedom" as Venezuelans - Bravo President Trump and his decisive actions

per atrupar

SHAHEEN: It's been reported that the oil sold for $500 million and $300 million went to Venezuelan government. What happened to the other $200 million?

RUBIO: It's still sitting in the account is my understanding

SHAHEEN: The account in Qatar?

RUBIO: Yes
Those are some hellified admin fees.
Upvote 0

IN BRAZIL, IMAGES GO VIRAL AFTER PRIEST INTERRUPTS EUCHARIST TO COMFORT CRYING ELDERLY MAN

Here in the states, in inner cities struggling with many who are troubled, this would have resulted in him being rushed by users and thrown out.

I have actually seen this done in real life during the mass.

It was horrific and over the top for a hurting stranger who harmed no one at all.

Pushing and shoving the person who did nothing at all except walk in and walk towards the altar.....

No gun, no threats....nothing.

Message being sent was to get lost, because we hate you here.

A few years later, I saw him attending a non-denomination church I often passed by in transportation

I know....its actually hard to know what's up in these situations

However, the priest did nothing at all to even ask us to pray for this man.

Nothing.

But there sure was a lot of ridiculous and over the top responses of bringing in armed off duty and retired military, because nothing at all had ever happened, except for the one....who was simply seeking Jesus.

He found Him

Somewhere else.
Upvote 0

Bethlehem site thought to be Christ's birthplace will be restored for first time in centuries

A cave in Bethlehem, revered by Christians around the world as the place of Christ’s birth, will undergo a restoration for the first time in 600 years as part of a collaborative effort to preserve a sacred site that connects believers to the roots of their faith.

The Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem and the Custody of the Holy Land announced the restoration of the Grotto of the Nativity in a joint statementon Jan. 23. The project involves the cooperation of the Armenian Apostolic Orthodox Patriarchate and is carried out under the auspices of the Presidency of the State of Palestine.

An Italian firm that also restored the Basilica of the Nativity will carry out the renovation project on the Grotto of the Nativity. The grotto, identified by many as the birthplace of Jesus Christ, features a large, 14-pointed silver star encased in white marble that marks the scene of the nativity.

Continued below.

Hungary passes law banning Pride events

Budapest mayor charged over his calls for people to defy Hungary’s Pride ban

Gergely Karácsony urged people to take to streets [last] June in pushback against Orbán government’s attack on rights

Prosecutors in Hungary have filed charges against the progressive mayor of Budapest, seeking to fine him months after hundreds of thousands of people heeded his call to take to the streets in defiance of the government’s ban on Pride.

The June march made headlines around the world after the ruling Fidesz party, led by the rightwing populist prime minister, Viktor Orbán, backed legislation that created a legal basis for Pride to be banned, citing a widely criticised need to protect children.

A record number of people – including Hungarians from across the country and dozens of MEPs and officials from across Europe – turned up, transforming the march into a potent symbol of pushback against Orbán and his government’s steady rollback of rights.

On Wednesday, prosecutors said Karácsony had “organised and led a public gathering despite the police ban”, adding in a statement that they were proposing “that the court impose a fine on the defendant in a summary judgment without a trial”. The statement did not detail the amount of the fine.
Upvote 0

Ancient and New Wisdom on AI, One Year After ‘Antiqua et Nova’...

Amid rapid advances in artificial intelligence, the Vatican’s 2025 note ‘Antiqua et Nova’ draws a clear distinction between technological power and human intelligence.

Last year, the Vatican issued Antiqua et Nova, examining the relationship of artificial and human intelligence. The document offers timely insights that can help us appreciate the contributions AI can make to society, as well as the moral dangers presented by this new phenomenon.

The idea that technology can imitate and surpass the power of the human mind, while popular in this age of artificial intelligence, is not new. The 18th-century French philosopher Julien de La Mettrie famously asserted that man is no different from a machine. The century in which he lived witnessed various attempts to produce “automatons,” or mechanical devices, that could imitate human actions.

The development of digital computing in the mid-20th century gave renewed confidence to the belief in the power of technology to replicate human behavior.

In a 1950 paper, English mathematician and computer scientist Alan Turing devised a famous test — now known as the “Turing Test” — as a way of assessing whether machines can replicate human intelligence. He predicted that by the end of the century, it would be possible to program computers so that an interrogator would not have more than a 70% chance of distinguishing a human from a computer after five minutes of questioning.

Continued below.

Depressing Music for the depressed

What do I do
With all the children's clothes?
Such tiny things
That still smell of them
And the footprints
In the hallway
Onto my knees
Scrub them away
Heartwrenching! Truly!

...I think songs like these, that open the doors to alternate views one may have never considered, while sad and depressing, helps us appreciate more the things we do have in life.
Upvote 0

And I saw another angel ascending from the east (anatole + helios), having the seal of the living God...

Peace in Christ.

Again, the lightning comes out of the “east”.

The “east” are His people….the 144,000…who will have His manifest presence in their mortal bodies which will attract the people of the outside world who are in deep darkness in the “west”….the “great multitude” who will see His presence shine through the 144,000.

Mat 24:27 K
(27) For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming (PRESENCE) of the Son of man be.

In Revelation 7:2, John saw an angel ascending from the EAST having the seal of the living God.

“ east” are the Greek words: “Anatole” and “helios”.

anatolē - From G393; a rising of light, that is, dawn (figuratively); by implication the east (also in plural): - dayspring, east, rising.

hēlios - From ἕλη helē (a ray; perhaps akin to the alternate of G138); the sun; by implication light: - + east, sun.


Rev 7:1-4
(1) And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree.

(2) And I saw another angel ascending from the east (anatole + helios), having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea,

(3) Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.


John HEARD the number of them which were sealed: 144,000

(4) And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel.

This is His people …the 144,000…who HEAR the Word of Truth and BELIEVE and are SEALED.

Eph 1:12-14
(12) That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.
(13) In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of the promise,

(14) Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

And then “after”…or amid… this John SAW (I beheld and lo) a great multitude which no man could number. John HEARD the number (144,000) that were sealed but he SAW the great multitude which no man could number.

This “great multitude” are the people of the outside world of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues who will SEE the glory of the Lord shine through us….through the 144,000.

They stand “before”..that is, in the face... of the throne and in the face of the Lamb. We….the 144,000…with “open face”….shine His glory to them. They see our face…they see His glory that will shine towards them….much like Moses’s face did shine.

The great multitude which no man could number are clothed with white robes. You can see this will be a dense “cloud” of people.

Rev 7:9-10
(9) After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before (in the FACE of) the throne, and before (in the FACE of) the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands;

We…the 144,000…are to be to the praise of His glory as the great multitude will then praise God.

(10) And cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb.

The lightning shines from the east to the west…..and there will be “thunder” coming from the “great multitude” as they will then praise God (the praise of His glory).

Rev 19:5-6 KJV
(5) And a voice came out of the throne, saying, Praise our God, all ye his servants, and ye that fear him, both small and great.

(6) And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.

We…the 144,000….are the “order” or troop of Christ the firstfruits. The “great multitude” are the 2nd troop of people of the outside world who are sitting in deep spiritual darkness. They are Christ’s at His PRESENCE of which the first group (the 144,000, Christ the firstfruits) manifest to them who will SEE Him through us.

1Co 15:23-24 KJV
(23) But every man in his own order (troop, set): Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming (PRESENCE).

(24) Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.

John Allen Jr., author and longtime Vatican reporter, dies at 61

ROME – A funeral Mass was celebrated for John L. Allen Jr. on Monday in Sant’Eugenio basilica in Rome.

The legendary Vatican beat reporter and Church affairs analyst died Thursday, January 22, two days after his 61st birthday, following a lengthy – and by every account heroic – battle with cancer.



The principal celebrant was Father John Wauck, an American priest of Opus Dei and longtime friend of Allen, to whom Wauck had given the Anointing of the Sick only an hour or so before.

Eight priests concelebrated, among them Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, the long-serving head of the Vatican press office, Vatican television service, and Vatican Radio.

Continued below.
Upvote 0

Filter

Forum statistics

Threads
5,883,642
Messages
65,498,912
Members
276,655
Latest member
annalp