I find it interesting that any conservative position is considered radical and far right these days. It's like far right vs right has lost its meaning. Like in the trans debate any feminist who's against transgenderisms invasion into women's spaces is labeled a radical feminist.

Everything conservative is labeled far right. I think its just another example of decisive language used these days. Its a way of utterly dismissing anything the other side says of does.

Interesting.

It blows my mind how hypocritical Americans are. I remember the labels of the past of Nazis and Hitler (Mit Romney and Trump) and now we support Nazis.

Black birdwatcher wins Emmy four years after viral “Central Park Karen” encounter​

On Saturday (June 8), he became a Daytime Emmy Award winner in the Outstanding Daytime Personality category for his National Geographic show, “Extraordinary Birder,” all by following his passion. In his acceptance speech, he acknowledged that the accomplishment had been an unexpected journey, noting his queer upbringing in the 1970s and him being one of the few Black birdwatchers for years.

WarriorAngel said:

Is there a safe charity to hang around and help?

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I got invited to help create a voting slate the other day, so I'm going there today. That should be interesting.

That’s wonderful news!

Just one day before a crucial meeting of the German Synodal Way, a Catholic initiative announced it has turned to the Vatican in an attempt to avoid what it sees as the risk of “serious scandal” over the push for a permanent Synodal Council to oversee the Church in Germany.

The committee charged with turning the Synodal Way into a permanent council is scheduled to meet on Friday and Saturday this week.

On Thursday, the group Neuer Anfang (“New Beginning”) said it had written a letter to Rome, dated June 11, to determine whether the constitution of such a committee “complies with or violates the Church’s legal order.”

The group’s statement also warned that if bishops’ actions were found to be breaches of duty and the Church failed to disapprove or impose consequences, this could encourage believers to ignore Church norms. Neuer Anfang described this as the risk of a “serious scandal” that could permanently damage the faith of believers.

Continued below.

The Bible is not God. The infinite God is not limited or restricted by the finite Bible.

Is God bound by the words in the Bible?

Yes, in the sense that God does not act against his own words in the Bible.

Numbers 23:

19 God is not human, that he should lie, not a human being, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?

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God will fulfill what he has said.

Matthew 24:

35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.

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God is not bound by anything in his sovereignty, but he will not act against his own words in the Bible.

A former Church of England priest, Matthew Firth, has shed light on a concerning trend of asylum seekers seeking baptism, only to “melt away” when asked to become involved in the church community first.

Firth, who served as a priest at St Cuthbert’s in Darlington from 2018 to 2020, testified before the Home Affairs Select Committee on Tuesday 12th March, revealing his experience with groups of asylum seekers expressing interest in converting to Christianity.

Firth described encountering "significant groups" of asylum seekers, primarily from Iran and Syria, being presented for baptism.

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A congregation would usually gather inside their church building – but a fundraising event at Holy Trinity Church, Dacre Banks in Harrogate, saw 24 people abseiling down its 50ft-high tower.

On Sunday 9th June, members of the congregation ranging from ages 10 to 96 - plus the Vicar - descended the fifty-foot tower to raise money for its restoration. Dr Leonard Barrett, 96, was the oldest abseiler to complete the mission, with the help of instructors.

Revd Alastair Ferneley told The Stray Ferret news outlet: “Several of us had signed up and been sponsored by friends and family for the event and then we opened it up, for a donation, to anyone who wanted to have a go. I was a bit concerned when Leonard said he wanted to have a go."

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Looks to be. No biggie. Good news is always worth repeating.

Gnarwhal said:

The good news is apparently he's much more compliant with doctors now. He's always been really resistant and defiant of doctor's orders before, mostly out of fear.

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Well that’s a good sign. Praying he receives a healing.

Michie said:

Look up at the sky. What do you see? Tell NASA.

Spend your day laying outside looking at the clouds. It’s helpful. Really.

With just a few taps on your phone screen or tablet as you peer up at the sky, you could contribute to a useful scientific database and even help predict weather patterns. And all you need to do is share what sorts of clouds you see above your head. The Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) citizen science program only requires an app download and a few minutes of your time.

While identifying and photographing clouds may not sound like a highly useful contribution, it’s in fact an easy and beneficial way to contribute to scientific research. After all, explains Marilé Colón Robles, Project Scientist for NASA GLOBE Clouds, the puffy white masses hovering above your head play an important role in transferring and diffusing energy from the sun to different areas of the Earth and can signify a wide array of weather patterns and anomalies to come. But clouds can change rapidly, meaning frequent observations are required, including from citizen scientists who can (quite literally) help complete the atmospheric picture.

Continued below.

NASA needs your help identifying clouds

Look up at the sky. What do you see? Tell NASA.

www.popsci.com

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Crowdsourcing science is pretty cool.

Michie said:

The hoodwinker sunfish – credit Seaside Aquarium, retrieved from Facebook

When a giant ocean oddity washed up on a beach in northern Oregon, residents were flocking to get a closer look at a rarely-seen fish.

Believing it to be the charismatic Mola mola, or ocean sunfish, pictures eventually made their way across the Pacific to the desk of marine biologist Marianne Nyegaard, who recognized that it was, in fact, a different species—one that’s even more mysterious.

Recognized as distinct from M. mola, the hoodwinker sunfish, or Mola tecta, was only identified in 2017. Since then only a few confirmed sightings of the fish have been made, and Nyegaard would know—she’s the one who first described and named it.

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Giant 7-foot Sunfish Found on Oregon Beach Turns Out to Be Rarest Member of the Species

Recognized as distinct from M. mola, the hoodwinker sunfish, or Mola tecta, was only identified in 2017.

www.goodnewsnetwork.org

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Dang, that is huge.

Even though we, as believers in Jesus Christ, are underneath the New Covenant relationship between God and his people – his church – it is still possible for us to sin, and for us to wander away from our pure devotion to Jesus Christ as our only Lord and Savior, and for us to have need to return to our Lord in faithfulness and in obedience, and in surrender to his will (See Revelation 2:1-29; Revelation 3:1-22).

Yet, even if we are faithless, God remains faithful to all his promises and to all of his warnings. So, we must be reminded that included in those promises is that he will bring divine correction and discipline upon those he loves, so we should be earnest and repent. If we humble ourselves before God in repentance and in choosing to follow his ways once again, he will renew, and revive, and restore us. That is our hope! And we can count on it!

There is also encouragement here for those who have labored in love in praying for the wayward church, in witnessing, in speaking the truth in love, in teaching God’s truths, in loving people with his love, and in preaching the full gospel message to the people of God and of the world. Our labor of love will be rewarded, for God will discipline his wayward people, and through divine discipline many will return to the Lord Jesus and he will restore them. Amen! This is a promise of revival, I believe! And so I rejoice!

Return to Me

An Original Work / September 5, 2013
Based off Jeremiah 31; Cf. Rev. 2-3

I have loved you with an eternal love,
Which I give to you, in my faithfulness.

Keep your voice from weeping,
And your eyes from tearing.
You will be rewarded
With much fruitfulness.

There is hope for you that My family
Will return to Me; live in victory!

Though I discipline in My love for you,
My heart longs for you that you walk in truth.

Turn your thoughts to your Lord.
Choose to walk in His ways.
Turn from your sins daily.
Follow Jesus Christ.

Oh, how long will you wander in your sin?
Give your hearts to Me; be restored within.

I will satisfy ev’ry weary soul
Who repents of sin; is renewed within.

Behold, days are coming;
It will surely happen;
Though I discipline them,
They will thrive again.

I will be their One and their Only God.
They shall walk in white; be in Me, made right.

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Brand, potatoes, cornbread. Rice can stretch a meal too.

‘The Christian notion of love is the only way that society is going to survive…’

Jesuit Father Robert Spitzer’s latest book, The Moral Wisdom of the Catholic Church, is the third book in his “Called Out of Darkness” trilogy. Father Spitzer, as an exceptional mind in the Catholic Church today, offers a great read and an important resource that is clearly informative, but is also particularly helpful, offering practical advice for both overcoming sin and the effects of sin. And the writing reassures us that God gives us grace to draw closer to him.

The president of the Magis Center and the Napa Institute and EWTN TV host, who will be a speaker at the upcoming National Eucharistic Congress, spoke with the Register about the state of the culture and why the Church offers the best guide to happiness and human flourishing.

I know you wrote about this in the book, but could you clarify: Who is the audience for this book?

The key audience is teachers, priests and catechists who are confronted today with people who are basically saying that the Catholic Church’s moral teaching is anachronistic.

There are those people who argue that the Catholic Church is out of step with the mainstream. They pose questions like: “Why does the Catholic Church hate transgenders? Why does the Catholic Church hate homosexuals?” You know, all these kinds of accusations are simply untrue. But these poor Catholic teachers, the catechists, the priests, the sisters are just getting lambasted with these questions.

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The unceasing bombardment of rockets and armed drones has affected all aspects of daily life in the region.

JERUSALEM — With all eyes on the Hamas-Israel war and growing humanitarian crisis in Gaza, many people around the world have ignored the threat to Israel from its northern neighbor, Lebanon.

Since the Oct. 7 Hamas massacre, Hezbollah, a U.S.-designated terror organization and militia with 60,000 soldiers, has been launching rockets and armed drones at communities in northern Israel from its perch in southern Lebanon. The Israeli Defense Force often responds to the attacks by launching rockets across the border.

Hezbollah’s attacks, which sometimes number dozens a day, have caused damage, casualties and fear in the towns, villages and kibbutzim (communal farms) that dot Israel’s mostly rural northern border. This has affected the lives of all Israelis who live near Israel’s border with Lebanon, including tens of thousands of Christians.

“This is a war of attrition,” said Bishop Rafic Nahra, patriarchal vicar for Israel and auxiliary bishop of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, describing the conflict between Hezbollah and Israel. “People’s lives are affected. It is a very difficult situation.”

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In the oldest section of Panama City, saints and bishops of the Catholic Church have come to life to offer engaging brief talks to visitors. Using kiosks with screens, the innovative experience allows visitors to come face to face with historical and religious figures that can enhance their appreciation for the sacred sites.

Since April of this year, in five Catholic churches in the heart of Panama City visitors can find kiosks that not only provide information about each church but also offer the benefit of a virtual tour guide, embodied in saints and bishops linked to the history and mission of the particular parish.

At the Church of Our Lady of Mercy, for example, visitors are greeted by St. Pedro Nolasco, founder of the Mercedarians. At St. Joseph’s Church, St. Augustine of Hippo is there to welcome visitors.

At the Cathedral Basilica of Santa María La Antigua, Fray Tomás de Berlanga, the bishop of Panama between 1534 and 1537, is featured.

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The Southern Baptist Convention, the largest Protestant denomination in the U.S., on Wednesday voted to approve a resolution opposing the use of in vitro fertilization (IVF) and called on Christian couples to “consider the ethical implications of assisted reproductive technologies as they look to God for hope, grace, and wisdom amid suffering.”

The resolution, which is a statement of belief and is nonbinding, comes following a landmark ruling by the Alabama Supreme Court in February that found that frozen human embryos are children under state law. The ruling sparked a national debate, and Alabama lawmakers have since passed a bill that grants immunity to IVF providers in cases of death or injury to unborn babies during the IVF process.

IVF is a medical procedure that fuses sperm and egg in a lab environment to conceive a child outside of the sexual act. The live embryo is then later implanted into a uterus to continue developing until birth.

The Catholic Church opposes the use of IVF on the grounds that it separates the marriage act from procreation and establishes “the domination of technology” over human life. The use of IVF, which necessarily includes a selection process of the “best” embryos, has led to millions of rejected human embryos being discarded and millions more frozen and stored in a state of limbo.

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A parallel passage of Scripture to this one is found in Matthew 6:9-13:


One rendition is slightly different from the other in wording, but they both give the same basic message. But was Jesus intending that they and we should recite these same exact words over again in a sort of ritualistic fashion? I don’t believe so (see Matthew 6:7). I believe this was to be a model prayer in order to give them and us a guide as to the kinds of things that they/we should be praying about, since they were asking him to teach them to pray.

When I was much younger I learned that a model prayer should include four things: 1. Adoration, 2. Confession, 3. Thanksgiving, and 4. Supplication, for which the abbreviation is ACTS or A.C.T.S. And I believe this may have been modeled after the “Lord’s Prayer,” as it is commonly referred to. But is it true that every time that we pray that we need to include all four of these items? I don’t believe so. Again, I believe that is a model prayer.

So, what is the danger of us reciting the “Lord’s Prayer,” over and over again? It can become just words that we recite without us even meaning the words that we speak. It can become a ritualistic religious practice, but not anything that we are applying to our daily lives, in practice, and not anything that we genuinely mean from the depths of our hearts. And it can end up superseding the rest of the teachings of the Scriptures with regard to the things that we should be doing and saying, as followers of Jesus Christ.

So, should we be thanking and praising the Lord Jesus every day of our lives? I believe that we should. But we need to be more specific in our expressions of praise and thanksgiving, as applied to whatever it is we are going through on any particular day and with regard to what the Lord is doing in our lives today. Like I will thank the Lord for a good night of sleep and/or for another day of life to serve him. And I will thank him even for opponents, for through opposition I am strengthened in my walk of faith.

And I pray for the salvation of all people and that my loved ones will all surrender their lives to Jesus Christ. And I pray for the prayer needs of other people. And I pray for physical and mental strength just to make it through each day, for I am growing old and some of my mental and physical agility is beginning to deteriorate, which often happens to people as they age. And in prayer I choose to forgive those who have sinned against me, and I pray that I may love my enemies as my Lord loves and forgives me.

And I do pray that the will of God will be done in my life and that God will use me for his purposes and for his glory. I pray that he will guide me in what I am to write each day, that he will put the thoughts in my mind that he wants me to have and to share. And I pray that I will have the right attitude in my life’s situations and that the will of God will be accomplished in my life each day. For my goal in life is to serve the Lord Jesus with my life in being who he created me to be and for his purposes.

And then if we are to pray and to ask the Lord for forgiveness, I believe that we need to be more specific in what we ask forgiveness for and that we understand what all the Scriptures teach on that subject. For they teach that if we claim to be in fellowship with God but while we walk (in conduct, in practice) in darkness (sin), we are liars, and that if sin is what we practice, and not righteousness, and not obedience to God, that we will not receive forgiveness of sins and we will not inherit eternal life with God (1 John 1:5-10; 1 John 2:3-6; 1 John 3:4-10; Romans 6:1-23; Galatians 5:16-21).

So, the Lord’s prayer is a good model for us to follow with regard to the things we should be praying about each day, but we should guard against making that our only prayer and against being ritualistic about it to the point that it has no meaning in our lives, or to the point to where we neglect to pray for other people and their needs or where we fail to pray more specifically about the things going on in our lives each day. For our prayers to the Lord need to be current and specific and relative to our lives today.

Here are some additional Scriptures on the subject of Prayer:

[Matthew 5:43-45; Matthew 6:5-13; Matthew 9:37-38; Matthew 24:20; Matthew 26:39-44; Mark 11:25; Mark 13:17-19; Mark 14:38; Luke 1:13; Luke 6:12,27-28; Luke 10:2; Luke 11:1-4; Luke 18:1; Luke 19:46; Luke 21:36; Luke 22:32,40-46; John 17:1-26; Acts 1:12-14,23-25; Acts 4:23-31; Acts 8:22-24; Acts 9:40; Acts 10:1-48; Acts 12:5,12; Acts 13:3; Acts 14:23; Acts 16:25-34; Acts 27:28-29; Acts 28:8; Romans 1:10; Romans 8:26; Romans 10:1; Romans 12:12; Romans 15:30-32; 1 Corinthians 14:13-16; 2 Corinthians 1:11; 2 Corinthians 9:13-15; 2 Corinthians 13:7-9; Ephesians 1:15-17; Ephesians 3:14-19; Ephesians 6:18-20; Philippians 1:3-20; Philippians 4:5-7; Colossians 1:3-14; Colossians 4:2-12; 1 Thessalonians 1:1-3; 1 Thessalonians 3:9-10; 1 Thessalonians 5:17,25; 2 Thessalonians 1:10-12; 2 Thessalonians 3:1-3; 1 Timothy 2:1; 2 Timothy 1:3; Philemon 1:4-6,22; Hebrews 5:7; Hebrews 13:18; James 5:13-18; 1 Peter 3:7,12; 1 Peter 4:7; 3 John 1:2; Jude 1:19-21; Revelation 5:8]

Near the Cross

Hymn lyrics by Fanny J. Crosby, 1869
Music by William H. Doane, 1869

Jesus, keep me near the cross;
There a precious fountain,
Free to all, a healing stream,
Flows from Calvary's mountain.

Near the cross, a trembling soul,
Love and mercy found me;
There the bright and morning star
Sheds its beams around me.

Near the cross! O Lamb of God,
Bring its scenes before me;
Help me walk from day to day
With its shadow o'er me.

Near the cross I'll watch and wait,
Hoping, trusting ever,
Till I reach the golden strand
Just beyond the river.

In the cross, in the cross,
Be my glory ever,
Till my raptured soul shall find
Rest beyond the river.

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