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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.
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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.
Cities Church Pastor Releases Statement Following St. Paul’s Decision Not To Charge Anti-ICE Protesters
- By Michie
The city of St. Paul, Minnesota, will not press charges against anti-ICE protesters who disrupted a worship service at Cities Church after the city determined that the protest was peaceful.
On Jan. 18, a group of anti-ICE protesters disrupted a worship service at Cities Church, a church plant in St. Paul supported by the Southern Baptist Convention’s (SBC) Send Network. Videos of the incident show protesters chanting and screaming in the faces of church members as congregants attempted to worship.
Following the incident, Cities Church Lead Pastor Jonathan Parnell told Fox News that “several folks at that moment actually scattered, fearful it was a shooter situation. Children were obviously terrorized. Mothers were terrorized.”
Pam Bondi, who was recently removed from her position as U.S. attorney general by President Donald Trump, led the arrests of 39 people involved in the protests, including independent journalist and former CNN anchor Don Lemon.
Earlier this week, St. Paul City Attorney Irene Kao described videos captured during the protest as peaceful and said nothing unlawful occurred.
Continued below.
churchleaders.com
On Jan. 18, a group of anti-ICE protesters disrupted a worship service at Cities Church, a church plant in St. Paul supported by the Southern Baptist Convention’s (SBC) Send Network. Videos of the incident show protesters chanting and screaming in the faces of church members as congregants attempted to worship.
Following the incident, Cities Church Lead Pastor Jonathan Parnell told Fox News that “several folks at that moment actually scattered, fearful it was a shooter situation. Children were obviously terrorized. Mothers were terrorized.”
Pam Bondi, who was recently removed from her position as U.S. attorney general by President Donald Trump, led the arrests of 39 people involved in the protests, including independent journalist and former CNN anchor Don Lemon.
Earlier this week, St. Paul City Attorney Irene Kao described videos captured during the protest as peaceful and said nothing unlawful occurred.
Continued below.
Cities Church Pastor Releases Statement Following St. Paul's Decision Not To Charge Anti-ICE Protesters
The city of St. Paul, Minnesota will not press charges against anti-ICE protesters who disrupted a worship service at Cities Church.
churchleaders.com
Trump endorses Ken Paxton in Texas runoff for US Senate: 'Loyalty to the cause of greatness'
- By FreeinChrist
- General Politics
- 15 Replies
Rather ironic that Trump endorses Paxton, a man who was impeached by his fellow Republicans for bribery and corruption. Then there is this:
www.texastribune.org
Judge Sparkman was not happy.
Inside Ken Paxton’s plea deal for a child sex abuse case
Critics are pointing to two other serious felony cases that the attorney general’s prosecutors took to trial that ended in mistrials and, eventually, plea deals.
www.texastribune.org
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is under fire for a plea deal his prosecutors offered last month to a Waco man charged with repeatedly sexually abusing a young boy.
The deal in the case, which Paxton’s office took over about three years ago after the locally elected district attorney recused himself, would have let the man plead guilty to two misdemeanors and serve a total of just one day in jail.
Now Paxton, locked in a heated primary to be the Republican nominee for U.S. Senate, is facing criticism from political opponents who say his office was too lenient toward the man, who admitted that he molested the victim as part of the deal. This comes even as Paxton has built a reputation attacking local district attorneys for being too soft on crime.......
As part of the indecent assault plea, Hoffman agreed to make a statement that he “did then and there, with the intent to arouse or gratify my sexual desire, touch genitals of [the victim, identified by initials] … and I acted without the complainant’s consent.”.....
But Sparkman’s final decision wouldn’t come until a formal sentencing hearing the following week.
“This isn’t justice”
Judge Sparkman was not happy.
Molest a child repeatedly and get one day in jail.
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The Truth Behind Angels Landing, America’s Deadliest Hike
- By Michie
- Outdoor Activities & Nature
- 0 Replies
SPRINGDALE, Utah — Towering 1,500 feet over the floor of Zion National Park, Angels Landing is one of the most recognizable rock formation in the American West. Famous for its steep grades, sheer cliffs and razor thin paths, it draws hundreds of thousands of thrill-seeking hikers each year. Yet, long before it became an internet sensation and arguably the “deadliest hike” in America’s National Park system, it was a summit deemed entirely unreachable by humans.
The trail enjoyed by modern hikers is the result of a century old historical gamble, a wandering Methodist minister, and a pioneering engineer who believed regular people deserved access to the heavens no matter the risk.
Two years before that name change, a 50-year-old traveling motivational speaker and Methodist minister from Ohio named Frederick Vining Fisher stepped off a stagecoach into the region. Seeking pristine landscapes to anchor his popular illustrated travel lectures, Fisher spent two weeks exploring the canyon floor in October 1916 alongside two local Mormon teenagers who served as his guides.
Continued below.
unofficialnetworks.com
The trail enjoyed by modern hikers is the result of a century old historical gamble, a wandering Methodist minister, and a pioneering engineer who believed regular people deserved access to the heavens no matter the risk.
A Minister’s Vision and the Birth of a Holy Metaphor
For thousands of years, the towering vertical walls of Zion Canyon were known as Mukuntuweap—a Southern Paiute word meaning “straight canyon.” It was under this moniker that President William Howard Taft first designated the area as a federally protected National Monument in 1909. However, fearing that American tourists would struggle to pronounce the Indigenous name, the National Park Service officially rebranded the sanctuary as Zion in 1918.Two years before that name change, a 50-year-old traveling motivational speaker and Methodist minister from Ohio named Frederick Vining Fisher stepped off a stagecoach into the region. Seeking pristine landscapes to anchor his popular illustrated travel lectures, Fisher spent two weeks exploring the canyon floor in October 1916 alongside two local Mormon teenagers who served as his guides.
Continued below.
The Truth Behind Angels Landing, America's Deadliest Hike
SPRINGDALE, Utah — Towering 1,500 feet over the floor of Zion National Park, Angels Landing is one of the most recognizable rock formation in the American
unofficialnetworks.com
Church attack with graffiti, mob. Voodooist opposition. Police question Church activities.
- By LoricaLady
- Persecuted Christians
- 0 Replies
Church Targeted with Islamic Graffiti, Mob Attack
[14] prayers in [4] nations have been posted for Pakistani Christians.
A mob attacked a church after claiming a deacon had blasphemed Islam. The deacon discovered "Muhammad," the name of Islam's founder, painted on an alleyway in front of a church. He cleaned it up before anyone could walk on it and accuse the church of blasphemy. Regardless, someone rallied a mob to attack the church and the deacon, saying he had no right to touch the word as he wasn't Muslim. Read More.Jun. 04, 2026 | Benin
Constantly Opposed by Voodooist Family
[11] prayers in [3] nations have been posted for Marie and Rosaline.
Two young Christians persist in their faith despite opposition from their family. Marie, 18, and Rosaline, 17, are cousins in a voodooist family. The girls had never heard the gospel until a Christian woman who sold soap started coming to their home, and they placed their trust in Christ and started attending church. This angered their family, who rejected them and started cursing them in the middle of the night. Read More.Jun. 04, 2026 | Morocco
Police Question Church Activities
[11] prayers in [3] nations have been posted for Moroccan Christians.
A pastor in Morocco is asking for prayer that local Christians in house churches will be bolder in their witness for Christ and have favor with police and other local officials. Morocco is 99.9% Muslim, and only a few churches exist for Moroccans. Those churches are mostly small, often meet secretly in homes and are composed almost entirely of members who have converted from Islam to Christianity. Read More.
Trump’s Chief Nevada Prosecutor Shirks DOJ Orders to Recuse, Launches Investigations to help personal Allies
- American Politics
- 0 Replies
President Donald Trump’s top Nevada prosecutor, Sigal Chattah, pushed to launch investigations at the behest of former clients and friends while repeatedly bypassing Justice Department orders recusing her from cases, according to three people with direct knowledge.
Chattah, a former Republican party official who took over the US attorney’s office in Nevada 14 months ago, also opened a probe targeting her past political foe, the three individuals said. It is one of many circumstances in which she’s leveraged her role to advance personal interests.
The first-time prosecutor frequently sought status updates on cases despite warnings that she was disregarding recusals signed by the deputy attorney general’s office in Washington that barred her involvement in matters where she had conflicts of interest, said several individuals.
“It’s charitable to call it chaos,” said Rick Pocker, who was Nevada US attorney under President George H. W. Bush, about Chattah’s leadership. “I don’t think she quite understands how you’re not supposed to use that office for personal or political purposes.”
Chattah is one of several Trump-aligned top federal prosecutors whose appointment as acting US attorney was deemed invalid by a judge, leaving her future in doubt. She remains in charge while the court order disqualifying her is pending appeal.
Previously in Chattah news
www.christianforums.com
Chattah, a former Republican party official who took over the US attorney’s office in Nevada 14 months ago, also opened a probe targeting her past political foe, the three individuals said. It is one of many circumstances in which she’s leveraged her role to advance personal interests.
The first-time prosecutor frequently sought status updates on cases despite warnings that she was disregarding recusals signed by the deputy attorney general’s office in Washington that barred her involvement in matters where she had conflicts of interest, said several individuals.
“It’s charitable to call it chaos,” said Rick Pocker, who was Nevada US attorney under President George H. W. Bush, about Chattah’s leadership. “I don’t think she quite understands how you’re not supposed to use that office for personal or political purposes.”
Chattah is one of several Trump-aligned top federal prosecutors whose appointment as acting US attorney was deemed invalid by a judge, leaving her future in doubt. She remains in charge while the court order disqualifying her is pending appeal.
Previously in Chattah news
FBI closes 2020 election fraud inquiry ordered by Nevada's top federal prosecutor - at most 38 non-citizens voted and statute of limitations expired
The FBI ended the inquiry in late January, after Sigal Chattah, the first assistant U.S. attorney in Nevada, had ordered the bureau in July to open a 2020 election fraud probe that she claimed could help flip a key congressional seat in Republicans' favor. She also said it could ensnare...
www.christianforums.com
How Can God Become Man if God Can’t Change?
- By Michie
- One Bread, One Body - Catholic
- 0 Replies
One of the defining attributes of God is that He is immutable, meaning He isn’t subject to change.
We know this through philosophical reasoning because at the foundation of reality there has to be one being who is purely actual without any potency, and we call this being God.
We also know about God’s immutability through the witness of Sacred Scripture:
The doctrine of divine immutability is further affirmed in the Church’s liturgical life, such as in the great Hymn of the Incarnation chanted after the Second Antiphon in the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom:
Continued below.
stpaulcenter.com
We know this through philosophical reasoning because at the foundation of reality there has to be one being who is purely actual without any potency, and we call this being God.
We also know about God’s immutability through the witness of Sacred Scripture:
The doctrine of divine immutability is further affirmed in the Church’s liturgical life, such as in the great Hymn of the Incarnation chanted after the Second Antiphon in the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom:
Continued below.
How Can God Become Man if God Can’t Change? - St. Paul Center
Article from the St. Paul Center | One of the defining attributes of God is that He is immutable, meaning He isn’t subject to change. We know this through philosophical reasoning because at the foundation of reality there has to be one being who is purely actual without any potency, and we call...
Wayne LaPierre resigns as NRA head
- By Tuur
- News & Current Events (Articles Required)
- 18 Replies
Will object to “legal troubles” and “fleecing” on the grounds such organizations have a lot of leeway. Note who advertises on the “senior” channels, then look into how much the actually spend on their stated cause. All 100% legal. Note that when various perks to LaPierre came to light, the NRA didn’t deny it, only stated that they had done nothing legally wrong. So it came down to how many annual members wanted their dues to go to buying LaPierre another suit vs supporting the 2nd Amendment and firearm education. Now LaPierre is finally gone, but I doubt the perks left with him.
Wayne LaPierre resigns as NRA head
National Rifle Association (NRA) head Wayne LaPierre will resign from the organization at the end of the month, the group announced Friday. LaPierre’s resignation, first reported by Fox News, comes…thehill.com
National Rifle Association (NRA) head Wayne LaPierre will resign from the organization at the end of the month, the group announced Friday.
LaPierre’s resignation, first reported by Fox News, comes as the organization defends itself in a New York civil suit alleging he and other executives spent millions of the group’s funds on luxury vacations and other perks.
He's citing health concerns as his reason for stepping down, but part of me suspects that he's looking for an escape hatch as the organization is in some legal trouble, and more and more people have realized that they're getting fleeced by the organization.
NRA revenue in freefall as member dues plummet - CREW | Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington
The National Rifle Association is bleeding money and members, according to a financial audit obtained by CREW.www.citizensforethics.org
They're an organization that's basically outlived any usefulness they may have had decades ago, and when you look at their revenue vs. other much smaller gun rights organizations, and consider the fact that those aforementioned smaller organizations have been the ones to win all of the high profile court cases (which NRA has then tried to piggy back off of and claim the victory as their own), I think it started to become obvious to people that they were paying $500 for a duffel bag and a ballcap.
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One Reason Why I Cannot Be A Progressive Catholic: Beauty
- By Michie
- One Bread, One Body - Catholic
- 0 Replies
One of my favorite works of art—whether visual, musical, or otherwise—is Mozart’s Requiem. Its beauty reflects something far beyond the mundane, lifting the listener toward unimaginable spiritual heights. When I listen to it, I often experience a mixture of awe and sadness: awe at the God-given genius required to compose such a masterpiece, and sadness for its composer, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, whose personal life seems to have lacked the deep piety one might expect from someone used by God in so extraordinary a way.
The awe I experience before works such as the Requiem stands in stark contrast to what I feel when confronted with religious art, architecture, and music shaped by the horizontal vision of progressive Christianity. This vision often reduces Christianity to service of others—especially the poor—and treats that service as the center of the Gospel rather than the fruit of something greater: the worship of God and the salvation of souls.
We can see this emphasis in much contemporary sacred music, particularly the work of Dan Schutte, including Table of Plenty. We can also see it in the church architecture that emerged during the 1970s and 1980s. Both reflect a broader shift in focus—from God to man, from transcendence to utility, and from worship to community. That shift helps explain why I cannot be a progressive Catholic.
Continued below.
www.patheos.com
The awe I experience before works such as the Requiem stands in stark contrast to what I feel when confronted with religious art, architecture, and music shaped by the horizontal vision of progressive Christianity. This vision often reduces Christianity to service of others—especially the poor—and treats that service as the center of the Gospel rather than the fruit of something greater: the worship of God and the salvation of souls.
We can see this emphasis in much contemporary sacred music, particularly the work of Dan Schutte, including Table of Plenty. We can also see it in the church architecture that emerged during the 1970s and 1980s. Both reflect a broader shift in focus—from God to man, from transcendence to utility, and from worship to community. That shift helps explain why I cannot be a progressive Catholic.
The Horizontal Turn
Continued below.
One Reason Why I Cannot Be A Progressive Catholic: Beauty
The Church's highest purpose is not to help us feel at home in this world. It is to prepare us for the next. One of the ways she accomplishes that task is through beauty.
www.patheos.com
There’s a reason we don’t have birds the size of elephants
- Creation & Theistic Evolution
- 1 Replies
Question,This article was originally featured on The Conversation.
Exactly how did birds evolve from dinosaurs? It’s a mystery that has been with us for more than 150 years, and palaeontologists are still hunting for pieces of the puzzle today.
Among them is the University of Edinburgh’s Professor Steve Brusatte, whose latest book, The Story of Birds, tells the whole fascinating story. We caught up with him recently to find out more.
Of all the great dinosaur subjects, why this story?
I’ve always been fascinated by birds. They are all around us and there’s such a stunning diversity and variety. As a palaeontologist I specialised early in the theropod (two-legged) dinosaurs. This is the group that includes T.rex and Velociraptor – and gave rise to birds.
The more I studied theropods, the more I became more curious about the modern-day animals that descended from them. Back in the early 2010s my PhD was about the origin of birds. Its core involved building a big new family tree of theropod dinosaurs to understand where birds slot in, how they evolved from dinosaurs, and how their body features came together.
I wrote about the dinosaur bird connection in my first book, The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs (2018), but that was just one chapter. It made me think it would be really fun to do an entire book on the subject. That was how my new book, The Story of Birds, came together.
Is there still any debate about birds evolving from dinosaurs?
Continued below.
There’s a reason we don’t have birds the size of elephants
www.popsci.com
endocrine system functions, do you know much about them?
without a perfectly balanced hormone system, life is not possible, in humans and animals and birds - life
for this complex system to evolve is mathematically not possible, if every system is not within balance, operating perfectly-- you die, or get sick and die.
and then there is another system that regulates the endocrine system, I can not remember how to spell it, and few doctors are even aware.
Man, Adam, was made on day 6, complete and perfect -- he lived 1000 years.
Has this changed your mind --- I doubt it.
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Not Just Another Martyr
- By johnnypapa
- One Bread, One Body - Catholic
- 0 Replies
Not Just Another Martyr
The Feast of St. Charles Lwanga and Companions comes every year on June 3rd; while many sermons will be heard about their martyrdom on that day, few priests will mention the reason they were killed.
crisismagazine.com
Modernism’s Effect on the Eucharistic Prayer
- By johnnypapa
- One Bread, One Body - Catholic
- 0 Replies
Modernism’s Effect on the Eucharistic Prayer - Catholic Exchange
The Canon is not addressed to the congregation—it is the priest standing in for Christ before the Father, interceding for our sake.
catholicexchange.com
Eucharistic Adoration: A Neglected Spiritual Weapon
- By johnnypapa
- One Bread, One Body - Catholic
- 0 Replies
Speaking of the Eucharist as a spiritual weapon might strike you as odd, yet St. Paul reminds us we’re in a war, and that our primary enemies are ones we cannot see:
www.catholic.com
Eucharistic Adoration: A Neglected Spiritual Weapon
Eucharistic adoration does not require exposition. On the contrary, let the churches encourage faithful and non-believers to visit our Lord at all times.
