Soyeong said:

If we love God and our neighbor, then we won’t commit murder, idolatry, adultery, theft, rape, favoritism, kidnapping, and so forth for the rest of God’s laws, so love fulfills the law because it is showing a core understanding of what everything in it is about how to do. The greatest two commandments are much easier said than done, so thankfully God gave us the rest of His laws to flesh out what it looks like to correctly obey them. Someone who was correctly living in obedience to the greatest two commandments would be indistinguishable from someone who was correctly living in obedience to the rest of God’s commandments because they would both be following the same example that Jesus set for us to follow.


We should seek to understand what Jesus meant by saying that he came to fulfill the law in a way that his audience would have understood it rather than connect it with an event that hadn’t happened yet that Jesus made no allusion to. After Jesus said in Matthew 5:17-20 that he came to fulfill the law, he then proceeded immediately proceeded to fulfill it throughout the rest of the chapter by teaching how to correctly obey it. According to Galatians 5:14, anyone who has ever loved their neighbor has fulfilled the entire law, so again it refers to correctly obeying it, moreover, it refers to something that countless people have done rather than something unique that only Jesus did.


My problem is not with you speaking about grace and love, but with you doing so in a way the deemphasizes the importance of being a doer of God’s law rather than a way that emphasizes it. For example, you said the we don’t obey the law to try to fulfill its demands.


Jesus set a a perfect example for us to follow of how to walk in obedience to God’s law, so that is what it looks like to have the righteousness of God and to walk in the Spirit.


You did say that we don't follow the law to try and fulfill its demands because that takes self-effort. What you are describing is accordance with Paul’s struggle with the law of sin, not a problem with the Law of God.


Jesus also affirmed in the NT that the way to inherit eternal life is by obeying the greatest two commandments (Luke 10:25-28). It’s going good.


God’s law was never given as something to be obeyed on our own. In Titus 2:14, Jesus gave himself to redeem us for all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people of his own possession who are zealous for doing good works, so the way to believe in what he spent his ministry teaching by word and by example is by becoming zealous for doing good works in obedience to God’s law (Acts 21:20).


The Mosaic Covenant is also grace through faith and the only to become righteous that us testifies about in the Law and the Prophets is through faith in Christ for all who believe (Romans 3:21-22). The context of Habakkuk 2:4 contrasts the righteous who are living by faith with those who are not living in obedience to God’s law. In Isaiah 51:7, the righteous are those on whose heart is God’s law, and in 1 John 3:4-7, everyone who is a doer of righteous works in obedience to God’s law is righteous even as they are righteous, so the righteous living by faith does not refer to a manner of living that is not in obedience to it. God’s law leads us to Christ because it is His instructions for how to have an intimate relationship with him.


No problem, sorry if I’ve misunderstood you.

The point of God’s law is to teach us how to know Him by being in His likeness through experiencing being a doer of His character traits, which are the fruits of the Spirit and why the Spirit has the role of leading us to obey God’s law (Ezekiel 36:26-27). Likewise, the way to love God is by being a doer of His character traits, such as the way to love justice is by being a doer of justice in obedience to God’s instructions. In other words, the goal of everything that God has instructed is to teach us how to love different aspects of His character, which is why the Bible repeatedly says that the way to love God is by obeying His commandments. It is good that you are focused on love and see God displaying it throughout the Bible, but the problem is that you see that as being an alternative to being focused on the story of sin and the law instead of being in complete accordance with it. We can’t focus on needing the life and love of God so that we can be like Him as Children embodied by the Spirit instead of focusing on obeying God’s instructions for how to do that.

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Romans 13:
8 Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law. 9 The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not covet,”[a] and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”[b] 10 Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.

How much plainer can it be. I already gave my input and I like the view up here. I'm not coming down. That's all I have to say on that topic.

RileyG said:

What?

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Ben Shapiro said Jan 6 was insurrection because it was an insurrection
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What follows is a Biblical example of truth hiding behind a good story. Imagine with me:
Had Nathan the prophet approached Ling David, after his sin with Bathsheba, and told him
the propositional truth-----"You have committed adultery and murder, O King. You have
broken four of the ten commandments." Would the King readily received this truth?
Likely not. He may have rid himself of this troublesome prophet. Off with his head!
But instead of presenting him with the naked truth, Nathan told him a story.

There were two men in a certain city, the one rich and the other poor. The rich man had
very many flocks and herds, but the poor man had nothing but one little ewe lamb, which
he had bought. And he brought it up, and it grew up with him and with his children. It used
to eat of is morsel and drink from his cup and lie in his arms, and it was like a daughter to him.
Now there came a traveler to the rich man, and he was unwilling to take one of his own flock
or herd to prepare for the guest who had come to him, but he took the poor man's lamb and
prepared it for the man who had come to him. (2 Sam. 12:1-14, ESV)

This story brought David into a house and opened the window for him to see. He could see
vividly the injustice done. David bought into the story. He was caught in the story's powerful
rhetorical trap. The King became enraged and said, "As the Lord lives, the man who has done
this deserves to die!... and he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and
because he had no pity" (2 Sam 12:5-6). David thus judged himself. Nathan said. "You are the
man!" He opened a window, which became a mirror to David. Herein is the power of story
to bring truth home to the heart and core of a person.

A story is an oblique way of coming at truth and helpful in getting past the defenses of a hearer
or audience. Bible storyteller and trainer Dorothy Miller calls this "the Nathan Principle," and
adds this word as explicating its effect: "See the Word of God is alive! It is at work and is sharper
than any double-edged sword---it cuts right through to where the soul meets spirit and joints
meet marrow, and it is quick to judge the inner reflections and attitudes of the heart"
(Heb 4:12, Complete Jewish Bible). Direct route communication and processing uses argumentation;
peripheral route communication circumvents argumentation to a deeper place in the heart.
This is critically needed in Jewish evangelism because of the high resistance among Jewish people
to direct communication of the Gospel. This is "the Nathan Principle"

Messianic Jewish Orthodoxy 'The Essence of Our Faith, History and Best Practices'
Dr Jeffrey Seif

Michie said:

They are taking about female wannabe men.

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Well, then that is just typical female menstruation. But you can't have menstruation without "men," am I right?

I cannot stand AOC

o_mlly said:

"Do you think it's permissible for private citizens to threaten others to get them to do what they want?"

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Yoiu should have seen the drive home

Soyeong said:

Sin was in the word before the law was given (Romans 5:13), so there were no actions that became righteous or sinful when the law was given, but rather the law revealed what has always been and will always be the way to do that.

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Yes, sin was in the world before the law was given, but, the law of Moses did not reveal "what has always been". If that was the case, then it would have been unlawful for Cain to have sexual relations with his sister, who was also his wife (Gen 4:17)? But, of course that wasn't sinful. But, it would have been under the law of Moses. So, what you said is not true. Cain having sexual relations with his sister wasn't unlawful at the time due to the fact that commandment didn't exist yet and that was for good reason. It wouldn't have made sense for that commandment to exist at that time. The only options Cain had for a wife were his sisters, so it obviously would make no sense for it to be sinful to marry one of his sisters because of that.

Stephen3141 said:

This is a type of useless, rhetorical question.

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It is one of the most profound questions that can be asked of any government. Why do you suppose the ancient Romans raised it in the first place? (Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?)

Stephen3141 said:

In a democracy like America, the Congress, debates, then passes laws.

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No, Congress votes on proposed laws. Debate? Congress is too polarized for any serious debate.

Stephen3141 said:

It is not Congress, who owns the big AI companies.

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No, they (and the other plutocrats) own Congress (along with the govt of Israel).

Stephen3141 said:

So the regulation is apart from the ownership concerns.

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And pigs can fly.

leowls said:

Since God gave men freedom in choice why should he punish them when they choose to do wrong and to condemn them to hell for all eternity. It's not like men asked God for it.

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Why read Romans 2:1-29 and see !!

dan p

Always in His Presence said:

The general public finally caught on that the emperor did not in fact have new clothes

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The public seem to like him and seem calmer this time around. It should be a blessing, eh?

Always in His Presence said:

QFT - IMHO he was a complete disgrace.

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He’s probably not even aware of what time it is or his surroundings. Sad really.

Meh. They’re just attention seeking. It’s their god.

Michie said:

Nobody should feel unsafe on campus.

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Amen!

tonychanyt said:

I think so. 1P 5:

Some scholars interpret "Babylon" as a coded reference to Rome. During this time, Rome was sometimes referred to as "Babylon" because of its association with oppression and corruption (Re 17:5).
Irenaeus (c. 180 CE) explicitly stated that Peter and Paul founded the church in Rome and that Peter served as its first bishop. Eusebius (c. 325 CE) confirmed that Peter traveled to Rome during Emperor Nero’s reign and was martyred there.
While the New Testament does not explicitly state that Peter was in Rome, early Christian tradition and writings strongly support the idea that he traveled to Rome, led the Christian community there, and was martyred. The evidence is not definitive, but the tradition of Peter's presence in Rome has been widely accepted for centuries and remains a cornerstone of Catholic teaching.

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I can't accept teachings that come 200 or more years after the fact.
I wonder who it was that substituted "She" for what is written in the KJV of the bible..."The church which is at Babylon" ?
When I read "Babylon", I think of Jerusalem.

Oct 16, 2023

iarwain said:

If you read that article, it sounds like we paid them to take it.

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The USA occupied territory in the middle of Panama for almost a hundred years.

fide said:

Just a short note to add to the conversation: The best small, brief but incredibly full, rich and comprehensive book I know of to truly help the serious inquirer understand "contemplation" as understood by the giants of the faith, is THE THREE WAYS OF THE SPIRITUAL LIFE, by Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange O.P. This copy is on the EWTN website (their Library), and can be freely copied, printed and/or uploaded into an electronic reader or phone. I don't think a better source exists or could exist to help a hungry soul find and understand the path to the heights of Mt. Carmel.

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Thank you Fide! Just clicked onto the link and it looks great!

Laodicean60 said:

He's operating off of the fear that Western propaganda spews.

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Which is even more inexcusable if one only thinks about things. Russia cannot take on the whole of NATO, especially if it forces the latter to enter Total war mode. Putin is not insane, he knows Russian limitations, even if he does want to restore the Soviet Union (I don't believe he does), so this domino theory is really annoying.

This was Moses speaking to the people of Israel under the Old Covenant, but there is a lesson here that can be learned today by us who live under the New Covenant God has with his people Israel (Jew and Gentile by faith in Jesus Christ). For under the New Covenant we are not without God’s commands that we must obey. Although he did away with all the liturgical, ceremonial, sacrificial, purification, and dietary laws and restrictions, and the requirement of the circumcision of all males, we did not become lawless.

We still have to obey all of God’s moral laws and any laws that he gave for us to follow under the New Covenant. And they are listed for us all throughout the New Testament writings. Fundamentally, by God-persuaded faith in Jesus Christ, we must die with Christ to sin and now walk in obedience to his commands in holy living. Sin must no longer be what we practice, but now righteousness and obedience to our Lord must be what we practice, what we live by day in and day out, seven days a week.

And “the land” that we are going in to possess is not a physical place on this earth, but it is the kingdom of heaven, of God. And our obedience to God is required of God for our entry into his heaven, yes, even under the New Covenant. And part of what we must obey is that we must no longer walk in sin. We must not be those who deliberately and habitually commit the same sins and for whom biblical repentance is not a reality. For if sin is what we practice, and not obedience to God, we will not inherit eternal life with God.

[Matt 7:13-14,21-23; Lu 9:23-26; Jn 10:27-30; Ac 26:18; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; Rom 12:1-2; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Co 10:1-22; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Gal 5:16-24; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:1-17; Tit 2:11-14; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; 1 Pet 2:24; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6,15-17; 1 Jn 3:4-10]

During our time on this earth, therefore, the Lord puts us to the test. He allows us to go through times of difficulty where we have little, and where we face many trials and tribulations, that he might humble us. And I suspect we are heading into one of those times here in America very soon. It is certainly looking that way. And I believe it is for the same reasons which are expressed here in Deuteronomy 8. It is not only to humble us, but it is to test what is in our hearts, whether or not we will keep his commandments.

So, he will let us be hungry, and he will feed us with little, that he might make us understand that “man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord.” Jesus quoted this verse in response to the devil when the devil was permitted to test Jesus in the wilderness after he had fasted forty days and forty nights (Matthew 4:4). And it is a lesson to us to remember when we are being tempted by the devil to take matters into our own hands, that God has a purpose for it all.

For our Lord allows us to go through hard times, and to face many difficulties, to teach us to rely on him and not on our own strength and wisdom, and not on other humans or possessions or wealth, etc. This is where “the rubber meets the road,” so to speak, i.e. it is “the point at which a theory or idea is put to a practical test” (O.L. Dictionary). In our case, it is a time of testing to see whether or not our professions of faith in Jesus Christ are genuine, if they will stand the test and pass the test.

For biblical faith in Jesus Christ is not just making a profession of faith in Jesus Christ and now we are good to go to heaven when we die. Faith, which comes from God, which is persuaded of God, and is gifted to us by God, and is not of our own doing, not of the will nor of the flesh of humans, results in us dying with Christ to sin, not just once, but in practice, and us walking in obedience to our Lord’s New Covenant commands, in practice, by the Spirit. So if sin, and not obedience to God, is our practice, our faith is not genuine.

So, when the trials come, and the difficulties of life are now upon us, and we are wanting in the things of this world which we once possessed in quite frequency, we should remember to put our trust in the Lord and not in human beings, and not in the things of this world which are passing away. We should remember that God disciplines those he loves for our good, that we may share in his holiness. And “All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness” (Hebrews 12:11).

[Matthew 5:10-12; Matthew 10:16-39; Matthew 24:9-14; Luke 6:22-23; Luke 21:12-17; John 15:18-21; John 17:14; Rom 5:3-5; Phil 3:7-11; 1 Pet 1:6-7; 1 Pet 4:12-17; 2 Tim 3:12; 1 Thess 3:1-5; Jas 1:2-4; 2 Co 1:3-11; Heb 12:3-12; 1 Jn 3:13; Revelation 6:9-11; Revelation 7:9-17; Revelation 11:1-3; Revelation 12:17; Revelation 13:1-18; Revelation 14:1-13]

For Our Nation

An Original Work / September 11, 2012
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

Bombs are bursting. Night is falling.
Jesus Christ is gently calling
You to follow Him in all ways.
Trust Him with your life today.
Make Him your Lord and your Savior.
Turn from your sin. Follow Jesus.
He will forgive you of your sin;
Cleanse your heart, made new within.

Men betraying: Our trust fraying.
On our knees to God we’re praying,
Seeking God to give us answers
That are only found in Him.
God is sovereign over all things.
Nothing from His mind escaping.
He has all things under His command,
And will work all for good.

Jesus Christ is gently calling
You to follow Him in all ways.

Men deceiving: We’re believing
In our Lord, and interceding
For our nation and its people
To obey their God today.
He is our hope for our future.
For our wounds He offers suture.
He is all we need for this life.
Trust Him with your life today.

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That We Might Be Humbled
An Original Work / March 11, 2025
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

The author of the article should define what he means by an OTA.
This is journalistic politeness.

"A 2023 Government Accountability Office report that reviewed reporting of other transaction agreements found that over $40 billion in OTAs were not reported to USAspending.gov. GAO added in the report that until Congress includes the agreements as part of what agencies must report to the website, “policymakers and the public will continue to lack complete spending information and transparency of OTAs.”

The bipartisan nature of the bill comes as Washington has been locked in a largely partisan fight over cutting the overall size of the federal government, with even Republicans becoming increasingly public about their concerns about the sweeping nature of Elon Musk’s work. Though congressional Republicans largely support the aim, they’ve urged Cabinet and agency heads to be in the driver's seat instead of Musk when it comes to personnel decisions."

This teaching is under the Old Covenant God had with his people Israel, but there is much of this which is repeated for us in the New Testament under the New Covenant God has with his people Israel, both Jew and Gentile by faith in Jesus Christ. It may not be the same exact wording, but the message is still the same. For we are the chosen of God, not because of anything that we have done, of our own doing, but because God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son Jesus to die on a cross for our sins.

For in Jesus’ death on that cross, he put our sins to death with him in order that, by God-persuaded faith in him, we might now die to sin and live to God and to his righteousness in walks of obedience to his commands. None of this is of our own doing, of the flesh of humans, but all of this comes from the grace of God which is training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives while we await the soon return of our Lord Jesus Christ (Ephesians 2:8-10; Titus 2:11-14).

Because of God’s great love for us, by his grace, through God-gifted faith in him, we are now delivered from our slavery to sin so that we can serve the Lord God with our lives in doing all that he commands that we do as his followers. And God will keep his covenant of grace to us who love him and who keep his commandments. And to love God is to obey him, so if we do not obey him we do not know him, we are not born of him, and we do not have eternal life in him (1 John 1:5-10; 1 John 2:3-6; 1 John 3:4-10).

And God will bring into judgment all who deny him as their Lord, who refuse to surrender their lives to his command, and who continue to walk in sin and not in obedience to our Lord and to his commands. And not all judgment is going to come at the end of time. And the first example of that which comes to mind is the case of Ananias and Sapphira who lied to God in willful deception, acting as though they gave all when they held back some for themselves. God struck both of them dead immediately (Acts 5:1-11).

The Lord brought to mind this morning a situation which is under the judgment of God. Yesterday, in the USA, was something called, “National Day of Appreciation for Abortion Providers,” which began in 1996. And they are asking us, the people, to “celebrate abortion providers.” And abortions are the murdering of unborn babies. This is modern child sacrifice which they are asking us, the people, to support and to celebrate. They are wanting us to support the murderers, and to support the murdering of children.

How much more twisted can it get? But one of the ironies of the whole thing is that, if a woman who is pregnant wants to abort her unborn child she refers to the child as just one of her body parts she wants removed, and she does not refer to the child as a baby. If she kills her own unborn baby, it is not considered murder. But if someone not given permission by her kills her and her unborn baby, or just the baby, it is called murder of a child. So, the child cannot be just a body part when someone wants to murder the child.

Another irony of this situation is that if a woman is pregnant, and she is a drug addict, and she gives birth to her baby, and the baby is born drug addicted, then the woman can be charged with child abuse and she can be put in jail. But, if she decided to abort (murder) her baby while the infant is still in her womb, then she is not charged with anything, not murder, not child abuse. But she is comforted in her decision to murder her unborn baby by those who are celebrating abortion rights and the murderers.

[This was the law the last time that I checked. It could have changed.]

But in the eyes of the Lord, abortion is murder of a child, one of his created beings who he formed in the womb of the child’s mother. The child is a child regardless of who murders the child. The child cannot be just a body part of a woman when the woman wants the child dead, but then be a child when the woman wants the child alive, or when someone without her permission murders her unborn child. And abortion is bad enough without adding on the insult of having a day of appreciation and celebration of the murderers.

But God is going to bring judgment on this: “abortion is healthcare”.

[Matt 7:13-14,21-23; Lu 9:23-26; Jn 10:27-30; Ac 26:18; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; Rom 12:1-2; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Co 10:1-22; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Gal 5:16-24; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:1-17; Tit 2:11-14; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; 1 Pet 2:24; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6,15-17; 1 Jn 3:4-10]

For Our Nation

An Original Work / September 11, 2012
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

Bombs are bursting. Night is falling.
Jesus Christ is gently calling
You to follow Him in all ways.
Trust Him with your life today.
Make Him your Lord and your Savior.
Turn from your sin. Follow Jesus.
He will forgive you of your sin;
Cleanse your heart, made new within.

Men betraying: Our trust fraying.
On our knees to God we’re praying,
Seeking God to give us answers
That are only found in Him.
God is sovereign over all things.
Nothing from His mind escaping.
He has all things under His command,
And will work all for good.

Jesus Christ is gently calling
You to follow Him in all ways.

Men deceiving: We’re believing
In our Lord, and interceding
For our nation and its people
To obey their God today.
He is our hope for our future.
For our wounds He offers suture.
He is all we need for this life.
Trust Him with your life today.

Login to view embedded media
God Will Judge Them
An Original Work / March 11, 2025
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

"""""

Bible Warns Against Philosophies​

Vain philosophies of men are considered harmful in the Bible, particularly in Colossians 2:8, where Paul warns Christians to beware of being taken captive through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men and the basic principles of the world, rather than according to Christ.234+1
These philosophies are seen as potentially misleading and can corrupt one's understanding of the truth, as they often rely on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ.234+1 The warning emphasizes the importance of grounding one's beliefs and practices in Christ rather than in human philosophies that may contradict or complicate the simplicity of the gospel.45
In the context of Colossians, Paul specifically warns against philosophies that can lead to legalism, mysticism, and asceticism, which are seen as potentially harmful deviations from the truth of Christ.4
The Bible also highlights the danger of mixing human philosophies with scripture, as this can lead to the misuse or misinterpretation of scripture to support personal philosophies that may be at odds with the gospel.5
Therefore, the Bible advises Christians to be cautious of vain philosophies and to ensure that their beliefs and practices are rooted in Christ's teachings rather than in human traditions and philosophies.234+1"""""

A2SG said:

Well, I don't know you or your career goals, but it does seem to me there could be some use for any of those skills, should you decide to pursue them, no matter what your career path may be. As I said, learning is always valuable. For myself, while I may not be a working journalist, I did meet my wife while working on my college newspaper, and I can help her now as she's a professional journalist and is currently starting her own online local news publication, perhaps even doing some freelance writing myself. Plus, learning how to write helps me write my own stuff, so there can always be side benefits to any set of knowledge or skills.

But, regardless, good luck with wherever you see yourself going.

-- A2SG, plus which, journalism also taught me how to fact check, a highly valuable skill in today's political landscape....

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Thank you.

I appreciate your kind words.

I’m just being too hard on myself. One day, I shall use my skills.

Take care.