The sacred performance signals a deepening of Catholic-Orthodox dialogue and a potential step toward a papal visit to Serbia.

The past week featured an event with significant ecumenical meaning: a joint performance of the Sistine Chapel Choir and the Choir of the Cathedral of Niš (Serbia) on Jan. 25 at the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls in Rome.

The performance — a joint initiative of the Serbian Embassy to the Holy See and the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, led by Sima Avramović — strengthens ties with the Serbian Orthodox Church and may help pave the way toward an eventual visit by Pope Francis to Serbia.

This is an idea that has been worked on since Cardinal Pietro Parolin's visit in 2018 — and could perhaps be realized this year.

The Choir of the Holy Trinity Cathedral in Niš has a distinguished history dating back to 1887 and has continued uninterrupted since its founding.

Continued below.

01 February 2025 – Sri Lanka​

Lift up to God Release International’s partners as they minister to believers in Sri Lanka, providing encouragement and support to those who have been persecuted.
YES - I will Pray

31 January 2025 – Nigeria​

Thank God for the work of Release International partner the Stefanos Foundation, which provides trauma healing for the many Christians such as Luka Abba who have lost family and home.
YES - I will Pray

30 January 2025 – Nigeria​

Magnificent, the only surviving child of Luka Abba (see yesterday’s prayer), was shot in the mouth during a brutal raid on their home. Pray that he would receive the medical care he needs and for his complete physical and emotional healing.
YES - I will Pray

29 January 2025 – Nigeria​

Pray for Luka Abba whose wife, Nancy, children and parents were all killed by Fulani militants.
YES - I will Pray

28 January 2025 – Somalia​

Thank God for Somali families who are coming to faith in Christ, and pray for those who have recently been baptised. Remember too those who are genuinely seeking to know the truth of the gospel.
YES - I will Pray

27 January 2025 – Somalia​

Pray for Somali believers who, thanks to our partners, are able to set up small businesses to provide for their daily needs.
YES - I will Pray

26 January 2025 – Somalia​

Pray that counselling run by our partners would, by God’s grace, strengthen and encourage those who have been adversely affected by persecution, rejection and other challenges.
YES - I will Pray

5Sudan​

Sudan was on a path towards religious freedom, but a coup and devastating war dashed these hopes. Christians are once again in danger. The conflict has given Islamist extremists more opportunity to target Christians. More than 100 churches have been damaged so far, and Christians have been abducted and killed.
Sudanese Christians who have come to faith from a Muslim background face severe backlash from their families and communities. These believers tend to keep their faith secret, even from their own children.
After a year and a half of war, Sudan is now home to the world’s largest displacement and the world’s largest hunger crisis, with nearly nine million people having been forced to flee their homes. Christians are also experiencing exceptional hardship in the hunger crisis because local communities discriminate against them and won’t give them support. Much of the Church in Sudan, which might have been able to help with aid distribution, is on the run.

Meet Alia​

“There are many diseases, we fall sick, we need medicine to cure us and our children. We have so many challenges. I pray that what I say God will hear, and [that He will] see my tears due to this situation and war.”
Alia (name changed), Christian IDP at a displacement camp in southern Sudan.

What does Open Doors do to help?​

Open Doors works through local church partners in Sudan to strengthen persecuted Christians through persecution survival training, discipleship training and economic empowerment projects.

Please pray​

• Pray for peace and for believers caught in the crossfire of the civil war not to be targeted.
• Thank God for the Christians serving the vulnerable during the war. Pray that God will preserve and protect their brave witness.
• Ask God to be with and deliver believers displaced by the violence in Sudan.

prodromos said:

Alas, too many of our priests here seem to have accepted every offer of food out of humility. Maybe we should offer them gym membership instead

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I tell my people to centralize all food at a final potluck when I am at the last house for house blessings.

There are many speculative theories on who this beast is, and the second beast, too, and I don’t believe any of us are going to be able to prove, at this point, if what we believe to be true, indeed, is the whole of the picture. But time will reveal these things. So I am going to share with you what I believe to be the truth, as best as I understand it, from my times spent in the word with the Lord. For I believe some of these things are already becoming evident for those who are willing to see them in the right light.

It wouldn’t take much research on the internet to find out about the United Nations, or to listen to some of their sessions, and to learn that what they are promoting is a one world order. It is not a deep dark secret that the world, as we know it, is headed in that direction, and this fits with the prophecies of Scripture regarding these last days before the return of Christ, too. And if we read in the Scriptures much about the signs of the last days, I don’t think that we can miss that we are in them right now.

And we have to face the reality that this beast (these beasts) are deceptive, which is how they deceive and fool a whole lot of people. And remember with me that the Scriptures teach about “wolves in sheep’s clothing” and messengers of Satan who masquerade as servants of righteousness. So, just because someone claims to be a Christian and to believe in Jesus doesn’t mean at all that the person really is a Christian, in the purest biblical sense. So we cannot take people only at face value, especially those who are rulers.

Now we live in a day and age when anything, and I mean anything can be faked, photoshopped, altered, and made to look one way while it might be something else entirely. Especially with the use of AI (artificial intelligence) most anything can be made to look one way while it is something altogether different. So we can’t trust everything that we see with our eyes or hear with our ears or read and take in with our brains. Liars abound in the government, in the media, and in “the church.” So test EVERYONE!

So, just because it looks like a duck, and it quacks like a duck, it doesn’t mean that it is a duck. So we need to be very discerning people who test the spirits and who do not believe everyone and everything at face value. Believe me when I tell you that deception abounds everywhere. And here I recall the words of my marketing teacher in college. He said the US government is way advanced in technology beyond what we can see with our eyes, like 20 years out, but they keep that knowledge from us people.

And so what they say to us, and what they show us regular people, may not be at all the reality of what is really going on. And we must be so careful to not buy into this idea that everything that conflicts the “official narrative” is a “conspiracy theory.” That is being used to keep us from knowing the truth, although there are a lot of wild theories out there, too. Same thing is in the church where they call those who teach the truth of the gospel as those who teach “works based salvation,” so as to keep people from hearing the truth.

There is a whole lot of corruption going on in the world, and within our individual nations and their governments, and within the institutional (incorporated under the government) “churches.” And this corruption begins at the top and trickles its way down to the people. So test everyone! Don’t believe it just because “so and so” says it, no matter who they are. And just because someone claims to be “not one of them,” it does not mean that they are not “one of them.” As the saying goes, “the proof is in the pudding.”

So, pull the curtain back, and look at who the man is behind the curtain, and don’t rely only on what you can see on the surface. For we are living in the days of Revelation 13. And liars are all over the place deceiving naïve and gullible minds. And I used to be one of those “naïve and gullible” people before the Lord started opening up my eyes to see what is going on all around me. And I am not saying that I have everything right yet. But I believe the Scriptures and what they teach about deception in the last days.

And one of the things that these deceivers like to do is to play with our minds, to see what they can get away with, and who they can fool. And they are monitoring all of us who are connected to the internet, smartphones, TV sets, and who use credit cards or the internet to make financial transactions, etc. So they have a footprint on all of us, and like the devil, they know our weak points, and they will target those. And they like to leave hints for us, too, for it is one of the games they play, like clues to see who gets it.

So, be wise, be discerning, and pray through everything. We need to ask the Lord to open our eyes and minds to see the traps being laid for us so that we don’t fall into one of them. For they are very clever in how they lay their traps, too, for they wouldn’t be traps if they were easily discernable. And we have to get inside the mind of an addict, really, i.e. the mind of one who is a compulsive liar and manipulator who does set traps for his opponents in hopes to trip them up. For, in reality, this is what we are up against.

False Messengers: [Matthew 7:15-23; Matthew 24:11-14; Luke 6:26; John 10:1-15; Romans 16:17-19; 2 Corinthians 11:3,13-15; Ephesians 4:11-16; Philippians 3:2; 1 Thessalonians 5:19-22; 1 Timothy 1:3-7; 1 Timothy 6:3-10; 2 Timothy 3:1-9; 2 Peter 2:1-22; 1 John 4:1-6; Jude 1:1-25]

Oh, to Be Like Thee, Blessed Redeemer

Lyrics by Thomas O. Chisholm, 1897
Music by W. J. Kirkpatrick, 1897

Oh, to be like Thee! blessèd Redeemer,
This is my constant longing and prayer;
Gladly I’ll forfeit all of earth’s treasures,
Jesus, Thy perfect likeness to wear.

Oh, to be like Thee! full of compassion,
Loving, forgiving, tender and kind,
Helping the helpless, cheering the fainting,
Seeking the wandering sinner to find.

O to be like Thee! lowly in spirit,
Holy and harmless, patient and brave;
Meekly enduring cruel reproaches,
Willing to suffer others to save.

O to be like Thee! while I am pleading,
Pour out Thy Spirit, fill with Thy love;
Make me a temple meet for Thy dwelling,
Fit me for life and Heaven above.

Oh, to be like Thee! Oh, to be like Thee,
Blessèd Redeemer, pure as Thou art;
Come in Thy sweetness, come in Thy fullness;
Stamp Thine own image deep on my heart.

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I Saw a Beast Rising
An Original Work / January 31, 2025
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

Inokuma said:

Please pray for my dad who's in the hospital. He has a serious infection and bladder problems. They said his bladder was stretched to the size of a watermelon and they had to use a catheter to drain it. He's dehydrated as well. They're giving him fluids and treating his infection and doing more scans, but he's gotten worse overnight and he didn't even know who my mom was when she visited him. Please pray for God to heal him.

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Praying now!

Lord God I lift up Inokuma's dad to You right now and I pray for a miracle in his situation and for the complete healing and restoration of his health! I pray for an end to the infection and all bladder problems and for complete elimination of all symptoms with no pain or discomfort! I pray for wisdom for all doctors and for supernatural strength for the entire family to endure this situation and that You would deliver them all from the situation! Thank You God!

DarkSoul999 said:

I think you are making a lot of assumptions here. Over the last four months I've been supporting a man who lives in a condo down the street. He used to work as a trucker and then had a stroke. The state said he had to wait 4 months before receiving his first disability check. Perhaps it was God telling me that this guy was legit or maybe it was my own intuition but perhaps we can go with the former. So I've been supporting this guy over the last four months because absolutely everyone else in the local area told the guy to shove off. He was grateful enough to offer to help in return at some future date.

I did not feel any serenity or happiness during this period whatsoever. Only anger. I am angry that a regular working class guy can turn instantly destitute over a single freak medical accident. The state is going to continue running dry and the cost of everything will only go up. I didn't save anyone. Maybe if I invent something and become wealthy it will have a longer effect but the problems in the world will always be far far greater than my pathetic attempts at fixing them.

If you really want to understand why I have no faith it all comes from one question:

why did God go through the trouble of sending his son to die on the cross and then completely abandon this world?

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God created a perfect world; satan corrupted it. If God had not sent His Son to die on the cross, THEN He would have abandoned this world!
Jesus' finished work on the cross is God's way of redeeming the world back to Himself.
Before we became born-again believers in Christ, we were living in the darkness of unbelief just as you are. The truth is that when we look inside ourselves our heart condemns us, but God does not condemn us; He reached out to us to save us when He sent His Son into the world to die on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins; a penalty we cannot pay.
I don't know that I can speak for every born-again child of God, but I can say for myself that before I became a "believer" I was in total spiritual darkness and had serious doubts that the bible was true or that God existed. But the thought that I might be wrong in my unbelief, that the bible might be true, and the fear of possibly spending eternity in hell, and the possibility that God IS real created a fear in me that drove me to search for the truth of the matter.
My search began with me questioning known Christians about their beliefs, reading books about the bible, reading bible tracts, etc, begging the God I wasn't sure existed to save me, and never finding any answers. It ended when I became so desperate to know God that I gave up on myself and turned to Him out of a sense of hopelessness and helplessness and doing that while still doubting His existence. I did not know what I would find, but I asked Him to show me the truth about Him and opened a bible to the Gospel of John. As I began to read John 1:1 God sent His Holy Spirit to open my blind spiritual eyes so I could see the truth in His Word. By the time I read through chapter 14 of the Gospel of John I saw that there was NOTHING I could do, nor nothing I needed to do because Jesus had already done everything God required for me to be forgiven. I found my answer; not from asking questions of men, not from reading books written by men, not from internet forums, but from God Himself. God convinced me that His Word, the Bible, is the truth, that He is real, and that Jesus took care of my sin problem, and of my heart problem at the cross. He brought me out of the darkness of unbelief into the light of His Word. I did not know about this verse at that time, but Jeremiah 29:13 says, "And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart." When God saw that I was seeking Him in a way that nothing else in my life mattered more that finding the truth about Him, then He led me to His Word and gave me my answer. I found peace there many years ago and still have that peace. It is a peace that is impossible to explain to anyone who has never found that peace for themselves.

Atheists call what I just described, how God himself convinced me that He is real, as circular reasoning. Some of them have told me that they have read the Bible and found nothing there to convince them of the truth that can be found there. My answer to their "circular reasoning" claim is that "I agree, it is circular reasoning. The difference is that when a person is earnestly seeking the truth about God, and searches scripture for that truth, the Holy Spirit does His work in that person's heart which allows him/her to find the truth. But, when someone reads scripture, and is not expecting to find anything there, they probably won't find anything because God's Spirit isn't involved.

Below are some of the things Jesus said about believing in Him.
Jesus said to Nicodemus in John 3:3, "except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." Jesus said in chapter 14 verse 6, "I am the way, the truth, and the life; no man cometh to the Father, but by me." He said in chapter 8 verse 24, ".....for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins." He said in chapter 6 verse 29, "....This the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent." Jesus said in John 6:44, "No man can come to me, except the Father which sent me draw him ....." and in vers45 "........every man who hath heard and hath learned of the Father, cometh to me." Finally, in verse 37 He said, "All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will no wise cast out."
Do you believe Him?

When you look inside your unbelieving heart you will only find condemnation; when you look to Jesus in faith, you will find forgiveness.

Knowing God and believing in Jesus, in His Gospel, is not about you; it is about Him.

Regards,
John

How to become a citizen of the US is no mystery. Just apply for citizenship. HERE

BryanJohnMaloney said:

Some years ago, I attended a parish. I won't identify it because what I recount might be problematic. At that parish, it was taught, in no uncertain terms that...
1. God is incapable of seeing a sinner. He lacks the capacity to notice the existence of a sinner. I did not misunderstand that. It was explained quite clearly. God lacks the ability to see a sinner.
2. Since God cannot see a sinner, then God lacks the capacity to save that sinner.
3. However, God can be tricked. God can be fooled. If a sinner is covered in the Blood of Jesus, then God can only see "His Son's Blood" and only sees "His Son". He cannot see the sinner beneath the Blood.
4. God, thus tricked, brings the sinner into the fold, saving the sinner.

That was quite the [bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse] moment for me, but I made sure that what I thought I heard was what was said. This was a parish that was part of the largest Southern Baptist group with activity in Texas. It was rather popular in its town and was able to sustain a school.

How widespread is this sort of doctrine and where would it have originated?
This parish also taught that Christ could not have raised Himself from the dead and had to be raised by God.

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Another interesting passage about this is when God spoke to Balaam in Numbers 23

19 God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?

20 Behold, I have received commandment to bless: and he hath blessed; and I cannot reverse it.

21 He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel: the Lord his God is with him, and the shout of a king is among them.

Previously, the location where Balaam saw Israel the nation was from the top, and if you understood Numbers 1, how God wanted Israel to camp, it looked like this



I am sure Israel was grumbling against God all day every day while they are camping in the wilderness but yet, God could state he "hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel"

It should remind you of something and how, today, its no surprise that God does not see our sin.

Unlike Trump, they fought the law and the law won.

If you are looking for the real Jesus, He isn't hiding from you. He is God who stepped out of heaven and came into the world, the world that He created, so He could die on a cross and shed His blood there to pay the penalty for your sins.
John 10:18 Jesus says, "No man taketh it from me, His life, but I lay it down of myself. I have the power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again." This commandment I received from My Father."
Jesus gave His life as the sacrifice for our sins so that we can have eternal life with God. But the grave could not hold Him, He came out of that grave after 3 days, and He is alive today waiting for you to come to Him so He can forgive your sin, give you a new heart, and give you eternal life with Him.
Hebrews 11:6 says, "God is a rewarder of those who seek Him." Jeremiah 29:13 says, "You will seek me and find me when you seek Him with all your heart."
You can find Him in God's Word, the Bible. I found Him in the Gospel of John. In John 6:37 Jesus said, "All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out."
You don't have to see Him; just believe Him.

Regards,
John

boughtwithaprice said:

I also look for consistency. You say that the Bishop of Rome is first among equals, yet there are many in your Churches that say the Roman pontiff is not even in the Church.

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Actually I don’t say that. Right now, the Bishop of Rome is not in the Eastern Orthodox Church, obviously, since the schism in 1054. If he repents, he might be entitled to regain his status as primus inter pares, although I myself believe that as a penance, the Roman church should not immediately regain this status. He might be in the Church in a larger ecumenical sense, but is clearly not primus inter pares in a meaningful way considering the extreme antipathy towards the Papacy as an office by most other Christians including most Orthodox Christians.

I also doubt in the event of a reunification that the Pope would be able to regain that status despite statements to that effect by some Orthodox bishops, particularly since the Patriarchate of Constantinople, which most of the bishops who have made such remarks are members of, no longer enjoys Primus inter Pares status for most Orthodox Christians but instead effectively lost that position by alienating the churches of Antioch, Jerusalem, Serbia, Bulgaria, Georgia and Russia and failing to even recognize the OCA, to the point where several of them refused to attend the synod in Crete in 2016, so that the group of churches that would still regard the Patriarch as Primus inter Pares consists of, I would guess, only Albania, Alexandria, the Church of Greece, the Church of Cyprus and possibly Romania. Of these, the only one that is very large is Romania, with over 30 million members (making them the second largest Orthodox church after the Moscow Patriarchate), and their allegiance is uncertain.

Ironically, much of this happened because the Patriarch of Constantinople refused to adjudicate a dispute under canon 28 of Constantinople between Antioch and Jerusalem. Jerusalem for a time remained with Constantinople but was persuaded by subsequent events not to hold to such a position.

So my view at the moment is that there is no real primus inter pares in a meaningful way, except for a small group of churches in the immediate vicinity of Constantinople.

Disgusting! I hate Plan B with a passion. it IS an abortion.

JesusFollowerForever said:

My last entry here about the Law;

In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus asserts with profound clarity, "Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled" (Matthew 5:17-18, NKJV). This declaration is both an affirmation and a correction, as it sets the record straight regarding the relationship between His mission and the Mosaic Law. Jesus does not come to abolish or invalidate the Law; rather, He comes to complete it, to bring to its fullest expression the divine intent behind it. The law, with all its commandments and ordinances, is not transient nor dispensable, but rather enduring and eternally valid, fulfilling its ultimate purpose in Christ.

This statement points to the enduring nature of God’s moral law and underscores its unalterable character. The Law, as the foundation of divine revelation, serves as the archetype of God’s righteous standard, yet it finds its telos in Jesus, who fulfills its deepest meaning. Far from being a mere external code of conduct, the Law anticipates the perfection of obedience that is only found in Christ. The perfection of the Law is not to be found in its external observance alone, but in its consummation in the person of Jesus Christ, who alone lived it out in its entirety.

Indeed, Jesus’ perfect adherence to the Law stands as the singular fulfillment of the righteous demands of God. He is the embodiment of holiness, and in Him, no blemish or transgression was ever found. The Scriptures attest that "He committed no sin, nor was deceit found in His mouth" (1 Peter 2:22, NKJV). This sinless life of Christ, unmarred by any transgression of the Law, demonstrates His unique role as the Lamb of God, whose sacrifice is the fulfillment of all that the Law and the Prophets pointed toward. Christ’s sinlessness is not merely an abstract theological point, but the very ground of our salvation. In His flawless obedience, He satisfied the righteous requirements of the Law, offering Himself as the spotless atonement for sin.

Furthermore, Jesus’ life reveals the full embodiment of the Law’s ethical and spiritual demands. While the Law was often reduced to mere ritual observance by the religious leaders of His day, Jesus reveals that its true essence lies in love—love for God and for one’s neighbor (cf. Matthew 22:37-40). In so doing, He renders the Law’s external requirements subordinate to its internal transformation. The Pharisees and scribes were known for their rigorous adherence to the letter of the Law, but Jesus exposes the inadequacy of such an approach when divorced from its spirit.

The task of the believer, then, is not simply to adhere to the Law as it was given in the Old Covenant, but to follow Christ as He has shown us the perfect way. In the New Covenant, the call to discipleship is a call to follow the One who perfectly fulfilled the Law and exemplified its true meaning. "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me" (Matthew 16:24, NKJV). In following Jesus, the believer is called to not only imitate His actions but to participate in the very life that He embodies—life in perfect obedience to the Father. To walk in the way of Jesus is to live a life of radical submission to the will of God, as He did, and to allow His indwelling Spirit to enable us to live out the righteous demands of the Law, now written not on tablets of stone but on hearts of flesh.

It is incumbent upon the Christian, therefore, to follow Christ not as a mere teacher or moral guide, but as the fulfillment of the Law and the model of perfect obedience. In so doing, the believer enters into the eternal purpose of God, receiving both forgiveness and transformation, living the life that Christ lived in a fallen world, empowered by the same grace that upheld Him. As Christ is the perfect fulfillment of the Law, so too should His followers seek, by grace, to fulfill His commandments—not by striving in their own strength, but by living in the grace and power of the One who fulfilled it on their behalf.

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What happens when you, in your sin, behold God's Law? Does it make you righteous? Can you obey God?

You read the commandment to have no other god before or other than Him. Do you worship God perfectly, in all truth? Or do you fail, sin, and fall short?

You read the commandment to not murder, Jesus says to hold anger in our hearts toward another is the same as murder. Do you always seek your neighbor's good? Do you ever hold a grudge, withhold forgiveness, act in a way that is less-than merciful?

You read the commandment to not bear false witness against your neighbor. Have you always been a faithful witness about others? Have you ever held to wrong opinions, believed in rumors, or participated in gossip about others? Have you ever held an untrue view about someone, whether to yourself, or toward others? Have you put your neighbor's good name to shame through your thoughts, words, and actions; whether intentionally or unintentionally? Whether through action or unaction?

You read the commandment to not envy, have you always rejoiced when others around you prosper, when your co-worker gets that raise or promotion, or when someone falls in love and gets married and is blessed with children; when the people around you have good things happen to them, do you rejoice in the good they have received always and in every way--or have you held dark thoughts, grumbling about what you lack, believing you more deserving than others. Do you then speak ill of your neighbor, or hold awful opinions about them even if you never voice them? Has such envy ever produced in you an unfaithful witness, or perhaps created in you anger toward another--making you, as Jesus defined it, a murderer in your own heart?

We could go through all of the 10 Commandments in this way. And along every stop along the way we'll find that not only have you and I failed, we've failed in the most spectacularly way. We don't just fail, we operate in such a way as to be in total opposition to the things of God.

We don't just fail to be righteous, our entire inclination is bent toward the antithesis of God's way.

The question, therefore, isn't whether the Law remains. Yes, God's commandments are God's commandments, He says to not worship other gods, or to murder, or to bear false witness, or to envy, or to commit adultery, etc. The question is can you, sinner that you are, be righteous by trying to obey God's commandments.

Will you ever be any less a sinner by trying to obey the commandments? Can you do this, through sheer free will determination and personal grit?

Or are you a spectacular failure of a human being. Like everyone else. Like Adam, like me, like all near-8 billion of us alive right now all contributing day by day to the exploitation of one another and God's world?

-CryptoLutheran

Lady Bug said:

Knowing Jesus, could this verse be about what happens in the afterlife, and is therefore referring to purgatory? Jesus appears to be talking about a person who does sin against God but does not realize that they are (or perhaps they do realize, but it's not mortal?), but of course God's justice is perfect. The "light beating" is NOT something that happens in heaven, we know that, but a "light beating" is too gentle of a punishment if the person was going to hell. Is it just in my head?

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I think what you're thinking makes perfect sense!

Prayers for the Albanian people and those who mourn.

Very interesting story!

St. John Bosco, ora pro nobis!

Very interesting!

The Bible did not specify Cain's age when he killed Abel. I can only guess.

Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden of Eden in Ge 3.

Ge 4:

1 Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, “I have gotten a man with the help of the Lord.”

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Assume that Cain was their firstborn.
Assume that Eve had lived 2 years when she gave birth to Cain.

3 So in the course of time, Cain brought some of the fruit of the soil as an offering to the LORD.

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The Bible did not say specifically how long was this course of time.

8 Cain spoke to Abel his brother. And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him.

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25 Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son and called his name Seth, for she said, “God has appointed for me another offspring instead of Abel, for Cain killed him.”

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Sounded like Seth was born soon after Cain killed Abel. Let's say a year after.

Ge 5:

3 When Adam had lived 130 years, he fathered a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth.

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Adam had lived 130 years when Seth was born.
Adam had lived 129 years when Abel was killed.

Cain could be 127 years old when he killed Abel. That's the upper bound of my guess.

Lord have mercy!

johansen said:

Yep, even mixing oil and water.

My coworker got married in an episcopalian church. The minister described their church as "catholic but without the guilt".

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lol I heard that definition, too

Christsfreeservant said:

Yes! If we are walking with the Lord in following him in his ways he will encourage us in our walks of faith and obedience to him even if the whole world turns against us.

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You can not want his encouragement & he will still encourage you

I am still waiting to hear exactly what this vast AI project will do. Huge amounts of money to build what? Big buildings with big computers? As a retired systems engineer, I can tell you that all a computer can do is replicate what we can do with pencils and paper, but only much faster. They cannot "think" and never will. All they can do is spit out data they already have through algorithms men write. I think people will be deceived into thinking that it must be true without question because a piece of information came from an AI system. And the bigger the AI system, the more it cannot be questioned. Look behind the curtain... some select group of people is inputting the data in and writing the algorithms... and I am willing to bet they do not share your priorities or logic patterns. Smoke and mirrors, brothers and sisters... don't be deceived.

ThatRobGuy said:

There's some other nuances as well that could make NY a bit of a "unique case". Same with the other New England states.

While it's true of many areas that "more expensive when you get closer to the big cities", that dynamic seems to be particularly more pronounced certain places in NY.

That and space limitations in "The big city" may motivate people who lived in the big city move out to the more rural areas when they decide to start a family.

If a young couple is looking to start a family, a $2300/month 750sq ft apartment on a 4th floor walk-up probably isn't going to be ideal. (when they can move out to a rural/burb area and get something over twice the size for cheaper)


LOL

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NY is big enough that that doesn't apply in most of the state. You're in Ohio, right? Most of NY state - including all the counties I listed - is like Ohio, not like Westchester. Those counties are all at least 3 hours away from Manhattan and very rural.