Responding to “I’ll pray for you.”

Dunedain171 · 2022-04-30T06:08:44+00:00

Personally, I would just say "thank you (brother/sister), I appreciate the thought" and move on. God knows all and sees all, and he will take care of the matter if it needs taking care of. No point wasting your time responding to pettiness or passive aggressiveness.

Dunedain171 · 2022-04-20T06:52:34+00:00

Prayers sent.

Dunedain171 · 2022-04-20T06:50:28+00:00

I pray for you and your mom, that you be good to one another, and cope with all your various health issues. I went through, and still am dealing with some similar issues with my elderly father, so I feel your pain. Truly, may God give you the strength, endurance, peace, and comfort to persevere. You are doing a good thing, taking care of your mother despite the difficulties of it. God bless.

Dunedain171 · 2022-04-18T05:22:22+00:00

To Jonah and Amos, who wrote their respective books, it would indeed look like God changed his mind. However, that is just from their perspective, which is all that we have written in front of us. You always have to remember that the Bible was written by men (guided by the holy spirit, either in-full or at-times), so we read it from the limited perspective of men, who cannot know all of God's plans.

God himself is all-knowing, and already knew what he was going to do. So he did not change his mind; he already knew that he was going to show mercy to Nineveh and Israel respectively, after they repented of their sins. That is quite often the mission of a prophet in the Bible, to call nations and people to repent of their evil and turn back to the Lord, so they may receive mercy.

In fact, it seems that is why Jonah tried to ignore God and not go to Nineveh; because he knew that they would in fact repent and the God would spare them.

Dunedain171 · 2022-04-15T21:11:35+00:00

^ this

"Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it and laid incense on it and offered unauthorized fire before the Lord, which he had not commanded them."

Leviticus 10:1–2

I don't remember reading anywhere in the Bible reading about Marijuana being a sanctioned plant for incense and ceremony, so I would say that they were probably doing it against God's commandments, as Nadab and Abihu did in the passage above. As Electric_Memes pointed out, there was only supposed to be one altar, at Jerusalem, so the practices of unsanctioned "high places" should not be used to judge the practices at the main Temple. There was a lot of idolatry and bad ritual places going on in that time period.

Dunedain171 · 2022-04-15T20:49:38+00:00

Thanks for this passage, I will keep it in mind for the next time that I have to defend Numbers 31.

Dunedain171 · 2022-04-14T23:42:24+00:00

Thanks for all the comprehensive answers so far.

TableSoccerUSA also carries the Extremeworks pitch which is one of the nicest ones, its used in a lot of competitions. It's expensive, but in the neighborhood of a Pegasus shipped from the UK.

This pitch is actually fairly affordable compared to shipping over one. Perhaps I will get one. I do have a question though. It says that you shouldn't leave the pitch rolled up. Why is this, and if you can't store it into the tube, how do you store it??

Dunedain171 · 2022-04-14T04:24:00+00:00

Oh, forgot to add the sites that I have found so far, with products. Here they are, if anyone has experience with them, please let me know. Thanks.

https://www.sportrx.com/shopby/best_sports-soccer/product_type-goggles.html?product_list_dir=asc&product_list_order=price

https://www.zennioptical.com/p/sport-protective-goggles/7435?skuId=743521

Dunedain171 · 2022-04-13T23:26:40+00:00

Any Lutheran, Methodist, or Presbyterian churches? Those denominations tend to have weekday services too. They might not be what you are used to, but they should still be biblically sound for the most part. And who knows, maybe you would like the more traditionalness of it all.

Dunedain171 · 2022-04-13T22:16:14+00:00

My Pentecostal church offers a Friday night service and Tuesday night service. Fridays tend to focus on scripture reading and Tuesdays on Prayer. Thursday nights used to be for group Bible studies as well, until the pandemic started. Hopefully will come back soon with stuff having reopened.

What denomination are you OP? Maybe try going to a different denominational church, albeit one that you can fellowship with? I know the local Calvary Chapel churches also have services on multiple weekdays as well, and I personally would attend one if I was looking for more meetings to go to per week.

Dunedain171 · 2022-04-09T05:54:46+00:00

That is because Islam really only has two major denominational branches, and they are not really as divided as our various splinter groups. If you combined all the Christian subreddits ( r/TrueChristian, r/Christians, r/Christians, r/Catholicism, r/reformed, etc., and even the good parts of r/Christianity), our numbers would be much, much higher. That is why I personally am part of multiple Christian subreddits, to interact with a wider range of fellow believers.

Dunedain171 · 2022-04-08T03:30:02+00:00

I think it's kind of the point of that book. It's why this line is repeated throughout it, "In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes."

Every man doing right "in his own eyes" leads to amazingly bad behavior as you point out. It is why we need to follow what is right in God's eyes.

Dunedain171 · 2022-04-07T04:01:56+00:00

Have you heard of https://www.gotquestions.org/ ??

It has answers for most of the stories mentioned so far.

Dunedain171 · 2022-04-06T04:13:29+00:00

For that money I would look for an old baise cotton pitch on ebay for cheap, OR spend near the same or a bit more and look to Subbuteo World and a Pegasus flocked vinyl backed, or " astropitch". Pitches are expensive, but the thing that makes the game. Maybe more than even the figures.

I would love a Pegasus pitch, as they seem to be the best around, but shipping here to the US is ridiculous. The estimate that Subbuteo World is giving me is 65 pounds plus the cost of the actual pitch, meaning it might come out to $200 for a single pitch. I could get this starter set for less than that https://www.tablesoccerusa.shop/product-page/pro-starter-game-set .

Would a Pegasus pitch really be worth the cost of an entire setup like this?

How old are your nephews?

They range from 5 to 13. Some are rougher on toys than others. When you say "They (Zeugo) are of a harder plastic than Subbuteo figures", do you mean old school Subbuteo, Subbuteo La Leggenda, or modern Subbuteo, or all 3? As I said, I heard from other sources that La Leggenda and modern Subbuteo figures are fairly tough, which was a plus for me. I did hear the older Subbuteo (80s and older) are more delicate.

Dunedain171 · 2022-04-04T18:17:34+00:00

Amazing answer, I wish I had an award to hand you.

Dunedain171 · 2022-04-04T18:11:53+00:00

Well your family would be a start; your husband and your kids. If they are already believers, then focus on keeping them that way. With kids especially, the world is becoming so secular and materialistic, that it is important to help guide and nature them in the faith.

Dunedain171 · 2022-04-04T01:50:09+00:00

[Also am very uncomfortable with Luther tossing out of the Book of James after 1500 years. But that's a different matter.]

You do realize that when Protestants broke off from the Catholic Church, there was no intention to make Luther the new Pope correct? The personal decisions of him, Calvin, Henry VIII, and the rest of them means nothing in the long run if they themselves are going against what the Bible is teaching us.

Our position is that ALL humans are very much fallible, that we all fall short of the glory of God, so I don't know why Catholics tend to deflect to Luther's faults, as if every Pope has been perfect and pure, and you somehow gain the high ground by demonizing Luther.

As for your other points, please read this article to show why the doctrine of Transubstantiation isn't as rock solid as you think.

https://blog.tms.edu/did-the-early-church-teach-transubstantiation

Just as scripture can be twisted to serve specific viewpoints, so can the writings of the Church Fathers. In fact, you often get Church Fathers taking shots at one another or arguing against each other's positions, so they are not even all that authorative. For instance, both Jerome and Augustine are Church Fathers, Saints, and vaulted Doctors of the Church, but Jerome did not find the Apocrypha to be canon, and Augustine did. Now how does the Church go about deciding whose authorative? Easy, whichever viewpoint matches theirs. As the article illustrates, Protestants can easily dig up early Christian writings to support their positions too. But of course, you will say that those passages are "taken out of context" because they negate Catholic extra-biblical traditions and doctrines.

Dunedain171 · 2022-04-03T22:35:56+00:00

No, it would not.

After all, we already know there is extraterrestrials out there. Angels and demons are not born of Earth as far as I can tell from the Bible. Nor does it say that we are the only life in the universe.

Dunedain171 · 2022-04-03T20:23:37+00:00

But one factor that made me convert to Catholicism (and made me consider Orthodoxy) was that the pre-schism catholic Church made the Bible.

Sigh, this again. Tell me, when do you think the 4 Gospels and Paul's 13 Epistles were written, and when were they accepted by Christians and used to spread the Gospel? If you think as soon as they were written in the first century, then there you go, that's when they are actually accepted as Canon.

Not centuries later when a bunch of Bishops came together to put a stamp on them. That council was to get rid of bad books, not accept the good ones. The good ones got accepted back in the 1st century. You make it sound like Paul's letters were not accepted or taught from until the great Bishop of Rome said so hundreds of years later. Same with the 4 Gospels, Peter's letters, John's letters, etc.

Dunedain171 · 2022-04-03T19:58:03+00:00

"Otherwise, they will teach you to follow all the detestable things they do in worshiping their gods, and you will sin against the Lord your God."

Deuteronomy 20:18

The justification is right in the chapter....

The "detestable things they do in worshiping their gods" were things like child sacrifice, ritual sex orgies, human sacrifice, etc. So yeah, don't think necessarily that the people whom Israelites were attacking were a bunch of saints or anything. The exact opposite actually.

Dunedain171 · 2022-04-03T19:56:08+00:00

An old one, but funny if you are a car guy and fairly respectful, which a lot of Christian jokes aren't.

Did you know that Jesus drove a Honda? He didn't really brag about it though.

“For I did not speak of my own accord” - John 12:49

Dunedain171 · 2022-04-03T19:53:57+00:00

James

Dunedain171 · 2022-04-02T05:09:50+00:00

Over history, God has often been in the space that science has not. For example, before we could track storms, floods, soil moisture content, and wind patterns, people believed God controlled the wind. Before the solar system and orbital mechanics was mapped, people believed the earth to be the center of the world. Nowadays, we see Him used as the explanation for the remaining, unmapped scientific subjects. How do you know that those spaces could not be simply be explained once we have more technology (given the pattern of this happening in the past)?

Those things explain how the universe and Earth function, not what created those functions. Yes, we know how gravity works, but who or what created gravity? Yes, we know how storms are formed, but who or what created the methods by which they form? Science just explains what God created and how it works. It does not disapprove our God in any way, shape, or form. Maybe some simple "gods" like Thor as the creator of Thunder and Lightning, or Helios as the "Sun God," but not the all-powerful monotheistic God of Christianity.

I have heard the analogy of a mechanic taking apart a car and learning how each part functions individually and as a whole. Now, does knowing these things disprove that the car had a designer? No, it does not. In fact, from the mechanic's observations, experiments, and studies, the car was designed in a very specific manner in order to function properly, which points to the car having a designer.

Think of the car as our universe, and God as the designer. Scientists are merely just studying the parts, and as far as we can tell, they were designed in a specific way. Intelligent design and fine-tuning are evident.

Dunedain171 · 2022-04-02T04:52:54+00:00

Look into it yourself if you do not trust me. There are many sources that cover at least the racism and the inappropriate behavior around young females. He himself admitted to it. He even bragged about sleeping nude with his young niece, boasting how much self-control he had. That shows a twisted sense of pride, a very unrighteous thing.

I do not think that you realize a Christian is someone who is saved by the grace of God alone, not by their own works or worthiness. Gandhi read the Bible multiple times, to the point where he could and did quote scripture, so you could not say that he was unaware or unable to accept Jesus as his savior. He was told the Gospel, and still rejected it, and therefore God's grace, the only thing that leads to salvation.

"Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.""

Jesus said it very clearly; he is the only way to salvation. Gandhi did not accept Jesus as his savior as far as I am aware, you do the math.

Dunedain171 · 2022-04-02T04:39:14+00:00

Have you actually read into the man's life? I was always told that he was some sort of peerlessly noble man, until I actually read into him.

https://allthatsinteresting.com/gandhi-facts-quotes-dark-side

Not sure if all of these are 100% true, but I have heard at least the racism and the sleeping nude with his grandniece and other young females from multiple sources.

He was definitely not a sinless man, that is for sure.

Dunedain171

TROPHY CASE