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Religious Liberty Explained and Analyzed
RELIGIOUS LIBERTY REPORT
RELIGIOUS LIBERTY REPORT
20 SEP 2024 · Miami-Dade school board votes against recognizing LGBTQ+ History Month for 3rd year in a rowFor the third year in a row, the Miami-Dade County school board voted against a proposal to recognize October as LGBTQ+ History Month.The 5-3 vote on Wednesday came hours after the school board heard a mix of passionate opinions about whether to approve item H-10.
VOTE NO ON AMNDMENT 4
NO Definitions
Unlike other Amendments, Amendment 4 does not define any of its key terms.
For example, it does not define “viability,” “health care provider,” “patient’s health,” or how serious a health concern would need to be to allow exceptions for late-term abortions. These uncertainties create loopholes resulting in more abortions later in pregnancy than voters intend.
Too EXTREME
Amendment 4 goes TOO FAR by allowing late-term abortions, far beyond when science says the baby is capable of feeling pain.
Amendment 4 would overturn current laws requiring a parent’s consent BEFORE a minor can have an abortion, thereby making abortion the only medical procedure that can be performed on a minor without a parent’s permission. Amendment 4 pretends to “just bring things back to how they were with Roe vs. Wade” – but it actually goes much further – creating a constitutional right to abortion throughout all nine months with no protections for the unborn baby.
Should Christians be in politics?
Can politics save America?
For years, RLR has urged Christians to take seriously theirobligations as citizens, starting with exercising the right tovote. In the public square and at the ballot box, we must bemore engaged, not less.
Q. But what happens in a race where Christians are facedwith two morally problematic choices?
Q. Should voters cast a ballot for the lesser of two evils?
When it comes to citizenship in our current political context, Christians are plagued by two opposite mistakes.
The first is French theologian Jacques Ellul called “the political illusion,” or, assuming that everything rests on political outcomes. “If our guy is in office, all will be well. If their guy is in office, all will be lost.” The political illusion, to be clear, plagues both sides of the political and theological aisles.
To describe a particular candidate in messianic terms is to suffer from the political illusion. To describe him or her as the anti-Christ is also to suffer from the political illusion. No political candidate will “save Christianity.” No candidate can “irreparably harm” it either.
Other Christians are plagued by the political delusion, the idea that political engagement of any kind is pointlessly unnecessary or perhaps even implicates one in evil. Of course, there are cases throughout history where an election is a farce, or where political engagement aligns one with unmitigated evil. Neither is not the case for American Christians today. I will put it bluntly, for American Christians, voting is both a civic duty and a Christian responsibility.
The late, great Chuck Colson once wrote: The next time you hear someone tell you that Christians ought to take a vacation from politics, tell them to go fly a kite. Listen, it’s our duty as citizens of the kingdom of God to be the best citizens of the society we live in.
Brothers and sisters, Christianity and good citizenship go together.
6 SEP 2024 · Forgiving, But Not Forgetting The phrase “forgive and forget” is not found in the Bible. However, there are numerous verses commanding us to “forgive one another” (e.g., https://www.bibleref.com/Matthew/6/Matthew-6-14.html and https://www.bibleref.com/Ephesians/4/Ephesians-4-32.html). A Christian who is not willing to forgive others will find his fellowship with God hindered (https://www.bibleref.com/Matthew/6/Matthew-6-15.html) and can reap bitterness and the loss of reward (https://www.bibleref.com/Hebrews/12/Hebrews-12-14.html; https://www.bibleref.com/2-John/1/2-John-1-8.html).
If by “forgive and forget” one means, “I choose to forgive the offender for the sake of Christ and move on with my life,” then this is a wise and godly course of action. As much as possible, we should forget what is behind and strive toward what is ahead (https://www.bibleref.com/Philippians/3/Philippians-3-13.html). We should forgive each other “just as in Christ God forgave” (https://www.bibleref.com/Ephesians/4/Ephesians-4-32.html).
We must not allow a root of bitterness to spring up in our hearts (https://www.bibleref.com/Hebrews/12/Hebrews-12-15.html).However, changing hearts is God’s business, and, until an offender has a true, supernatural heart change, it is only wise to limit the level of trust one places in that person.
Being cautious doesn’t mean we haven’t forgiven. It simply means we are not God and we cannot see that person’s heart. When we neglect or refuse to forgive the sins of others, we become like a collection agency. The debt of their sin weighs us down with an obligation to make them pay.
At first, we may relish the prospect of extracting restitution from the person who wronged us. Over time, though, the task of debt collection grows burdensome. When the offender does not meet our expectations, our hearts harden toward them.
If we continue the relationship, resentment may seep in.
I was in a discussion the other day about forgiveness and somebody said forgiving isn't forgetting it's just remembering without anger they also suggested forgiveness can't be extended unless repentance is first expressed?Some suggest that we can only forgive when someone truly repents or that we can somehow forgive but not forget.In Luke chapter 23 Jesus prayed for the soldiers who were crucifying him and he said “father forgive them for they don't know what they're doing” and his prayer asking forgiveness isn't based on any repentance on the part of the soldiers In Matthew 18 when Peter asked how many times he's to forgive someone who sinned against him Jesus doesn't condition forgiveness on the requirement for repentance on the part of the offending party. Peter was willing to forgive 7 times but Jesus said no it needs to be 70 * 7 which I think is a hypothetical grand number. A number suggesting you need to extend forgiveness an infinite number of times.
still another verse is ephesians 4:26 where we are told that when we get angry we are not to sin and we're told to be sure not to let the sun go down on our wrath now, when it comes to the concept or argument or proposition that forgiving isn't forgetting, that I still struggle to match that up with Scripture.
in Hebrews 8:12 God said I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more. I am concerned that when someone says “I'll forgive but I won't forget” I'm not sure they've truly forgivenI think that's the point being stressed there in the Hebrews 8:12 passage where, you know, God can't ever forIget something since he's omniscient, but the verse is suggesting that true forgiveness, from a divine and a human perspective, is as if we've forgotten that the offense took place
Without pushing the divine human analogy too far, I think that is what Hb 8:12 is referring to so I believe when we forgive, even when someone hasn't asked to be forgiven, we're mirroring what Jesus did on the cross and it allows us to guard against harboring resentment which can produce a root of bitterness which Hebrews 12:15 says we're not supposed to have.
One mark of true forgiveness on our part is that the memory of the offense will fade over time so that we don't dwell on itForgiveness means giving up our claim against the person who sinned against us.
Depending on the nature of the offense, a pardon may also include the restoration of a broken relationship. When restoration is reasonable and safe, trust must be earned.While reunification may not be possible or prudent in every instance, God always wants us to forgive.
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Explore our diverse range of programs in ministry, theology, business, and counseling, from associate to doctoral levels. All are available both online and on-campus, embracing a multicultural and interdenominational community.As the top 10 most affordable Bible colleges in the U.S., we provide quality education at an affordable price. And with scholarship opportunities just a click away, nothing should stop you from pursuing your dreams. South Florida Bible College & Theological Seminary. Fully accredited and ready to serve you.Visit us online at http://sfbc.edu/ALEX to learn more and apply today. Join us and transform your future.
There has been more data produced in the last two years than in the whole of human history. This information ocean is getting more turbulent every single day," he continued. "The only tools we have to navigate through this maelstrom are the critical thinking skills that we are trying to develop in people as scientists."
Karl Marx infamously said that if you want to take over a generation you erase their history, their legacy. That's what you do, and that's exactly what the enemy is doing, trying to erase that identity from that child.
The U.S. Supreme Court https://lc.org/081924SCOTUSTitleIXOrderdenyingUSapplicationforstay.pdf 9-0 to uphold the preliminary injunctions that block the three provisions of the Biden administration’s new Title IX file:///O:/LCM/COMMUNICATIONS/Media/Press%20Releases/Liberty%20Counsel/2024/Final%20Rule. These provisions include the new definition of sex discrimination to include discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, sex-segregated spaces, and hostile environment harassment.
"Please vote accordingly."
9 AUG 2024 · How US public schools became a new religious battleground
A CONSERVATIVE SUPREME COURT
TITLE VII of CIVIL RIGHTS ACT
Biden’s Title IX Changes Now Blocked in 26 States
ADF has now filed an appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of West Virginia and Lainey and the state’s Save Women’s Sports Act. We’ve also filed a similar appeal to the Supreme Court to protect Idaho’s Fairness in Women’s Sports Act.
Magisterium versus the Free Church
2 AUG 2024 · We review the absurdity of viewing ethics and truth as depending on person, group or culture, like it would for one's taste in ice cream or music.
In Messiah: 2030 an astounding, bold and very biblically focused little book Clive Douglas Campbell makes the case that biblical and historical chronology, as well as the figurative meanings of biblical texts, indicate the year but not the day and hour of the coming of the Messiah, God¹s King Who is coming to reign. In addition to a strong case being made for a seven-millennia plan and time line of God, Campbell puts forward some astounding new thoughts:
Between probably 4 1/2 billion B.C. and 3966 B.C., the earth was further from the sun.
The creation "week," which began in 3970 B.C., was seven years long.
The moon is a figure for the Holy Spirit in the fourth "day" of the creation "week."
The garden of Eden was at the site of Jerusalem.
God likely tilted the earth's axis at the Fall.
The World Trade Center Towers are in the Bible.
The fifth Arab-Israeli war will be over in 2003.
Animal sacrifices at a rebuilt temple in Jerusalem will begin about 2020.
At the Rapture, in 2023, the Lord will return with Moses and Elijah,both who have immortal bodies, to receive "the dead in Christ" and those "who are alive and remain," respectively.
The Antichrist will come out of the ten-nation C.I.S.
Druze (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA/English https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Pronunciation_respelling_key;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Druze#cite_note-19 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arabic_language: دَرْزِيّ, darzī or دُرْزِيّ durzī, pl. دُرُوز, durūz), who https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endonym_and_exonym al-Muwaḥḥidūn (lit. 'https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_People_of_Monotheism' or 'the unitarians'),https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Druze#cite_note-wendy-20are an https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arabs and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arabic-speaking https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_esotericismhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethnoreligious_group from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Asia who adhere to the Druze faith, an https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abrahamic_religions, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monotheism, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_syncretism, and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethnic_religion whose main tenets assert the unity of God, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reincarnation, and the eternity of the soul.
Most Druze religious practices are kept secret. The Druze do not permit outsiders to convert to their religion. Marriage outside the Druze faith is rare and strongly discouraged. The Druze maintain https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arabic_language and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arabic_culture as integral parts of their identity, and Arabic is their primary language.
The https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epistles_of_Wisdom is the foundational and central text of the Druze faith. The Druze faith originated in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isma%27ilism (a branch of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shia_Islam),and was influenced by https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gnosticism, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Platonism_in_Islamic_philosophy, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoroastrianism, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gandharan_Buddhism, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manichaeism,https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pythagoreanism, and other philosophies and beliefs, creating a distinct and secretive theology based on an esoteric interpretation of scripture, which emphasizes the role of the mind and truthfulness. Druze believe in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theophany and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reincarnation.
19 JUL 2024 · The day when Kennedy was shot...the Kennedy day.
Where were you when the second plane hit the tower?
Man is bent toward evil.
It's easy to be bad. it's hard to be good. The reason we need a government the reason we need police the reason we need an army a Navy an Air Force a Marine Corps the reason we need protection the reason we need Secret Service is because the central teaching of the Christian worldview—a unique teaching of the Christian worldview, most other worldviews don't teach this—is that men are bent toward evil, that we're basically evil and it's easy to be bad and hard to be good.
One scholar theorizes that there are three main reasons for murder: there was either a (1) sex issue (2) a money issue or (3) a power issue. sex money or power. Those are the three things that can motivate people to murder.
Without God there's no right, there's no wrong. There's no good. There's no evil. There's no just. There's no unjust. There's no right. Everything is a matter of opinion, and even atheists like Richard Dawkins would agree with this. They are assuming a moral standard when in their own worldview they have no way of justifying that moral standard because they don't even believe in God. They don't even think there's a God.
What went wrong with security at the site?
Men should be protecting women. Women shouldn't be protecting men. This is a basic teaching of Christianity. By the way, men and women are equal in essence only in Christianity. Other religions and worldviews do not abide by the equality of the essence of the sexes. But Christianity also teaches the obvious truth that men and women are also different in what they can and can't do and men most of the time are stronger than women.
12 JUL 2024 · The church is called to be the moral, the cultural conscience of the nation. We can't just stay on the sidelines and let the culture do its own thing. We are hoping to help equip you with tools to take your faith to the culture. And so that we may better understand and articulate our Christian worldview in a way that is courteous, kind, even winsome, yet bold, uncompromising, and committed to God's Word as our guide.
What are the main problems between Israelis and Palestinians?
Why are Israel and Gaza at war now?
Breaking News:
Biden: Israel and Hamas have agreed to ceasefire, hostage deal frameworkThe US president said that while more work was needed, Israel and Hamas agreed to the framework of the deal.
How close is Iran to having nuclear weapons?
28 JUN 2024 · I more felt it, Gaius, than heard it.
I questioned him mechanically and he answered very little.
But what he said and the way he said it, it was as if his level gaze had pulled up my naked soul right up into my eyes and was probing it there. And a voice kept saying in my ears, “why, you’re on trial Pilate!”
And the man wasn’t even listening to the charges.
You’d have sworn he had just come in out of friendly interest to see what was going to happen to me.
And the very pressure of his standing there had grown unbearable when a slave rushed in all a tremble, interrupting court bringing a message from Claudia; she had stabbed at the stylus in that childish way that she does when she’s distraught, “don’t judge this amazing man Pilate” she wrote, “I was haunted in dreams by him this night”.
Gaius, I tried to free him. From that moment on I tried and I’ll always think he knew it. I declared him out of my jurisdiction being a Galilean, but the native King Herod discovered he was born in Judea and sent him right back to me. I appealed to the crowd hoping that they would be his sympathizers.
But Caiaphas had stationed agitators to whip up the beasts that cry for blood, and you know how in this town here any citizen loves the blood of another person just after breakfast and screams for another’s blood.I had him beaten Gaius, a thorough barracks room beating. I’m still not sure why, to appease the crowd I guess, but do we Romans really need any reason for beatings? Isn’t that the code for anything we don’t understand? Well, it didn’t work Gaius, the crowd roared like some slavering beast when I brought him back. If only you could have watched him.
They had thrown some rags of mock-purple over his bleeding shoulders; they had jammed a chaplet of thorns down on his forehead and it fitted. It all fitted Gaius! He stood there, watching them from my balcony, flamed from weakness by now, but royal I tell you. Not just pain but pity shining from his eyes.
And I kept thinking: somehow this is monstrous, this is upside-down, that purple is real, that crown is real, and somehow these animal noises the crowd is shrieking should be praise! And then Caiaphas played his master-stroke on me: He announced there in public that this Jesus claimed the crown and that was treason to Caesar.
And the guards began to glance at one another quickly, and that mob of spineless filth began to shout, “Hail Caesar! Hail Caesar!” And Gaius, I knew I was beaten; I gave the order.I couldn’t look at him.
Then I did a childish thing: I called for water. And there on the balcony, I washed my hands of that whole affair. But as they led him away Gaius, I did look up and he turned and looked at me, no smile, no pity, just glanced at my hands, and I’ll feel the weight of his eyes on them from now on.
But you’re yawning Gaius; I’ve kept you up.
And the fact of the matter is you are in need of some rest and some holidays. Claudia will be asleep by now. Rows of lighted lamps line her couch; she can’t sleep in the dark anymore; no, not since that afternoon.
You see Gaius, the sun went out when my guards executed him; that’s exactly what I said.
I don’t know how; I don’t know what; I only know that I was there and though it was the middle of the day it turned as black as the tunnels of hell in that miserable city. And while I tried to compose Claudia and explain how I had been trapped, she railed at me with a dream and she’s had that dream ever since when she sleeps in the dark, some form of it, that there was to have been a new Caesar and that I, her husband, had killed him.
Oh, we’ve been to Egypt; to their seers and magicians. We’ve listened by the hour to the oracles in the musty temples of Greece chattering their inanities. We’ve called it an oriental curse that we’re under and we’ve tried to break it a thousand ways Gaius, but there’s no breaking it, except in even that it might not you see.But you know why I have kept going, Gaius?
Deeper than the curse is the haunting driving certainty that he is still somewhere near, and that I have some unfinished business with him, and that now and then as I walk by the lake he’s following me.
And much as that strikes terror Gaius, I wonder if that isn’t the only hope. You see, if I could walk up to him and this time salute and tell him that now I know that whoever else he is he was the only man worthy of his name in all Judea that day; tell him I know I wasn’t trapped; that I trapped myself; tell him here is one Roman who wishes he really were Caesar, I believe that would do it Gaius wouldn’t it? I believe he’d listen and know I meant it, and at last I’d see him smile.
Yes, quiet tonight. Not a breeze stirring Gaius.Goodnight, you’d better run along.No no, would you please waken the slave outside the door and tell him to bring me my cloak, my heavy one, please. I believe I’ll walk by the lake.Yes, it’s dark there Gaius, but I won’t be alone.
I really haven’t ever been alone; not since that day.Yes, goodnight, Gaius.
14 JUN 2024 · Recently, current states like Ireland, Spain, Norway. Hungary. Poland are calling for the unilateral establishment of a Palenstinian state, without Israeli support or consultation.
None of these countries, Ireland, Spain, Norway. Hungary. Poland, acknowledged a state of Palestine before the October 7 massacre. None of them. None of them acknowledged a state of Palestine on October 6th.
But After Hamas commits an atrocity on Oct 7, that's when many states say, OK, now you get a state. That's the way this works. You deserve a state. You deserve a state. Now. Is that going to facilitate peace in the region?
Do you think that the Saudis are interested in a Palestinian state? They certainly are not. They have to say that they are because obviously their population hates Israel. But the Saudi leadership has zero interest In a state of Palestine that becomes an Iranian proxy state directed against it near its own borders, of course they're not interested in that. Which is why the Saudis openly said to the Biden administration. Please stop pressuring for a Palestinian state. Stop it.
A false notion: That when a Palestinian state is magically established, all conflict in the Middle East goes away, which is absolutely irrational. Middle East Conflict – The vast majority of conflict in the Middle East, if you're counting dead, wounded, every war, has nothing to do with Israel or the Palestinians. Check out their own Iran-Iraq war, or the conflicts in Syria or ISIS or the takeover of Lebanon by Iran, if you don't believe me.
War is a pretty constant feature of the region actually, as it turns out.
The world in large measure trying to pressure Israel to make concessions to a terror entity. In the middle of a war against the terror entity meanwhile would facilitate peace.
The notion that there should be a Palestinian state taking control of its own borders is an idea whose time is not here. Absolutely not, considering those borders have been used to facilitate terrorism.
31 MAY 2024 · 152 - TRUMP, TEN COMMANDMENTS, NUCLEAR STOCKPILES, NUCLEAR ARMAGEDDON, WORST-CASE SCENARIO
This week's program is based on a recently released book "NUCLEAR WAR: A SCENARIO" by Annie Jacobsen
Since the early 1950s, the United States government has spent trillions of dollars preparing to fight a nuclear war, while also refining protocols meant to keep the U.S. government functioning after hundreds of millions of Americans become casualties of an apocalyptic-scale nuclear holocaust...the plans for General Nuclear War are among the most classified secrets held by the U.S. government.
There is no such thing as a small nuclear war” is an oft repeated phrase in Washington.
1-megaton thermonuclear weapon detonation begins with a flash of light and heat so tremendous it is impossible for the human mind to comprehend. One hundred and eighty million degrees Fahrenheit is four or five times hotter than the temperature that occurs at the center of the Earth’s sun.
Humans created the nuclear weapon in the twentieth century to save the world from evil, and now, in the twenty-first century, the nuclear weapon is about to destroy the world. To burn it all down.
their only hope for survival is to figure out how to “self-survive.” That here begins a “fight for food, water, Pedialyte . . .
for all these years, since the end of World War II, the U.S. government has been preparing for, and rehearsing plans for, a General Nuclear War. A nuclear World War III that is guaranteed to leave, at minimum, 2 billion dead. A Plan for nuclear war is genocide.
Four thousand times more explosive power than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima.What does this even mean—and is it something one’s brain can fully comprehend?
More immediately, can anyone stop the plan for mass extermination before it happens?”
The atomic bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima in August 1945 killed more than 80,000 people in a single strike. The total numbers are debated still.
What happened after U.S. war planners saw what 10.4 megatons could instantly destroy simply boggles the mind. What came next was a mad, mad rush to stockpile thermonuclear weapons, first by the hundreds and then by the thousands. In 1952 there were 841 nuclear bombs. The next year there were 1,169.
“The process became industrialized,” Los Alamos historian Glen McDuff explains. “These were not science projects anymore.”
By 1954, there were 1,703 nuclear weapons in the stockpile. The U.S. military-industrial complex was now churning out (on average) 1.5 nuclear weapons per day. 1955: 2,422. Almost two bombs per day, and with ten new systems introduced including three new styles of thermonuclear bombs.” 1956: 3,692 bombs. The numbers continued to escalate to the point of dizziness. With production levels soaring, these mass-destruction weapons were now coming off literal assembly lines at an average pace of 3.5 nuclear bombs per day.
By 1957, there were 5,543 bombs in the U.S. stockpile. That is, 1,851 new nuclear weapons in a single year.
And the numbers kept growing. 1958: 7,345. And growing. 1959: 12,298. By 1960, when the U.S. war planners met in the underground bunker in Nebraska, the U.S. stockpile contained 18,638 nuclear bombs. By 1967, it reached an all-time high of 31,255 nuclear bombs. Thirty-one thousand, two hundred and fifty-five nuclear bombs.
Religious Liberty Explained and Analyzed
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