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Sunwalker

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  1. One reason that I do not judge people is because only God knows what actually goes inside them, specially on their innermost thoughts. What goes there may change everything, there are things that may not be readily apparent for the outsider observer, that would change everything "if only they knew or understood". Even them, with God, between Mercy and Justice, the former always prevails, as long there are still a bare minimum of good intentions. God does not blame anyone on stuff they have no control of, or that they don't even know it is wrong. Lastly, but not less important, God respects one's will and will not force people into anything It is also important to remember that being Christian doesn't magically exclude someone from doing bad stuff. Actually, it should be an way to help avoiding sin. But people may still fail anyways. Judas betrayed Christ himself, in spite of all chances that Jesus gave him. In a sense, almost all of the Apostles also did, because nearly all of them left Jesus at the Calvary, specially Peter who denied him three times. Peter and the others, except for Judas, repented of it later and made amends. At any rate, God is always open for forgiveness. With the coming of Christ, God became something closer than a distant authority figure, he became a Father. No matter what, the Father always respects your will, though.
  2. I have started watching SpongeBob back when it started airing, this show still brings me good memories! Currently it has been some time since I last watched it, but I still hold the show in a good regard. My favorite episode of them all is the one of the Imagination Box. It's the one that best exemplifies a child's innocence, and I say that in a positive manner. Anyways, if you want to catch up with the show, here is all the episodes at the same time, lol: See you all around!
  3. I am from São Paulo, Brazil. Nice to meet you
  4. That is fine, @zerox. Those militant people seems to be unable to realize that things are more complicated that people just being A or B, there are much more nuances and differences than what they give credit for. Being misunderstood or falsely accused of lying is really annoying. From what I can notice, they are rather seeking some sort of "social approval" by defending some cause, than actually being interested on discussing things. About your question, yes, you could say that I am interested. I have been interested on discussions about having or not faith for quite sometime. Personally I think that between agnosticism and atheism, it is easier to make an argument for the former, because a negation is hard to prove, one would have to ultimately know every single case and somehow show that it is not there on every single one of them. Stating that one cannot know everything sounds more realist for me, when considering between those two propositions. Anyways, on such kinds of subject it is not a single event or discussion that is going to define one's position, since we are talking not about something simple as which shirt to wear, but rather about an entire worldview, one that defines how everything else is seem and its meaning. In other words, a paradigm. It's the combination of one's experiences and ideas through the entire life. That's why one should not rush, and also understands that other people might see things differently, as the people you talked with should had been understood.
  5. No. Science cannot prove even the validity of its own methods, as this would be circular reasoning and neither the existence of its own object of study, which are the laws of nature. The scientific method by it's turn comes from Philosophy, which has an influence of Christian Theology, more specifically the belief that there is an immutable absolute truth that can be reached by our mind. Without this premise it would not be possible to make predictions from know facts, which is one of the most celebrated features of the scientific method. And it is beyond science to prove this premise because science comes from it. The field of the knowledge that studies knowledge itself and its nature is called Epistemology, and this is where the discussion on the existence of God takes part.
  6. I like Gregorian Chants, and those are some for the Easter season:
  7. Thanks for the shout out Yeah, I have just finished my PhD thesis on Chemistry, I have studied the luminescence of lanthanides complexes on ionic liquids. Here are a couple of pictures: More pictures can be found here: https://goo.gl/photos/gGMj7m55t2yMFDNy6 Anyways, I have been studying Chemistry since my high school years, when I got a technologist degree. Then I studied at college, where I got a major in Chemistry, with a minor in Biotechnology, though I have never worked on the latter. Then I started my Masters, where I started studying the luminescence of lanthanides, and I continued it on my doctorate. The lanthanide elements are used on light emitting materials, for example there are some on the screen where you are reading this. The red color of emission comes from the Europium(III) ion, while the green color comes from the Therbium(III) ion, and the blue color may come from either the Thulium(III) ion or the Europium(II) ion. Together you have the primary colors red, green, and blue, the famous RGB, which by mixing you can form any other color. It's really fascinating 🤓
  8. Happy Easter for everyone! He is risen indeed On these last few days I took part of the three days of Pascal Triduum on my church. It was great, we even made an reenactment of the Passion of Christ, starting on Thursday and Friday with his death, and ending on Saturday with his resurrection. And today it was the Easter celebration. One interesting trivia I have learned this week is that Holy Thursday and Good Friday are considered as a single day of the Pascal Triduum, (at least when it comes to the Catholic Church, I am not sure if this also applies to other Christians). Holy Saturday is the second day, and Easter Sunday is the third day. I thought that the three days were Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, but in hindsight it makes more sense to also include Easter, which is the heart of the celebration. Thursday's celebration is considered to be on the same day as the Friday's one because back in the time of Jesus the day began at the end of the afternoon, instead of the midnight, and this tradition was kept until this day at least when it comes to the celebration. So technically Thursday's celebration, which happens at night, already counts as part of the Friday. Anyways, I also which to everyone a good week. See you around!
  9. I had to think for a bit in order to respond to this, in order to look back and analyze what kind of people got my respect and what lost it. I expect people to be honest and have an sense of honor. I can't stand those who lie, who pretend to be something that they aren't, or who hide who they are or what they think. I just can't stand arrogant or generally rude people, but when people are nice I expect them to be so honestly, without having the intention to manipulate. The respect that comes from a position, in the way I see it, is from a different nature. Certain positions require a reverence by themselves, I see this as giving value and showing gratitude to what others do. But even then this isn't a excuse for someone acting as he pleases. Actually, when people have some power is when you can determine their true character. If they abuse their power, then my respect is completely gone. In short, just have morals and be honest.
  10. I am really sorry sorry to hear, I will be praying for you. It is not wrong to be happy, that is what we were made to. Even Jesus at the Calvary asked “Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done.” (Luke 22:42) Anyways, it is important to understand that sometimes certain things need to happen in order to prevent a greater evil, and the reason isn't always apparent. I am going to explain with an analogy. Imagine that you have a dog, and this dog is diagnosed with a brain tumor. The only way to save his life is with a surgery to remove the tumor. But what a brain tumor is, let alone a surgery, are beyond what a dog is capable of understanding, so you can't exactly explain him the situation. Yet you need to take care of him, and for that you submit the dog to a surgery. From the viewpoint of the dog, one day he was playing, and in the next he woke up weak and in pain. He is just unable to understand why that happened, but yet it was necessary so something worse didn't happen. In a similar way, we cannot see the world in the same way that God does. God knows everything: past, present and future; all possibilities. Maybe what you are going through now has no apparent purpose, however in some time from now you might see that it actually helped you to get stronger in order to face situations yet to come. At any rate, when something is put on the hands of God, nothing is without a purpose. "And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose." (Romans 8:28) Take care
  11. Hmmm... Not by this name, but I have already done similar stuff. I have done something called "Prayer and Life Workshops". It lasts for 15 weeks, in which the last one is a retreat somewhat similar with the one you mentioned. "Desert" is the term they use, as a reference to the passages of the Bible in which Jesus, Moses, Abraham and others passed in a desert. But I believe that the appropriate term in English is "Summit". It is similar to a retreat, but shorter. It lasts for half day. I have some pictures from my last time: https://goo.gl/photos/Qsyh7xrqfwHShwSr5
  12. I am at a loss of words... We know that everyone should die at some point, but nobody is really prepared for that. Everything of this world shall come to pass, but the reencounter also shall come at some point. I can't fathom what the pain is for you, but I can sympathize. I am sure that your brother left a positive mark on you, and the best way to honor him by never forgetting him and being someone who he can be proud of. Let this to be an opportunity to learn about humility. I bet that people understand that it should be difficult for you right now. You don't need to say some fancy words, thanking is already the enough. Take care! God bless.
  13. I am really sorry to hear, I know how that feels. I will be praying. Those who trust in the Lord Are like Mount Zion, Which cannot be moved, but abides forever. As the mountains surround Jerusalem, So the Lord surrounds His people From this time forth and forever. Psalm 125:1-2
  14. There are this book, "Who Moved the Stone?" by Frank Morison. This book is a classic on the subject of the historicity of Jesus. Its originally author sets out to disprove the historicity, so he wasn't biased when it comes to actually proving it. However, he ended up getting to the opposite conclusion that he expected to get. So for the sake of intellectual honesty, he ended up accepting it. The book is currently on free domain, so there is no issue with downloading it from the internet: https://archive.org/details/WhoMovedTheStone The download above only provides the EPUB format, though. So I converted it to PDF and attached it to this post: Who Moved the Stone_ - Frank Morison.pdf
  15. I am feeling hungry! I guess that I am getting something to eat before bed
  16. Another day at the train station I met a guy who had lost his train pass, thus was unable to return home. I used mine for him so he could get into the train. A couple of weeks earlier, I did the same for a couple who had lost their money. The interesting part was that both of those cases happened when I just felt to make a different route for a chance, and ended up meeting those people.
  17. As for the origin of the claim, I think that it comes from the fact that those anti-Christian internet militants usually doesn't have any actual in-depth study of the Bible. What they have is a dozen of out of context passages and some punchlines, and then they considers themselves experts on the matter. With this mindset, someone can just skim through some Bible pages, just randomly looking for verses that could somehow be considered offensive, without actually paying attention and neither having any knowledge of the culture of the society in which that was written. And they consider this as "reading the Bible". The problem of searching for evidence for a specific thing is that it might makes you to ignore the evidences that might go against it. Somewhat related to the topic, I would like to add that it is not possible to understand Christianity without understanding the person of Jesus Christ. That is, what there is of so special with him that makes people to want to follow his steps. Having a great deal of knowledge of History and Theology will not help if one does not understand Christ. He has shaken the society in which he lived, even though he was never a political leader, never had any formal instruction, and had never lead any conflict. Jesus could approach people, understand them when nobody else didn't, and connect with them. And this is the ordinary part, there is also the extraordinary ones: he performed miracles in public, he died in public, and appeared resurrected also in public. I am saying this in order to state that I think that just reading the Bible from the first to the last place will not work if the objective is to fathom the Christian though. First it is important to understand the person of Christ, and then the Bible will start making sense. The Old Testament is a lead up to Christ, while the New Testament is the fulfillment of the promise. All of the Christ's teachings are also on the Old Testament, albeit in a more subtle and implicit way. But I bet that they are going over the head of most people, who instead end up paying more attention to other things, like the culture of the ancient peoples. This actually ties to what I have said just above. In the beginning of Christianity the Bible, as we know today, just didn't exist. During the time of Christ there were some controversy on the canon of what today we refer as the Old Testament, and most certainly the New Testament wasn't even written. The biblical canon didn't got fully established until the fourth century. And Christianity could exist for over 3 centuries without the Scriptures, or at least without the Scriptures as we know today. What I mean by that is that there is more than the Bible when it comes to being Christian. Christianity didn't come from the Bible, it was the Bible than came from Christianity. This is an important distinction to have in mind, and it is the mistake committed by those who try to prove Christianity by the Bible (they fall on the circular reasoning of concluding that the Bible is right because the Bible says it is right). During the first few years after Christ his memory was still livid on people's mind, and it wasn't really necessary to have anything written down, plus some people of those times thought that the second coming of Christ would happen yet within their generation. It wasn't until later that the Apostles have written the gospels and their letters. For a while, just the memory and the oral tradition was sufficient in order to differentiate which writings about Christ held any credence or not. It wasn't until even later that the Church needed to have a council in order to establish the canon, and thus quench heresies that have popped up in order to confuse people. The source of the Christian faith? Jesus Christ is the source. In order to understand it, I recommend studying the person of Christ, what he said and how he thought and acted. A common point between pretty much any religion or philosophies of life in general is the search for happiness and meaning. What set Christianity apart from any of these is that in it the happiness and meaning have a name, a face, and walked among us. And he is still alive.
  18. Sunwalker

    technology Discord

    Discord is works better from group discussions, while Skype is better for one on one conversations. The Skype group feature is quite bare bones in terms of features, Discord gives more options like diving the group in different channels for different topics and assigning different permissions to different group roles, making moderation much easier. Skype started as mainly a VoIP program, and I get the impression that the chat feature was just an afterthought. But it still works great when you want to call someone.
  19. I would say at least once in a week, but it can be more. Sometimes I pass through McDonald's while coming back from college, there is one in the way back and I sometimes I stop there
  20. I am feeling relaxed today! I managed to sleep earlier than my usual last night, so I managed to get a better night of sleep I can say that in a sense I know this feel. Last year I had a surgery on my nose, and afterwards I needed to stay with nasal tampons inside my nostrils, so my nose could heal in the proper shape. Those can get annoying and itchy a bit, but at least they didn't hurt and it felt much better when they were removed Anyways, those things are still better than the issues they are meant to prevent. They might be uncomfortable now, but their use prevent much more discomfort in the long term. Stay strong
  21. I am not Orthodox, I am Catholic. But I can say that the main celebrations themselves are similar, sometimes the dates are different however. I know that in Orthodox countries usually they celebrate Christmas at January 6th. The reason is that the Orthodox Church did not accept the Gregorian calendar, the Orthodox Church continued using the Julian calendar. The Julian calendar was proclaimed by Emperor Julius Caesar in 46 BC. The Gregorian Calendar was proclaimed by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582 AD, and it corrected a difference of 13 days that existed between the calendar date and the actual beginning of the seasons. This is why Orthodox countries celebrate Christmas 13 days after December 25th, which is on January 6th. But to be honest, I don't really know if Orthodox families living on other countries do the same. Maybe some of the Orthodox here could help with that? Anyways, I do know that the exchange of gifts on Orthodox countries happen on the day of Saint Nicholas, which is at December 19th on the Julian calendar. That being said, the traditions and customs of the Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church are very similar, especially when it comes to eastern Catholicism. The Orthodox and the Catholic church have almost the same doctrines, with the one major difference being about the authority of the Pope. But aside from that, they can easily be mistaken for each other and work in a similar manner. They even have the same seven sacraments: Baptism, Confirmation, Eucharist, Reconciliation, Anointing Of The Sick, Marriage, and Holy Orders. During the time of Christmas, the historical Protestant churches (the ones that come from around the time of Reformation) have a similar calendar of celebrations as Catholics and Orthodox. Even many of the biblical readings are the same and on the same dates. I know that some Protestant churches also lit the four candles of the Crown of Advent during the four weeks before Christmas. I hope I have helped, but I also would like to hear from some Orthodox about their dates
  22. Happy New Year to everyone! The Catholic and the Orthodox Church extend the celebration of Christmas for one more week, in a total of eight days, until today (January 1st). In the Catholic Church it is called "Octave of Christmas", while in the Orthodox Church it is called "Afterfeast". The birth of Christ is too great to be celebrated in a single day May his birth mean that we all are renewed. And I mean everyone, all Christians, but not only Christians, and also not only those who believe in God. I mean literally everyone. Because Christ has born for all of us. It doesn't matter where you are now, you might be in a cozy home with your family or you might be in a cheap rented room God-knows-where. It doesn't matter, he has born for everyone. He is the king of the kings, the supreme lord of all the Universe, however he was born not in a palace but in a stable with nothing fancier than a manger. This so he could be closer to everyone. Yes, God loves you too. I wish everyone a good 2017!
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