Laughing At Ugly Babies

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Laughing at ugly babies feels so wrong ... and so right at the same time!  

 My 9-year-old and I were laughing so hard we were crying!  

 Gotta love these little ones.  Too adorable!

 (Yes, I know ... "I'm horrible!"  But, of course, I don't mean "ugly" babies.  It's just that it's a lot easier than saying "funny-looking babies or babies that look like tiny, angry, old people."  No babies are "ugly."  They're all so sweet and adorable.) 

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Jill 4 Today: Around the world in 80 breads

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While researching bread-baking around the world, I stumbled on this YouTube channel -  Jill 4 Today  - and I just have to say that I'm really enjoying her.  A lot of fun to watch.  And I love when older women do videos like these because it feels very homey, very grandmotherly.    I'm especially interested in her new series "Around the world in 80 breads."  And I love it that she makes some of these breads for the first time on camera, leaving in the doubts and mistakes and all.  Amusing and charming. Anyway, I'd love for her to actually do all 80 breads, but she doesn't think she'll get to them all.  So if anyone else is interested in this too, support her channel and send her some comments to encourage her to actually do all 80.  It'd be fun to see. Here are the three breads she's done so far: #1 No-knead French bread #2 Icelandic Rye Bread  (just listening to their reactions as they eat it makes me want to try it too) #3 German B...
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List of Calvinist Preachers, Authors, Theologians, Websites, etc.

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I  found a lot more names to add to my list of known Calvinists (found in my various  "How to Tell if a Church, Pastor, or Website is Calvinist"  posts).  But instead of adding this huge list to all those posts, I am going to put it here, and I'll just provide a link on those posts to this one.  [FYI: I added a note at the bottom of this post on May 5, 2021.] So here it is, a "master list" of known Calvinists to help you be careful and discerning about who you listen to and where you get your theology from.  There are plenty more Calvinists out there, but these are just the names that I ran across the most.   These are either definite, self-professed Calvinists or "most likely Calvinist," in my estimation.  (I haven't heard of most of them, but it's good to know their theology before I do.)   After finding these names in various places online, I looked up each person to see if they are Calvinist.  If they did not self-identify ...
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Though they have eyes, they will not see

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[I originally posted this on one of my other blogs , Oct. 2021] So   according to this article , it appears that scientists have found evidence of the type of biblical destruction that happened to Sodom.  They say they found a town that was destroyed by a blast of heat so hot that it pretty much melted everything.  They say that there's no earthly natural heat source that could do this, so they speculate that it must have been an asteroid that exploded over the town, melting everything.  Oh, and they speculate that the reason no one lived there afterward was that the asteroid impact might have brought over so much salt from the nearby Dead Sea that nothing could grow.  This, they say, must be what inspired people to make up the story of Sodom in the Bible. But I say that here's your "asteroid," scientists: "The Lord rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah - from the Lord out of the heavens.  Thus he overthrew those cities and the entire plain, incl...
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Christian Testimony: Isabella - "How I Found Jesus"

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Here is Isabella's 17-minute testimony:  How I found Jesus . I think many of us can relate to it - about the struggle of trying to relate to the Lord, of drawing near but then falling away.  She understands that a relationship with God takes time and effort.  It doesn't just happen.  You have to work at it. And y ou can tell she has a heart to lead others to the Lord, to help them in their relationship with God.  S he gives a short, sweet "sinner's prayer" at the end, for others to follow.  (Drink some coffee to keep up with her.  She's a fast talker.)     [However, I do not agree with her that we can pray to the earth/universe.  That's the mark of a false religion.  But I understand what she's trying to say.  She's trying to say that we shouldn't let not knowing how to pray or what to pray stop us from praying, from calling out to God.  She's saying that God can meet you wherever you are, if you call out to Him....
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Merry Christmas To All!

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Merry Christmas, Everyone!  May God bless you today and this next year.  May He show Himself to you in new ways, to encourage you, to help you along the hard paths, to restore your faith in Him (or draw you to Him for the first time), to lift you up when your heart is broken. A song that I love:  Hallelujah Christmas   (Cloverton) "Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the LORD." Luke 2:11 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."  John 3:16 "... if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.... Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."  Romans 10:9, 13
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Links To Other Anti-Calvinism Posts

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Some of my thoughts and research on Calvinism (Why I believe it's not Scriptural!): Why is Calvinism So Dangerous? If Calvinism is true, then God is a liar! What's The Best Way To Make People Agree With Your Calvinist Views? Letter To Our Elders Regarding Calvinism Growing In Our Church Acts 13:48: Not As "Predestination" As It Sounds Sovereignty and Free-Will Working Together Anti-Calvinism Memes and Links Why Is It So Hard For Calvinists To Get Free From Calvinism? Can You Lose Your Salvation? Problems in John Calvin's  Institutes of the Christian Religion Are We Only Here For God's Glory? What About God's Love? So Job was a dimwit, huh? "Defend Your Calvinism" Challenge More Anti-Calvinism Memes.  Just for fun! Some of John Calvin's Contradicting Nonsense! How to tell if a Church, Pastor, or Website is Calvinist (extended version)  and the  (simplified version) You know what happens when you assume things!  A look at John Calvin...
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Things My Calvinist Pastor Said #13: God Doesn't Love Everyone

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(This "Things My Calvinist Pastor Said" series is a breakdown on this much longer post:  "We Left Our Church Because of Calvinism,"  which was written last year but updated July 2020.  They are almost exact quotes.  All memes were created with  imgflip .) 13.   "The Bible says God loves people.  But the Bible is clear that God does not love  all  people and He doesn't love everyone  equally .  He elected some sinners to salvation, and He predestined some for eternal damnation."             Find me the verse that says God does not love everyone the same way!  Or a verse about how God's love is shown by whether or not He elects you to heaven.  Find me an  actual verse  that  clearly  says something like that, not just a mish-mash of verses, taken-out-of-context, about how God loved Jacob and hated Esau (the passage my pastor was using).       ...
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"Honestly, I Need To Be Broken"

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(A post from my other blog , written March 2, 2022.  I was only adding new posts to that blog at the time, so that's why it wasn't posted here earlier.) I would like to dedicate the following song to anyone who is breaking down right now - like how I broke down this past weekend, sobbing to my husband about everything that's wrong in life and then vomiting uncontrollably for 11 hours because of tension in my neck that triggers my "throw up" button.   Is anyone else exhausted from trying to bear up under the pressures of this fallen, evil, upside-down, post-Covid world, from watching all their expectations crumble, from feeling like the future is just one big blackhole for you and your kids, from not knowing where to turn or what to do or how to do it anymore, and from knowing that you have to  testify against a close relative  in court very soon?  (Okay, maybe that last one is just me.   I've been dizzy every day since just hours before I got the ...
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Things My Calvinist Pastor Said #4: God's Love Saves Some But Not Others

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(This "Things My Calvinist Pastor Said" series is a breakdown on this much longer post:  "We Left Our Church Because of Calvinism,"  which was written last year but updated July 2020.  They are almost exact quotes.  All memes were created with  imgflip .) 4.   "God didn't have to save any of us.  But in His love and sovereignty, He chose to elect some to salvation, even though we are depraved and wicked and in rebellion against Him.  But none of us deserve to be saved; we all deserve hell.  So the real question isn't 'Why would God predestine some people to hell.'  It's 'Why did God elect any of us for heaven when no one deserves it?'"               That's right, make people feel like they can't ask the hard questions.  And deflect away from the bad stuff.  It's much easier to sell your poison when you hide the skull-and-crossbones!             [Skille...
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If They Mated ...

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I think I stumbled upon the perfect "If They Mated ..." scenario for who I look like and how I act.  (You know, when they take two people and morph their faces into one to show what their offspring would look like if they mated.)  I wasn't trying to figure this out or anything; it just came to me as I was watching The Hobbit recently.  And once I saw it in my mind, I couldn't unsee it.  Then after I thought about possibly sharing it with all of you, my mind won't let it go until I do.  And so here it is, much to my chagrin... I kid you not, if you mixed these three characters - their looks and their personalities - you would totally have me.   Frankie Heck from The Middle (Someone once told me I looked like her, when I was a lot younger.  Actually, it was when she was in Everybody Loves Raymond , but we're both a lot older now.  And I was told once I looked like Winona Ryder, for a split second.  Ah, to be young again!) Bard...
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