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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Prayer, Faith, and God's Will

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(repost, summary of “Understanding God’s Will,” Question 9, Q9a -Q9i)             “‘Have faith in God,’ Jesus answered.   ‘I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him.   Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.’” ( Mark 11:22-24 )                    I have to be honest.   I struggle with this verse more than any other.   I really do.   I mean, it sounds pretty straightforward to me: believe that you’ll get what you ask for and you’ll get it.   Name it and claim it!   Sounds great!               But there’s a problem.            ...
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Updated: Alana L. 5L (misunderstood sovereignty)

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[I redid Point #5 and #6 in the Alana L. series on my other blog (and re-lettered the posts).  But instead of going back and changing the already-posted points on this blog, I'll just add the posts in their own little "series."]  Point #5 still :   L : "Sovereign, sovereign, sovereign, sovereign."   Misunderstood "sovereignty" You see, the thing is (and what most people fail to realize is) that Calvinists  incorrectly  make sovereignty about how God must  use  His authority and power, believing that He  must   always  be  using  His all-powerful authority  all the time  to  preplan ,  cause ,  contro l   everything , even sin and evil and unbelief,  "or else He's not a sovereign, omnipotent, in-control God." As  John MacArthur  says :  "... [God]  makes every decision that’s ever been made,   essentially, about everything....  He is the decider and ...
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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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Calvinist Bad Logic #16: Accepting Jesus?

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Bad Logic #16 :  In Calvinism, "accepting Jesus" is works.  They believe that God has to do everything for our salvation, even deciding who believes and who doesn't and causing the believers to believe, or else He's not really a "sovereign" God.  (Once again, it's all based on their faulty view of sovereignty.) And so they believe that we cannot "accept Jesus as Lord and Savior" because "accepting" is an action we do which would be us working for our salvation, instead of it being all God's doing.  According to them. And to get you to believe this, they accuse us - those who believe we decide whether to accept Jesus or not - of "taking credit for our salvation."  They mock us for acting like we "saved ourselves." But this is just manipulation!  Getting you to feel ashamed of the idea that we can accept Jesus as Lord and Savior. The fact is, the Bible is full of calls to believe in Jesus (which mean not...
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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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"The Last Goodbye" - A song for us Hobbits

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(a post from my other blog , from March 28, 2022) There's a song at the end of  The Battle of the Five Armies  (from the Hobbit trilogy) that's become one of my favorite songs.  I feel this song, especially the line about "Many places I have been, many sorrows I have seen..."  That's kinda been my last several years: many sorrows I have seen.   Many trials.  Many heartbreaks.  (Everyone who lives long enough will have many of these.) Most recently, I had the awful experience of being on the witness stand for three hours, giving testimony against my mom.  And after nearly a week of trial, she was found guilty of ... well, of something really bad.  (She insists she didn't do it, but we think otherwise.  It's not exactly like the prosecution says, but close enough.)  And now she will spend her life in prison.   Many sorrows I have seen. I don't know if I'll ever see her again.  The last memory I have of her cou...
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Calvinist (Bad Logic) Comment #6: The Role of Faith and the Gospel

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6.   A Calvinist says:   "In the absence of faith, any exhortation to believe the Gospel would be fruitless.  In the presence of faith, the preaching of the Gospel results in salvation." [My note: Calvinism teaches that the "elect" can only respond to the Gospel because God first gives them the faith to believe, that the Holy Spirit indwells them before they hear the Gospel in order to wake them up to spiritual things so that they can understand the Gospel, and all because they were "chosen" for salvation before time began.  Therefore, faith and "being saved" and getting the Holy Spirit all come before hearing and responding to the Gospel.  But then Calvinists will try to say that the Gospel is necessary for and leads to faith and salvation.  Think about this for a moment.  Seriously.] Someone (Aiden) then asks him:   "If faith in the gospel can only come by hearing the gospel, how pray tell, do you [Calvinists] have faith comi...
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Quick List Of Some Calvinist Contradictions and Nonsense

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More examples of their contradictions and nonsense, for your information (some of it is review): 1.   Calvinists will say, "Of course God loves all people."  But what they believe but don't say is "But God loves the elect and the non-elect differently.  He shows love to the elect by saving them, and He shows love to the non-elect by caring for them while they are on earth." 2.   They'll say "Of course God calls all people to Him."  But what they believe but don't say is "God gives a general call to everyone that the non-elect can never respond to because God didn't give them the ability to respond to it, and He gave a special call to the elect that they are predestined to respond to." 3.   They'll say "Of course Jesus died for all and salvation is available to all."  But what they believe but don't say is "ALL of the elect, that is.  From ALL kinds of people groups.  Not ALL individ...
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When The Volcano Blows

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I was listening to Jimmy Buffet's Volcano earlier as I was driving, and I was thinking, "Wow, this kinda feels like life right now.  The grounds are shaking, the waters are churning, smoke's starting to rise ... and I know that one of these days the 'volcano' is gonna blow.  And when it does, I don't know how I'll handle it." I can't explain yet what the "volcano" is, but maybe someday.  
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Turn it up even LOUDER!

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(Just for fun, slipped in between the spiritual warfare posts, and a week earlier than normal.)  You know those songs that you always have to play as loud as possible, and even louder if you could? I've got some of those.  [To name only five, there's  Numb from U2 and  Chlorine,   Downstairs,   Choker , and Jumpsuit from Twenty One Pilots.  I'm addicted to Twenty One Pilots (musical geniuses)!  And so are my husband and sons.]    And the only place I can play them as loud as I want is when I'm driving alone in the car.  That's MY time.  An introvert's dream vacation.  I can play my music as loud as I want and sing along... and there's no one to interrupt or complain.  (But I do worry that I might've butt-dialed someone and that they're listening to me sing loud and proud.) And this reminds me: You parents know what we're supposed to do when kids complain about our music, right? Yeah, that's right: TURN IT UP EVEN LO...
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