Disciple.Luke

I have never heard of this being done. If it is being done, it has to be with the "employees" blessing. What exactly are you referring to when you call these people employees? Pastoral staff? Secretary? Janitorial staff? Again, this seems like it's something you have little or nothing to do with unless YOU are employed by such an institution. 

That's true, Tony. I seen how my mother and her siblings were unable to handle taking care of their Aunt with dementia. It got a point where she believed that money was missing from her account or out of her purse, forgot things like to debone chicken before cooking it and there were potential violent situations because she forget that other people were in the house with her.
Even her Pastor tried to help her by picking her up for church and helping her with finances until she began to make the same accusations of money missing towards him and at that point he knew he couldn't continue to help in that capacity.

So, are you advocating for children who aren't qualified to treat or attend to many physical ailments, ie, dementia, Alzheimer's, Lou Gehrigs, etc, to do it anyway? It's not a smart thing to do. I helped take care of my grandmother who had Alzheimer's, but, only until it became apparent that neither my grandfather nor I could properly care for her. We did it for the same with a family member that had been burned in a fire back in the mid 80s. In her case there were certain medications and treatments that had to be administered by a professional. The Lord will indeed say well done to those who can take care of them, but those who have done their best will receive the same acknowledgement.

I support Mike. I understand some people feel like he betrayed Trump or that he was favoring a Joe Biden win.
I personally don't see him that way at all. Being from Indiana I've always known him to stand for what he believes is right no matter what others think. I respect that.
I would pick him over all the other Republicans running but I just don't see anyway for him or anyone else to win as long as Trump is in the race...but I'm ok with that too.
This country just cannot endure four more years of Grandpa Joe and Kamala Harris speeches about school buses or the internet. Those two have made me more embarrassed to be an American than any other time in my life 

Pence can work, but Christians don't support him, for some reason. Maybe it's because he is not liberal enough. 

So they say but we see with the lockdowns this wasn't true.
If you are looking for a Baptist pastor to be President you'll have a long wait. 

I support the guy who is going to allow me to continue to worship God is peace and quiet and for me and my family to live a godly life regardless of if they are personally immoral. This is the principle I follow.
- I Timothy 2:2
 
 

I know of one congregation locally where it's normal to see several men in the pews with personal weapons on them. The church as whole even went through a firearm training course. Their former Pastor was telling me that the reason he carried a concealed weapon on Sundays was because from the pulpit he would be the first person to see someone walk into the sanctuary.
It's also fairly common for a congregation to have someone who is current or former law enforcement who carries their weapon during service just in case someone slipped past the greeters who remain out in the foyer during services.
As far as cleaning the sanctuaries I assume most have gone back to cleaning once a week either by someone hired to do so or in some cases the congregation members take turns cleaning in groups.
Probably the one thing that seems to be still continuing from the "COVID outbreak' is the use of individual prepackaged communion cups with bread and juice. I've seen some people who just started being their own communion stuff 

In the church we're members of security was beefed up for a year or so. Now it's back down to pre-Covid levels. But, that could be because we have several men and a couple of women who carry firearms. 

Yes, it IS right to vote for the lesser of two evils if that is your only option. The right to vote has been given to us by the Lord, and we should use that vote to keep as much evil out of our government. Of course, this is my personal belief and opinion, just as what TGL expressed, as strange as it may seem to most patriotic Americans, is his.

You can’t keep all your old, worn out Bibles on your shelves.
It is just paper. When the Jews in OT times copied the scrolls, they burned or destroyed the old copies - whether worn out, damaged, or ones with errors.
I understand the reverence for God’s Word - but not the material it is copied on (and yes, I do try to be careful in handling or reading Bibles, but eventually they do wear out). If I print up some chapters of the Bible for a Bible study, but then some of the pages get damaged, I don’t keep them. If it was my only copy of God’s Word and I had no access to any others, then I might want to keep it until I could recopy it or get a new copy - but otherwise, it is just paper or parchment or whatever material.
God even commanded several of His servants to destroy His Word in various ways and at others times had it happen apart from His will - and He caused it to be written or copied again. Like Moses throwing down and breaking the two stone tablets, Jeremiah being commanded to throw the scroll in the river and at different time having the king cut up and burn another scroll of his prophecies, Ezekiel and John being commanded to eat the scrolls.
I am not flippant or cavalier towards my physical Bible - but it is the Word of God itself that is important - regardless of what it is copied onto (in a book, in a letter or card, in a Gospel tract or pamphlet, in a NT or a John & Romans, etc. - or even online or in an app). Those are just as much God’s Word (inasmuch as they contain God’s Word) as the physical book on your shelves - yet if those get worn out or damaged beyond repair, we don’t keep those.

Certain Study Bibles, Charlatan Televangelists, and people too lazy to read the Bible instead "end times" fiction books and movies.

I definitely understand and agree with how you feel about modern country music. It's very different than the stuff I grew up hearing as young child.
Even the country music in the late 80s into the 90s had some morally questionable lyrics but for me many of the songs gave me sort of a foundation when it came to God's presence in the world since my parents didn't speak of anything religious.
Probably the best example would be the George Strait song "A Love Without End, Amen"...where I was able to see God's goodness by thinking of how much my earthly father loved and provided for me.
Even songs like Lee Greenwood's - God Bless The USA made me feel proud to be in a country that worshipped HIM.
It's very different now. The music and lyrics are so generic and don't have any real meaning to them. There seems to be a tendency for country singers to transition to Christian music later in life like Randy Travis and Alan Jackson.
 
 

When you speak to a Christian that knows the Word of God, he or she will tell you, that the Bible and verses have many applications. Not just one, that the Bible has one interpretation, there's only?  Beware  ?

A JW man marrying a bible believing women is rare. Usually it's the opposite. JW women seem to be far more likely to marry outside the faith but the majority of the time they marry inactive JW men. It's very common to see a Wife every Sunday with several children while the husband is rarely seen except for maybe the Memorial once a year.
I haven't ever seen any actual statistics but it's widely claimed that there are far more women JWs compared to men. I can only assume that if that's the case then it probably had a lot to do with women being around the house more making them more likely to encounter a witness at the door and agreeing to a Bible study as something different to do during the day.
It's almost unfathomable for me to think of any reason a born again female would agree to bind herself to the control of the Watchtower through her husband. It isn't likely a JW man would marry a women who wasn't submissive to his mental and religious control. A true believing JW man wouldn't risk his own reputation being looked down on because he wasn't able to "control" his wife. Most JW men aspire to be ministerial servants and eventually elders within their congregations. Not being able to control his wifes entire life and thoughts would be seen as a sign of "spiritual"weakness and as someone who would be overlooked for leadership roles since he can't keep his own household in order.

Like many other in this thread I am just now seeing this. This is heartbreaking but I rejoice that he is with his Lord now. I've lost two family members in this past month...one right after the other so my mind is still mourning their passing so this news is even more heartbreaking.
That last day Jim planned to be on the forum I sent him a private message. I just wanted to tell him that even though all of us on this forum don't get to interact with each other in person that I still cared for him. I told him I would be praying and looking forward to having him back to scare all the trolls off. His reply to me simply said "Thank you, Luke".
My prayers will be with his family.

Like many other in this thread I am just now seeing this. This is heartbreaking but I rejoice that he is with his Lord now. I've lost two family members in this past month...one right after the other so my mind is still mourning their passing so this news is even more heartbreaking.
That last day Jim planned to be on the forum I sent him a private message. I just wanted to tell him that even though all of us on this forum don't get to interact with each other in person that I still cared for him. I told him I would be praying and looking forward to having him back to scare all the trolls off. His reply to me simply said "Thank you, Luke".
My prayers will be with his family.

Like many other in this thread I am just now seeing this. This is heartbreaking but I rejoice that he is with his Lord now. I've lost two family members in this past month...one right after the other so my mind is still mourning their passing so this news is even more heartbreaking.
That last day Jim planned to be on the forum I sent him a private message. I just wanted to tell him that even though all of us on this forum don't get to interact with each other in person that I still cared for him. I told him I would be praying and looking forward to having him back to scare all the trolls off. His reply to me simply said "Thank you, Luke".
My prayers will be with his family.

Sadly, I've just caught up to Jim's passing on to glory. Dave W has summed up anything I could possibly add. I'll see Jim again one day because of Jesus and for His sake.

You come to an Independant Baptist Forum and thrn complain that we disagree with you about whether cults are saved. Perhaps you need to look at what the Bible actually teaches about salvation. Catholics, JWs, Baptists, and Mormons ALL believe totally different and contradictory doctrines about salvation and about who God is, etc.
Frankly, if you think all these people from heretical false religions and cults are saved, then you cannot be. Jesus said He was the only way to Heaven AND that He paid the complete penalty for our sins. Any religion that denies either of these are not true or of God - but are from the Devil and his children.

It appears that you're not very well acquainted with your Bible. I suggest you read Galatians 1. Paul says that if anybody is preaching a different gospel than the one that the apostles are presenting that they are to be accursed. This is heresy. 

If they're "a heretical Christian church," they're a false religion. They preach another Jesus than the Apostles preached and that is presented in Scripture. The Bible says that they should be accursed.

I got one of those leaflets from their stall at the end of our road, inviting them to their service for the memorial of Jesus' death. I wish now that did go as I would ask them why the celebrate Jesus' death and not his resurrection?  They don't believe his actual body was raised, but only  a spirit body. I would then point them to 
1 15:12-19 Corinthians Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen: And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not. For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised: And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.
I will perhaps ask them on the stall at the end of our Road,  not when one of the elders are there because they have an answer for everything even though their answers are nonsense.

I must admit that I am not familiar with the other 37 versions of the Quran, but if they exist I would love to be able to understand what exactly is different. I wonder if they are clerical punctuation errors or if they include contradictory "revelations" compared to the common text of today. If there are major theological implications I am surprised that Islamic sects like the Ahmadiyyas, Shia, Sufis, and even the Baha'i scholars have not searched these others versions out looking for differences that would support the validity of their beliefs over Sunni Islam.
As far as an apologetic issue I personally wouldn't put too much weight behind these various versions to discredit the Quran and convert Muslims. The current accepted text of the Quran is already as false as any other version in my opinion and Muslims still largely believe it is divinely inspired. I feel like the average Muslim would completely dismiss the idea of there being other versions or would just see them as a fabrication produced by anti Muslims. If these other versions exist then I have no doubt that the Sunni Islamic scholars are aware of their existence and so it would appear they are ignoring and unconcerned about the differences. 
Im not sure I buy into the idea that Muhammad never actually existed although I am open to be proven wrong. Just based on the biographies I've read about him and the many historical events and places that are linked to his direct descendants it's hard to imagine how the Pagan Arabians could fabricate an entire bloodline and religious influence based on someone who didn't exist. Maybe if his influence was isolated to the Mecca and Medina areas I might be able to fathom it, but knowing that his nephews impacted the world as far away as Iraq with all of the historical burial sites there around Karbala it seems unlikely. 
I have always believed he existed and was a founder of a false religion that he helped expand and change the entire society of the Arabian country. There is one thing I have always wondered about him though...his motive. For years I have debated in my head if he completely made the Quran with his own mind and knowledge or if a demon transmitted the Quran to him disguised as an Angel. The claims of Joseph Smith and Muhammad are so so similar that I can't help to wonder if Mormonism and Islam came from men or messengers from Hell?
 

I have a cousin that is the same age as me and we both began studying the bible right around the same time. He had become interested while studying with Seventh day Adventist while in prison while most of my knowledge was from what I heard from the pulpit and using my limited study skills as a new believer.
Since not many in my family had any spiritual interest we decided to study together once a week. It was exciting for me to have a family member my age that shared my interest but this bible study didn't make it to a second week.
His obsession with reading UFOs into almost every text he looked at was a huge red flag even as novice bible student. He was so passionate about learning something new that there wasn't really any room for debate or discussion in his mind. 
To be honest I felt more annoyed by his beliefs than anything...but I felt like if he continued reading the bible he would eventually get a better understanding. The more important and frustrating issue was that he was passing these beliefs on to his mom and younger brothers that I was close to and so found myself having to deal with the issue because they were asking me if something he said was true.
The UFO thing isn't even something I think of or care much about. At this point I haven't seen anything for me to believe they are alien to this world...I can't tell if those grainy videos are some confidential government aircraft, some kind of light manipulation, or a triangle defying gravity.