Free Republic

From the Archives: It has long seemed to me that it is one thing to believe that God exists and quite another to believe that He is good. Indeed, to believe that God exists simply begs the question. That question is: Who is God, and what can be said of Him? Is He good? This goes to the heart of the proclamation of the Christian faith. We believe that God has revealed Himself definitively in the God/Man, Jesus Christ, and preeminently in the death and resurrection of Jesus. Years ago, a friend of mine was speaking with an Orthodox priest...

FDA is pushing to approve Pfizer-BioNTech’s two-dose Covid-19 vaccine Monday, further expediting earlier timeline for licensing shots, according to people familiar with the agency’s planning. Regulators working to finish process by Friday but were still working through substantial paperwork and negotiation with the company. People familiar with planning, who weren't authorized to speak publicly about it, cautioned that the approval might slide beyond Monday if some components of the review need more time. An F.D.A. spokeswoman declined comment. The agency had recently set an unofficial deadline for approval around Labor Day. The approval expected to pave the way for series...

“The temptation of the age is to look good without being good.” — Brennan ManningOver the past year, we have witnessed key Christian leaders and pastors’ moral failures get exposed. It happens every year, but it feels like the Church has taken a huge hit more recently. Leaders who have personally impacted me through their teachings and writings are no longer in ministry. Every time I learn about what was happening behind the scenes, my heart breaks for the leader, their family, their organization and for the body of Christ. We all suffer when someone falls. I’ll never forget a...

<p>I pondered, "What if I were not a person of faith? What if I didn't belong to any religion at all? Surely, I'd still recognize that some principles and behaviors are good and beneficial while others are destructive — even evil.</p>

We need each other. That is being forgotten. PC fear is dominating discourse and too many people are forgetting to be kind. Hiding in a basement to win more votes? Some people remember to connect.

A small Iowa town received a big surprise last week from an anonymous donor who shipped every household in town $150 worth of gift cards good at local small businesses. All 549 households in the town of 1,400 people received three $50 gift cards, according to the Des Moines Register, one each for West Side Bar and Grille, Hometown Market and Trostel’s Broken Branch. Collectively, the cards added up to $82,350, or $27,450 to each locally owned business. Mayor Jeff Lillie was in on the secret. On March 26, he was called by a man who said he was the...

I'm sure that others than myself and my wife of 45 years ..... and our dog feel that this country is way out of hand?I am not asking a question about simple contemporary politics.I am asking about general decency.The rat bastard Democrats whom we all know hate D.J.T. for being SUPERIOR to them ....... are attempting to destroy/kill him. You may find that very harsh and offensive........... but the political winds are quite UGLY, and our President, the best and most obviously honest man is in danger.Are there any heroes close to this President to save his life and his...

House Oversight Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy scorched James Comey in a blistering opening statement at a high-profile congressional hearing on Tuesday, declaring “we can’t survive with a justice system we don’t trust.” Gowdy kicked off the hearing featuring testimony from Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz on his review of the Hillary Clinton email case. The top DOJ watchdog is on Capitol Hill for the second day in a row to discuss the explosive report. But Gowdy launched into Tuesday's session -- a joint hearing held by the House oversight and judiciary panels -- with a fiery condemnation of the...

A diocese's double standard penalizes conservative priests but allows for others to openly praise transgender Lutheran ministers. Father Alexander Santora, pastor of Our Lady of Grace in Hoboken, New Jersey, wrote and tweeted praise for Lutheran Pastor Rose Beeson's renaming ceremony that was held on Sunday. "Hoboken's Lutherans Make history, in the spirit of Luther's 500," he tweets, "as Pastor Beeson transitions from Rose to Peter in renaming ceremony this Sunday." In his Faith Matters article he wrote for the Jersey Journal on February 7, he opened it with, "When Jesus called Simon to be his first apostle, he changed his name to...

Man Saw Old Lady Stranded By Side Of Road, Old Lady Didn’t See This Coming One day a man saw an old lady stranded on the side of the road, but even in the dim light of day, he could see she needed help. So he pulled up in front of her Mercedes and got out. His Pontiac was still sputtering when he approached her. Even with the smile on his face, she was worried. No one had stopped to help for the last hour or so. Was he going to hurt her? He didn’t look safe; he looked poor...

I see regularly the slogan from the American Humanists Association: “Good Without God.” And I think….well, maybe for a while, one can be good (before men). But only because they piggyback on the Judeo-Christian values they may have imbibed. After a while, it all fades away. The reality of that fading away now hits us daily in the news. There’s not a week that goes by without some new report of violence and mayhem. Some attacks are worse than others. Just recently, the UK’s Daily Mail referred to “lawless Paris,” in an attack on innocent people, including tourists. Their sensational...

 About anything. At all. If you don't know this one, first thing, you're "majoring in the minors", getting a Ph.D. in ABC. God doesn't want to take you down, He wants to love you into abundant life. He isn't like other "authorities" who can only build themselves up by tearing you down. He isn't merely supremely good, He is goodness itself. All goodness, truth, beauty, love, happiness, merely "consist" in participation in Him, in the fact that He IS those things in Himself, to an unlimited, infinite degree. Don't want to waste your time? Understand that first, that there's a God-shaped hole in your heart...

People across the country are mourning the death of Corporal Nathan Cirillo today. Since his shooting death at the war memorial in Ottawa, there has been an outpouring of sympathy for his family and his comrades in the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders reserve force. Barbara Winters shares that feeling. She is now a lawyer but she spent 17 years in the Naval Reserve. And she was one of those who came to the aid of Nathan Cirillo yesterday in the moments after he was attacked. In an emotional interview with As It Happens host Carol Off, she recalls her efforts...

‘New analyses of the human genome establish that human evolution has been recent, copious and regional,” writes Nicholas Wade in his recently published book A Troublesome Inheritance: Genes, Race and Human History. That sounds reasonable, and Wade, a science reporter and editor for many years at Nature and the New York Times, seems an unimpeachable source. But many well-meaning people will regard his words as provocative and even dangerous. For they fatally undermine the idea, widely shared by so-called progressives, that any apparent differences between groups of people are the product of nurture rather than nature, of social conditioning rather...

What do you expect from your relationship to Jesus Christ? I have come to discover that many do not expect all that much. In effect they hope that faith can kind of help them “muddle through” life and offer them a few consolations that, perhaps things will be better some day, and in heaven. Others see the moral life described in the scriptures more as a duty than a description of the person being transformed by Jesus Christ. And because they see it as a list of duties,  rather than the result of grace, they tend to resent it, consider...

His Remarkable Agenda of Evil By Norma Zager “Neutral men are the devil’s allies.” Edwin Hubbel Chapin The Lord may move in mysterious ways, but the devil is as transparent a freshly windexed glass. Smart guy this Satan. Astute at using every tool in his vast arsenal of evil to accomplish his ends. Although, I imagine it is far easier when man aids him in his evil pursuits. There is no shortage of those who would support the devil’s work and have signed on for a job with the big boss of the underworld. Much can be learned from his...

What's Great About America: Free Speech My first Fox News Channel special, titled "What's Great About America", airs this Fourth of July Weekend (Saturday and Sunday) on Fox News at 9pm Eastern Time.What is great about America? For one: We can say just about anything, thanks to the First Amendment. It reads: "Congress shall make no law... abridging freedom of speech."That makes a difference. It lets us say even offensive things.Rosie O'Donnell says things like "Don't fear the terrorists" and "radical Christianity is just as threatening as radical Islam in a country like America."America tolerates speech like that, but...

In the light of what is, what is not, what is going to be, how then shall we proceed? At the very least in light of life’s realities, be thankful! God is good no matter what or why or who and God’s saving grace is sufficient for you. Thanksgiving Deserves the Right Attitude A right attitude towards God is needed, not a attitude of indifference and rejection as in Romans 1:21 – “Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were [they] THANKFUL; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.”...

There are men who say, "My wife is a saint for putting up with me." But an Ohio man, Jerome Coniker, may prove it. The Vatican has given approval to pursue sainthood for his late wife, Gwen, who was 62 when she died in June 2002. "When the church looks for sanctity, they don't seek phenomenal signs or revelations or apparitions. They just look for the virtuous life. She sure qualifies for that," said Mr. Coniker, co-founder with her of the Apostolate for Family Consecration in Bloomingdale, Ohio. Together they raised 12 children, and have 65 grandchildren. Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07252/815934-85.stm#ixzz0HIqjCOIT&B

Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality. Romans 12:9-13 We see “goodness” all around us, usually without trying too hard. Obviously, though, there's a lot of evil, sick, twisted, and just plain bad stuff in the world too. Perhaps it’s time to change the lens we've been looking...