Free Republic

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - More middle-class Americans will be able to work out their debts to the U.S. Internal Revenue Service because of changes in a tax payment forgiveness program, the agency announced on Monday. The "Offer in Compromise" program lets taxpayers negotiate agreements with the IRS to pay less than the full tax owed. The announced changes make the program more flexible for taxpayers, with some people able to pay off their debts faster, according to the IRS. The IRS announcement focused on the financial analysis used to determine which taxpayers qualify for an Offer in Compromise. Additionally, the program...

We need to start taking student loan debt seriously, both as a troubling moral issue and as a ticking economic time bomb. By some reports, student loan debt will exceed 1 trillion dollars this year, more than the credit card debt of all Americans. A whole generation of young Americans is at risk in this excessive borrowing. They fall further and further behind in “servicing their debt” because they have no way to keep up with the payments as many of them are unemployed or underemployed. They will delay starting marriage and families; they dare not take the risk of...

When I was 12 years old, I used to play tennis at a certain public park in the Bronx. One day it got back to me that a black fellow at the courts, whose name I forget, said, "Selwyn doesn't like black people." This raised my eyebrows. You see, I had never really thought about the man one way or the other. And what occupied my mind were forehands, backhands, topspin, and volleys, not race. So the only thing I could figure was that I was probably in a funk one day and didn't hear and acknowledge a greeting he...

LAST SUPPERI am Catholic, and along with other Christians, this weekend we are celebrating the Holiest of days. Unlike the so-called "religion of peace," which has filled the world with unspeakable violence and misery, we have a sense of humor and are actually not threatened. If something like this was done about the ROP, there would be car bombings, suicide bombings, carnage, and mass death. That is their worthless and bankrupt culture. To Christians everywhere, may you have a blessed Easter.

Bishop T.D. Jakes, pastor of The Potter's House in Dallas, Texas, has taken to national television to promote his new book, Let It Go, and to express his views regarding the Trayvon Martin case, which has attracted worldwide attention since details of the Florida teen's shooting death were made public. The minister, whose book deals with forgiveness, says, in light of such cases, "Forgiveness does not exonerate the perpetrator." In Let It Go: Forgive So You Can Be Forgiven, The Potter's House senior pastor speaks on the importance of forgiveness in living a full, happy life. Naturally, correspondents questioned Jakes...

A Manhattan charity worker who was nearly killed by a shopping cart pushed over a garage railing by teenage punks in October spoke publicly for the first time today -- expressing compassion for the pranksters who dropped the cart on her head. Marion Hedges, during a walk outside her Upper East Side apartment, said she hasn’t received an apology from the evil-doers. “I haven’t heard from them, but I wish them well,” Hedges said. “I do, because I feel very sorry for them.” “I don’t know that my son would do something like that or that his friends would do...

It has been nearly five years since I bade farewell to El Fasher, the provincial capital of North Darfur... There is, I have been told, an Eastern Orthodox tradition that glorifies the ascetic and contemplative serenity that is found in the wilderness in general and the desert in particular. When I reflect on the sand-swept austerity of Darfur and the spiritual wealth that abounded there, I begin to comprehend that wisdom.... (in a talk with a peacekeeper from Rwanda, the author is told) “Our horror started through hate and indifference. It has ended with love and forgiveness. That is a...

As no one has yet done so, it seemed right to post a thread for the virtual version of the exchange of forgiveness at the end of Forgiveness Vespers. If anyone who has the Orthodox ping list ventures onto the thread, ping the others. Wishing all a blessed and holy Great Lent. Struggle well!

Newt Gingrich’s standing ovation Thursday night, when he attacked CNN moderator John King for asking about allegations that Gingrich wanted an “open marriage” with his second wife, told us little about South Carolina but much about human nature. The query, for which King has been exhaustively critiqued, was both necessary and inevitable. Forget the elephant in the living room; it was the herd in the powder room. SNIP In a nutshell: The more you pick on a person for human failings with which all can identify, the more likely you will create sympathy rather than antipathy, especially if that individual...

Former Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour said Friday he's "very comfortable" with his decision to grant pardons or other clemency to more than 200 people, including convicted killers, in his last days in office, telling Fox News that Mississippi is predominantly Christian and believes in forgiveness. The pardons have set off outrage among some victims' families and prompted a judge to block the release of some of the pardoned inmates out of concern that proper notification rules were not followed. Barbour told Fox News that any problem with paperwork was an accident on the part of corrections officials, who needed to...

You are my children of light , you are my children of light , you are my children of light , and in this season of lights , let MY Light shine through you , for MY SEASON NEVER ENDS ! Truly this is a season of lights , but we are to be lights for Christ Jesus in an open season and heaven for him ! Isaiah 60 The Gentiles Bless Zion 1 Arise, shine; For your light has come! And the glory of the LORD is risen upon you. 2 For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth,...

1. The precious blood of Christ has a REDEEMING POWER. It redeems from the law. We were all under the law which says, "This do, and live." We were slaves to it: Christ has paid the ransom price, and the law is no longer our tyrant master. We are entirely free from it. The law had a dreadful curse; it threatened that whosoever should violate one of its precepts, should die: "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us." By the fear of this curse, the law inflicted a continual dread on...

G-d, I need your guidance. I grieve for all the victims of September 11th. My heart is filled with pain, and with anger at the terrorists responsible for the horrible crimes committed on that day. But I know that you teach us to forgive those who sin. In the Bible you often tell us that you are a G-d who is slow to anger, merciful and forgiving. We are supposed to imitate you and adopt Your behavior as guidelines for our own personal conduct. Does that really mean that no matter how difficult it is, I have to tell myself...

...The nation's longest-serving governor noted that this "loving and personal God desires not a show of religion but a deep connection with our innermost being. … His agenda is not a political agenda. His agenda is a salvation agenda." God, he said, is wise enough not to be affiliated with any political party. [Rick] Perry read three passages of Scripture: from Joel 2, Isaiah 40 ("They'll soar on wings like eagles"), and Ephesians 3. He closed his morning remarks with a prayer. "Father, our heart breaks for America," Perry prayed. "We see discord at home, we see fear in the...

Reporting from Houston— Beneath the dome of an air-conditioned football stadium and a cloud of controversy, Texas Gov. Rick Perry will lead thousands of Christian fundamentalists in seven hours of prayer and fasting Saturday on behalf of a "nation in crisis." "This isn't about me," Perry said. "It's about Jesus." [snip] Late last month, a federal judge in Houston rejected a lawsuit by an atheist group which had sought to prevent Perry from taking part, claiming it violated the separation of church and state. Civil liberties organizations are protesting both the exclusionary nature of the Christians-only program and the sponsors...

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — An Iranian woman who was blinded by a suitor who threw acid on her face has pardoned her attacker at the last minute, sparing him from being blinded by acid as retribution. ... this is an excerpt, as per the rules

He's Alive and I'm Forgiven! Heaven's Gates are Open Wide!

† In Passione et Morti Dómini ~ The Passion and Death of the Lord † Statio ad S. Crucem in Jerusalem ~ Station at Holy Cross in Jerusalem † Statio ad S. Joannem in Laterano ~ Station at Saint John Lateran † 2 April 2010 Anno Dómini D uring the late Middle Ages, when pagan Muslim occupation of the Holy Land prevented devout pilgrims from visiting Christianity's Most Sacred Sites, the faithful made replicas of those Holy Sites in Western and Eastern Europe, where they would come to pray. Medieval Christians sought greater detail about the Passion of the...

Sometimes, when a major feast is approaching that requires a lot of preparation, it can be a bit difficult to think past it, to the preparations that are needed for what comes next. But we must not make that mistake with Easter and Divine Mercy Sunday, because, as momentous as the celebration of Easter is, the feast that comes right after it — The Feast of the Divine Mercy — is both vital and requires preparation. It might help us to start thinking of the Easter and Divine Mercy together, the way we automatically kind of join Christmas and New...

We all have been there. It’s a great day, everything is going fine, and then someone does something to hurt or offend us. Maybe, it’s a co-worker, our boss, a fellow student, a teacher, a clerk in the store, or even a member of our own family who says or does something that injures us physically, mentally, and/or emotionally. Our first instinct, usually, is to feel a bit surprised and angry. We are now at an important crossroads, a significant point of decision. We must now choose what our next response will be. At this “fork in the road,” we...