First line to always start at fixed location independent of anything that comes before it

Question

I created my MWE with the help of this Q&A.

Issue:

I think it works great, the only issue is that the length down from the top of the page that the lipsum paragraph starts at in the first page is where I would also like the section starts. I didn't know how to show this, but if you look at the space between hrulefill and where Nulla vs. Section starts, there's a spatial difference.

Goal:

Ultimately, I want every line that starts after the "table" at the top of the page to be starting at the same place. I don't know if I should keep playing with \gotohalf or if I should use a different pkg or something.

MWE:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[left=1.25in, top=1in, right=0.85in, bottom=1in]{geometry}
\usepackage{lipsum}
\usepackage{setspace}
\linespread{1.6}

\newcommand*{\gotohalf}{%
  \par
  \begingroup
     \dimen0=\pagegoal
     \advance\dimen0 by -.9\pagetotal
     \advance\dimen0 by -.5\textheight
     \ifdim\dimen0<0pt %
      % space left is smaller than half the text height
      \newpage
       \setlength{\topskip}{0pt}%
     %   \vspace*{.5\textheight}%  
       \vspace{-\parskip}%
    \else
       \vspace{\dimen0}%
    \fi
   \endgroup
 }

\begin{document}
\begin{flushleft}
    \begin{minipage}{3in}
        \begin{tabular}{ | p{2.5in}|}
           \hline \\
           \MakeUppercase{Rachel}, \\
           \hfill\emph{Wife of Jacob}. \\ 
           \MakeUppercase{Esther}, \\
           \hfill\emph{Queen to Xerxes}. \\
           \leavevmode\\ \hline
        \end{tabular}
    \end{minipage}
    \begin{minipage}{3.3in}
        \begin{tabular}{ p{3in} }
            Question: \leavevmode\\
            \vspace{12pt} \\
            \begin{spacing}{1}\bf{\lipsum[1]}\end{spacing} \leavevmode\\
        \end{tabular}
    \end{minipage}
 \end{flushleft}

 \gotohalf
 \hrulefill
 \par \lipsum[3]

 \newpage
 \begin{flushleft}
    \begin{minipage}{3in}
        \begin{tabular}{ | p{2.5in}|}
           \hline \\
           \MakeUppercase{Rachel}, \\
           \hfill\emph{Wife of Jacob}. \\ 
           \MakeUppercase{Esther}, \\
           \hfill\emph{Queen to Xerxes}. \\
           \leavevmode\\ \hline
        \end{tabular}
    \end{minipage}
    \begin{minipage}{3.3in}
        \begin{tabular}{ p{3in} }
           Question: \leavevmode\\
            \vspace{12pt} \\
            \begin{spacing}{1}\bf{\lipsum[1]}\end{spacing} \leavevmode\\
        \end{tabular}
    \end{minipage}
\end{flushleft}
\gotohalf
\hrulefill
\section{Section}
\end{document}

Output:

Answer 1

I guess you want

\noindent\hrulefill\par

so the rule doesn't start with the indentation.

You need to fool TeX into thinking that the section comes at the start of a page. This can be achieved with \nointerlineskip.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[left=1.25in, top=1in, right=0.85in, bottom=1in]{geometry}
\usepackage{lipsum}
\usepackage{setspace}
\linespread{1.6}

\newcommand*{\gotohalf}{%
  \par
  \begingroup
     \dimen0=\pagegoal
     \advance\dimen0 by -.9\pagetotal
     \advance\dimen0 by -.5\textheight
     \ifdim\dimen0<0pt %
      % space left is smaller than half the text height
      \newpage
       \setlength{\topskip}{0pt}%
     %   \vspace*{.5\textheight}%  
       \vspace{-\parskip}%
    \else
       \vspace{\dimen0}%
    \fi
   \endgroup
 }

\begin{document}
\begin{flushleft}
    \begin{minipage}{3in}
        \begin{tabular}{ | p{2.5in}|}
           \hline \\
           \MakeUppercase{Rachel}, \\
           \hfill\emph{Wife of Jacob}. \\ 
           \MakeUppercase{Esther}, \\
           \hfill\emph{Queen to Xerxes}. \\
           \leavevmode\\ \hline
        \end{tabular}
    \end{minipage}
    \begin{minipage}{3.3in}
        \begin{tabular}{ p{3in} }
            Question: \leavevmode\\
            \vspace{12pt} \\
            \begin{spacing}{1}\bf{\lipsum[1]}\end{spacing} \leavevmode\\
        \end{tabular}
    \end{minipage}
 \end{flushleft}

 \gotohalf
\noindent\hrulefill\par

\lipsum[3]

\newpage

\begin{flushleft}
    \begin{minipage}{3in}
        \begin{tabular}{ | p{2.5in}|}
           \hline \\
           \MakeUppercase{Rachel}, \\
           \hfill\emph{Wife of Jacob}. \\ 
           \MakeUppercase{Esther}, \\
           \hfill\emph{Queen to Xerxes}. \\
           \leavevmode\\ \hline
        \end{tabular}
    \end{minipage}
    \begin{minipage}{3.3in}
        \begin{tabular}{ p{3in} }
           Question: \leavevmode\\
            \vspace{12pt} \\
            \begin{spacing}{1}\bf{\lipsum[1]}\end{spacing} \leavevmode\\
        \end{tabular}
    \end{minipage}
\end{flushleft}

\gotohalf

\noindent\hrulefill\par

\nointerlineskip % <---- added

\section{Section}

\end{document}