Politics

[Brent in Az]

I am not claiming to defend God. I just can't picture Jesus chumming up to some super rich guy who cheats on his wife with porn stars. Christ didn't have much use for the money changers in the Temple as I recall. But maybe I just have a twisted "liberal" perception of what was written in the Gospels.

The Apostles migrated to all parts of the world to spread the Good News, often to places where they were very unwelcome. Unwelcome enough to get killed. Illegal immigrants? In the context of the times maybe they were. And why did they go? Because Christ told them to. Like he told them to shed their wealth and love everyone no matter their color, race, or religious affiliation. Jesus Christ was the definition of a liberal. If you don't know that then you flunked Sunday School.

Clearly, the stuff Trump says and does, especially on his social media platform, demonstrates below average intelligence. Judging by his actions and his words (of very few syllables), his IQ may not be the level of mentally handicapped, but the bar cannot be far below him. I mean really, would a person with ANY common sense or reasonable intellectual capacity do this stuff? Unscrew your conservative blinders.

You really have no room to accuse someone else of below average intelligence and IQ.

 

[Wishfulthinker580]

I am not claiming to defend God. I just can't picture Jesus chumming up to some super rich guy who cheats on his wife with porn stars. Christ also didn't have much use for the money changers in the Temple as I recall. But maybe I just have a twisted "liberal" perception of what was written in the Gospels.

The Apostles migrated to all parts of the world to spread the Good News, often to places where they were very unwelcome. Unwelcome enough to get killed. Illegal immigrants? In the context of the times maybe they were. And why did they go? Because Christ told them to. Like he told them to shed their wealth and love everyone no matter their color, race, or religious affiliation. Jesus Christ was the definition of a liberal. If you don't know that then you flunked Sunday School.

Clearly, the stuff Trump says and does, especially on his social media platform, demonstrates below average intelligence. Judging by his actions and his words (of very few syllables), his IQ may not be the level of mentally handicapped, but the bar cannot be far below him. I mean really, would a person with ANY common sense or reasonable intellectual capacity do this stuff? Unscrew your conservative blinders.

Also, Christ was angry about the money changers taking advantage of people and defiling the Temple. Doesn’t have a thing to do with wealth..

As far as personal character goes (the following would only be applicable if I believed Trump was really saved and I’ve already said I don’t think that’s the case) Moses committed murder, David committed adultery and murder, Paul persecuted and killed Christians.. The Bible is replete with God using imperfect people to do His will.

 

[Ontario Hunter]

If you’re referring to submission to governing authorities, and paying taxes, then please justify American independence

Anyway, Romans was written by a post-Crucifixion preacher. God spoke to him once during a near fatal episode of sun stroke. And only one sentence as I recall. The rest was Paul's take on things needed to keep Christianity going. I'm always cautious about taking his Letters literally as God's word.

The founding fathers emphasized separation of church and state. The present administration's attempts to blend the two would NOT be welcome ... even if the attempts were not so blatantly tasteless and ... stupid.

 

[Aaron N]

I am. You are to submit to governing authorities wherever you find yourself. You are supposed to obey the laws of the land unless and until they go against God, and even then violence is not the answer. Hot take here, I don’t believe the colonists had a biblical justification for the Revolution .

I honestly really appreciate this response, and how you didn’t try to twist your faith to suit your agenda. I respect that very much!

 

[Wishfulthinker580]

Anyway, Romans was written by a post-Crucifixion preacher. God spoke to him once during a near fatal episode of sun stroke. And only one sentence as I recall. The rest was Paul's take on things needed to keep Christianity going. I'm always cautious about taking his Letters literally as God's word.

The founding fathers emphasized separation of church and state. The present administration's attempts to blend the two would NOT be welcome ... even if the attempts were not so blatantly tasteless and ... stupid.

Wow. Just straight deny nearly half of the New Testament. Pretty convenient for an argument. Must come in handy explaining liberal theology.

I have a sneaking suspicion that if the shoe were on the other foot you’d be saying “the Bible clearly says obey authorities, just read Romans 13!!”…..

 

[Ontario Hunter]

Also, Christ was angry about the money changers taking advantage of people and defiling the Temple. Doesn’t have a thing to do with wealth..

As far as personal character goes (the following would only be applicable if I believed Trump was really saved and I’ve already said I don’t think that’s the case) Moses committed murder, David committed adultery and murder, Paul persecuted and killed Christians.. The Bible is replete with God using imperfect people to do His will.

Imperfect people who repented. When has Trump ever admitted to making a mistake ... about anything? He had plenty of opportunity to admit the Jesus Trump thing was an impulsive screw up. Instead his response was "Oh ... uh ... that was just me as a doctor ... uh ... a Red Cross doctor ... yeah, that's it ... a Red Cross doctor." I think the Red Cross does good work helping people in need but I've never seen anyone praying to a Red Cross doctor with a halo wearing robes and magical powers in his hands. They wear white coats and do their work with microscopes and surgical tools. Come on, Donald. Is that the best you can come up with? How about trying the truth for a change. The problem with narcissist psychopaths is they cannot acknowledge they can be wrong. It's the nature of the disease.

 

[Wishfulthinker580]

I honestly really appreciate this response, and how you didn’t try to twist your faith to suit your agenda. I respect that very much!

Thanks. I’m not perfect but I try to be objective. There’s a lot of conflation and misuse that occurs on each side.

 

[Wishfulthinker580]

Imperfect people who repented. When has Trump ever admitted to making a mistake ... about anything? He had plenty of opportunity to admit the Jesus Trump thing was an impulsive screw up. Instead his response was "Oh ... uh ... that was just me as a doctor ... uh ... a Red Cross doctor ... yeah, that's it ... a Red Cross doctor." I think the Red Cross does good work helping people in need but I've never seen anyone praying to a Red Cross doctor with a halo wearing robes and magical powers in his hands. They wear white coats and do their work with microscopes and surgical tools. Come on, Donald. Is that the best you can come up with? How about trying the truth for a change. The problem with narcissist psychopaths is they cannot acknowledge they can be wrong. It's the nature of the disease.

Read my post again. I literally said the following was only applicable if I believed Trump was truly saved.

By the way God also used plenty of unconverted people in the Bible to do His will as well.

 

[Ontario Hunter]

Wow. Just straight deny nearly half of the New Testament. Pretty convenient for an argument. Must come in handy explaining liberal theology

No "denial." I merely said I'm cautious about reading too much into Paul. For example, I don't care much for his ordering wives to subjugate themselves to husbands. Gender equality, or at least mutual respect, seems to be what Christ advocated.

 

[KJE81]

Those ships were removed to protect them before the strikes began. Do some of you guys even realize the size of the Persian Gulf? I love how everyone spouts off about the US military without any working knowledge!

I am sorry, I confess that I have never sailed in the Persian Gulf and just assumed that it was big enough for those ships to be able to hide from the iranians, like behind Bahrein, in the Gulf of Salwah of something like that.

 

[Wishfulthinker580]

No "denial." I merely said I'm cautious about reading too much into Paul. For example, I don't care much for his ordering wives to subjugate themselves to husbands. Gender equality, or at least mutual respect, seems to be what Christ advocated.

See there we ago again. Reading liberal ideology into the Bible. You obviously need to dust off your Bible, read Ephesians 5: 21-33. It does say wives should submit and be respectful. Completely in line with the entirety of Scripture. You need to especially focus on verses 21 and 25-33. 1 Peter touches on the subject also, I’ve guess you’ve got a problem with Peter now too? Might be a problem since you can’t critique him the same way you did Paul.

While you’re at it, put your doctorate level research skills to work and look up exegesis versus eisegesis..

 

[skydiver386]

Well, I see this morning Trump is playing with his Photoshop again. This time he's posted an AI generated image of Jesus embracing him. Caption was "God plays his Trump card." Maybe not as crazy as pretending to be God incarnate, but genuinely stupid. Yep, I'm sure Christ would wrap his arms around a philandering billionaire who persecutes impoverished immigrants. Somehow I just can't picture that happening. Do what ya gotta do, Donald, but leave God out of it. Man, is he stupid ... with a capital S.

Why would you care? You obviously don't believe in Christianity.

 

[AJ Peacock]

The founding fathers emphasized separation of church and state. The present administration's attempts to blend the two would NOT be welcome ... even if the attempts were not so blatantly tasteless and ... stupid.

I believe the term/usage of "Separation of Church and State" came from Thomas Jeffereson. The founders were interested in protecting religion from state interference. They were not interested in removing religion from all government discussion. They certainly based much of their writings and our structure on Christian tradition/moral guidance. I truly don't think they would be offended by the administrations mentions of religion/Christian tradition.

I would guess that Biden naming Easter Sunday as "Transgender Visibility Day" would offend the Founders more than the "mentions of Christian items".

One thing that you and I would likely agree on, is that Trump is an Arse. I agree with his policies, but I see his behaviors as reprehensible and assinine.

AJ

 

[PHOENIX PHIL]

No "denial." I merely said I'm cautious about reading too much into Paul. For example, I don't care much for his ordering wives to subjugate themselves to husbands. Gender equality, or at least mutual respect, seems to be what Christ advocated.

2 Timothy 2:16 says,
"All Scripture is breathed out by God."

You can't pick and choose which passages in the Bible are true. You either accept it all or you don't. There's no in between here.

To do so you are now playing God. The temptation to be like God is what got Adam and Eve into trouble to start with.

 

[Wishfulthinker580]

2 Timothy 2:16 says,
"All Scripture is breathed out by God."

You can't pick and choose which passages in the Bible are true. You either accept it all or you don't. There's no in between here.

To do so you are now playing God. The temptation to be like God is what got Adam and Eve into trouble to start with.

I agree 100%. Thought about stating that but since he already said he doesn’t trust Paul I didn’t because Paul wrote that.

 

[Ontario Hunter]

See there we ago again. Reading liberal ideology into the Bible. You obviously need to dust off your Bible, read Ephesians 5: 21-33. It does say wives should submit and be respectful. Completely in line with the entirety of Scripture. You need to especially focus on verses 21 and 25-33. 1 Peter touches on the subject also, I’ve guess you’ve got a problem with Peter now too?

While you’re at it, put your doctorate level research skills to work and look up exegesis versus eisegesis..

Scholars still debate whether Peter actually authored the two books. He was supposed to have been a humble fisherman, and at that time very few in the general laboring population were literate. The language was also Greek not Hebrew. Perhaps he had a scribe with him during his travels. Anyway the sections you cited exhort women to submit to their husbands while husbands are merely directed to respect their wives. There seems to be a difference between blind submission and showing respect. The difference being that the husband must always be the boss but act with benevolence. There is no implication of equality. Quite the contrary.

 

[Wishfulthinker580]

Scholars still debate whether Peter actually authored the two books. He was supposed to have been a humble fisherman, and at that time very few in the general laboring population were literate. The language was also Greek not Hebrew. Perhaps he had a scribe with him during his travels. Anyway the sections you cited exhort women to submit to their husbands while husbands are merely directed to respect their wives. There seems to be a difference between blind submission and showing respect. The difference being that the husband must always be the boss but act with benevolence. There is no implication of equality. Quite the contrary.

Some modern ones do (wrongly).

They all spoke Greek to some degree at this time.. It was the lingua Franca of the day/region (the eastern Mediterranean/eastern part of the Roman Empire). On top of speaking Aramaic (the lingua franca of Galilee) and Hebrew (language of the Torah and home). No doubt they knew a touch of Latin as well. Doesn’t sound too ignorant to me.

Also, it was written some 30 years after Christ. That’s a long time for him to grow. As long as he dictated what is written I don’t see a problem (like when Paul may have had a little help due to his eyesight) but I see you like to attack any Scripture you disagree with instead of letting it speak.

Did you look up exegesis versus eisegesis like I asked? Because that’s literally all you are doing (eisegesis)…. Wives are to submit to their husbands as Christians are to submit to Christ. Christ is the head of the Church and the husband is the head of the household. It’s quite simple until you read liberal ideology into it. Theologically speaking, if you extrapolate your view then Christians would be equal to Christ…

You also need to read Acts 4. The rulers marveled at Peter and John and their speaking (knowing who and what they were). Are you going to argue with Luke now too? An educated doctor at that time?

 

[Ontario Hunter]

2 Timothy 2:16 says,
"All Scripture is breathed out by God."

You can't pick and choose which passages in the Bible are true. You either accept it all or you don't. There's no in between here.

To do so you are now playing God. The temptation to be like God is what got Adam and Eve into trouble to start with.

I pick and choose the two later Commandments upon which all others are built. Unfortunately God did not publish. He left it to men who are by nature imperfect. Without the seven deadly sins humans would not have survived as a species. But as Christ tried to tell us, we are beyond animals now and no longer need to be ruled by animal instincts to survive. And yes, God is fine with me believing in fossils instead of Adam and Eve. As long as I hold to the two Commandments above all others. I believe that non-Christians can still be "saved" as long as they are willing to forgive and follow the Golden Rule. Indeed, the best Christian acting person I know never goes to church. Ward would give you the shirt off his back if you asked for it. No, he'd give it without you asking if he thought you needed it. The gates of heaven will be open wide for him. But I know a lot of phonies whose ability to quote scripture won't get them past the doorway.

 

[Tanks]

No one could complain about a 911 in the driveway.

When I was doing a project in Southern CA some time ago I rented a house. I got a letter from the HOA that my 911 was on the same spot on the driveway too long as the limit was 48 hours. I told them I traveled for work and they should pound sand. I wasn't going to have someone come and move it from one side of the driveway to the other.

 

[Wishfulthinker580]

I pick and choose the two later Commandments upon which all others are built. Unfortunately God did not publish. He left it to men who are by nature imperfect. Without the seven deadly sins humans would not have survived as a species. But as Christ tried to tell us, we are beyond animals now and no longer need to be ruled by animal instincts to survive. And yes, God is fine with me believing in fossils instead of Adam and Eve. As long as I hold to the two Commandments above all others. I believe that non-Christians can still be "saved" as long as they are willing to forgive and follow the Golden Rule. Indeed, the best Christian acting person I know never goes to church. Ward would give you the shirt off his back if you asked for it. No, he'd give it without you asking if he thought you needed it. The gates of heaven will be open wide for him. But I know a lot of phonies whose ability to quote scripture won't get them past the doorway.

None of that is in line with Scripture. Period. I seriously doubt God is fine with you calling him a liar…

I find it hard to believe that a person who doubts the veracity of all Scripture and says things that are completely antithetical to what Scripture teaches actually claims to be a Christian..