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Location: land of quail, bunnies, and red tail hawks
1,513 posts, read 3,387,379 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by boiseguy
My intent was NOT to make it personal... but why would you refrain from doing something righteous and benevolent? Wouldn't such acts be wonderful examples of what you stand for? To me.. that is the kind of stand that should take place outside of the family... not touting religious beliefs and imposing them on the masses.. there are common truths we all share about morals.. where christians, athiests, mormons, muslims etc...can come together on.. instead.. it seems meaningless if we can't put OUR personal stamp on it... we should be paying more attention to what we have in common.. rather than pushing issues that are petty.. and just further divide..
I agree with you wholeheartedly!
Just to clarify, I wouldn't refrain from doing something righteous and benevolent. I happen to think those acts will benefit others and make a difference, even if only in a small way. However, I'm not about to waste my time on something that is meaningless.
My personal stamp will involve Christianity. I'm not talking about the warped version of Christianity the media and many people on this forum like to portray, because I don't think that's true Christianity. However, I'm sure there will be parts of my version of Christianity you don't appreciate. In real life, I'd refrain from bashing you over the head with my beliefs, and I'd expect you to return the favor. Nonetheless, we both have the right and the responsibility to try to influence policymakers because we both think we're acting for the good of ourselves and others. I can appreciate sincere motives even if I disagree with the mindset behind the motives.
Edit: I misread your statement. I thought you said our acts of benevolence were meaningless if we couldn't put our personal stamp on them. Instead, I believe you're actually saying that we can't seem to agree on the common morals we all have unless we can put our personal stamp on them.
If that's, indeed, what you're saying I'm not sure I agree. I don't see how we can put a personal stamp on morals we believe all people have in common. However, I do believe we all possess an internal moral code that starts the same, but can manifest itself in different ways depending on our thought process and outside influences (family, culture, education, etc.).
Last edited by Blueberry; 11-05-2007 at 02:38 AM..
Reason: as stated in the post
Has America turned its back on God ? Is our country in a steadily moral decline? We have seen and heard prayer taken out of our schools in the sixties. The 70's we legalized murder and called it abortion. The 80's we are introduced us to HIV\AID and homosexuality became a topic of discussion and was accepted as an alternative lifestyle. The 90's we see a U.S. President break his marriage vows,by having an affair with an intern.In this century we see where the State of Massachusetts legalized gay marriage.The shows that are on T.V. are despicable.
I don't think America has turned its back on anything except some aspects of narrow-minded intolerance. There is room here for all kinds.
1.) Organized prayer has no place in a public school. Public schools are supposed to be for everyone, not just the religious. Want to pray in school? Send your child to a religious school.
2.) Don't like abortion? Don't have one. Also, you should support programs that reduce the number of abortions...like sex ed and reduced-cost/increased access to contraception.
3.) Don't like gays? Who cares? I mean, really; how intolerant does one have to be to discriminate against someone on the basis of who they have sex with? As long as everyone's over 18 and consents, who cares what they do behind closed doors?
4.) Bill Clinton is FAR from the first politician to screw around on his wife and he won't be the last. Even Republicans do it. Heck, even church leaders do it.
5.) Why shouldn't gays be allowed to form the same kind of legal union that heterosexuals enjoy? Who are you to deny them that right?
America turning it's back on god is an absurd concept.
It's unfortunate that there are so many who believe placing restrictions on sexual behavior, as if they are a cure all, somehow makes the country more appealling in god's eye.
Sexual restrictions do not improve anyone's life. They do not require any effort, tax money, administration, etc. Sexual restrictions merely affirm the righteousness and the powerful influence on all of society from the religious right. This also removes the idea of people taking personal responsibilty for their own lives. Sexual behavior should be a private affair of the individual, not a public issue.
Clinton cheated on his wife. That affair had absolutely no effect on his policies in governing. Had we not known about the affair, we wouldn't have noticed any difference in the policies of governing.
Looking at other issues from a moral perspective (of turning to or away from god) there are opportunities to actually improve the lives of many. Issues such as poverty, exploitation, torture, war and injustice certainly should be analyzed more closely, because those matters often involve pain, undue hardship, if not the difference between life or death.
By focusing on sexual behavior, as distractions, all the other issues are, for the most part, ignored. Maybe god isn't all that obsessed with human sexual behavior as the christian right moralists likes to believe he is. If this was true, then the Taliban, above all others, would certainly be greatly admired by god.
Last edited by Visvaldis; 11-05-2007 at 08:40 AM..
If sexual practices, be they homosexual or heterosexual were more accepted and discussed openly, we'd not have had a pandemic of HIV/AID but rather a contained infectious disease, and one that did not spread itself through this country's population, and internationally.
The decline is in not understanding proclivities not their existence. Former President RR had much to do with denial!
Quote:
Originally Posted by noland123
The 80's we are introduced us to HIV\AID and homosexuality became a topic of discussion and was accepted as an alternative lifestyle.
Oh yea about 100,000 people died in Iraq thanks to the Christian Crusader, is that ok? I guess its ok
Saddam Hussein was a Christian? I didn't know that....
But you're right that untold thousands have been killed - BY SADDAM! Secret police, torture, murders, targeted assassinations, chemical weapons and the destruction of wetlands so he could destroy the food sources of rival groups ~ just some of the methods Saddam. Did ya' forget about that??? Hmmm? Did ya??
I believe the truth of the Bible, when the psalmist says, "The wicked shall be turned into hell and all the nations that forget God." How can anyone expect Almighty God to bless a country that has lost it's moral direction, has embraced secular humanism and moral relativism, legalized abortion, is in the process of legalizing same sex marriage, allows the transmission of immoral and profane tv programs into American homes, encourages early sexual activity and promiscuity, materialism, values of power and greed, glorifies violence in movies and entertainment, accepts in the name of free speech all kinds of profane blasphemy against the name of God(TV entertainers openly condemn Christian values which conflict with the free hedonistic values of our declining culture) and so forth.... As it has been shown throughout history, cultures that become corrupted by their own success, embrace immorality, homosexuality, and other vices, become by nature weak and chaotic. We as a nation will be eventually destroyed. God may delay His judgment for awhile, but it will come upon us inevitably.
and nations with too many ties to too strong of a religion have either fallen or faced revolution as well. the world was just about as corrupt when religion was at it's apex as it is now. what happens depends on the choices people make, and it's obvious that religion isn't any incentive to do the right thing either.
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