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If you were truly a thinking person, you would know that there are no absolutes. I have never stated that I know with certainty what will transpire. I simply made an observation that I've noticed things are becoming progressively more violent and behaviors that are destructive are now promoted as good.
No not really. You are assuming as society evolves the "good ole days™" were better than today. Well the good ole days we only had Tee Vee and newspapers and much of what we are exposed to today was not that visible back then. Today we are inundated with information and news and is almost immediate.
Take Obama's visit to SA. In the old days, you would know what happened a day after when reporters relied on telex machines or telegrams. Hell his flight to SA would have taken 5 days by way of refuelling stop overs. Now I report about police breaking up a demonstration via this medium as it happens.
Plus the population has probably doubled in my lifetime if not more. You and I would not even be conversing were it not for technological advances.
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Again, you need to stop thinking in terms of absolutes. Anyhow, I'll take you up on your challenge. Tell me about homosexuality, as you see it.
Natural, has been with us for eons. If you take the bible literally, it means way back when they existed and drat, they are still here. Somewhere along the line one expects folk to realise, they are born this way and do not choose to be so considering all the negative connotations they face in modern yet still backward society. They exist in Russia, in China, all over the world.
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Unless you have died and come back to life, you can't assure me of where I will end up, after I die. Everything that you think you know, may not necessarily be how things are. I'm willing to admit that I can't prove God's existence, I never claimed that I could. I have however chosen to be a believer. I know that evil certainly exists because it's all over the world, therefore, I believe that Goodness also exist, in its purest form.
I can state we will go to oblivion. It is a logical deduction as no one has come back to tell us one way or the other. Nothing to be scared of as it will be exactly like before you were born and even before you became self aware at 2-1/2 or so. All the faux proof like NDE's were/are a product of a living brain. We have more of them now thanks to science where a simple drowning no longer results in death as it was say 60 years ago.
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The binary of good and evil is actually embedded in everything that we do, whether we realize it or not. When one decides to rob, steal, murder, lie, cheat, etc what practices are they engaging in? Are these noble deeds? Conversely, when one decides to give to the poor, speak the truth, take care of the elderly, what type of deeds are these?
These traits are the product on an evolved society, no god is required. Many theists believe that w/o god they would have no morals. Well I became atheist and still have pretty much the same morals as I had as a theist. Even w/o silly threats of judgement, I did not go on a rampage. In fact I became more empathetic to people with different outlooks. I always was for gay folk as I tend to root for the little guy.
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Think about the action and then think about the ultimate impact that it has on the individual who is engaging in those activities.
Whatever people do that does not affect me directly has no bearing on my quality of life, marriage, existence. There is absolutely no reason for me to be opposed to that which does no harm to anyone. I think by now with all the HIV and AIDS education, if a gay man gets the disease, well tough ----, there should be no excuse. This is not the 80s anymore.
Tolerance is a two way street. Change is dynamic and we oldies should embrace it instead of seeing doom and gloom.
Humanity will survive in spite of humans.
I guess I was not really a good christian as I really could not hate the things/people others chose to hate, that includes blacks in my part of the world. The only thing I did hate was hypocrisy. There seems to be an abundance of that in xian circles.
There is no requirement to have children when you are married, and there is no requirement to be married to have children. Millions of children are born to single mothers every day.
True, there's no requirement, but when a man and a woman engage in sex, usually a child is created from the union. Of course various birth control can reduce the chances of procreation, but accidents still happen.
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Stable environment? Can you tell me which child is in stable environment:
A gay loving couple who are well enough to provide love and support for a child, by clothing, feeding, and sending him to a good school, attend all of his or her extra curricular activities, and go through the pains of growing up.
Or
An abusive heterosexual couple where a child witnesses the father beats on his wife, and beats up the kids; a parental unit that abuses drugs, steals property, lets their children drop out of school, and lets their children starve in favor of when they will get their next fix.
I love your example because it reveals a lot. In order for the homosexual couple to even compare against a heterosexual couple, the homosexual must be essentially perfect, loving, supportive and able to provide for the child. Conversely, the heterosexual couple needs to be dysfunctional (i.e. abusive, on drugs, non supportive, etc etc).
Herein is the problem. NONE of those scenarios in your example are ideal. The ideal is a stable/supportive mother and father. Instead of promoting homosexuality, society should be asking, how do we promote and encourage the ideal?
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So the concept of equality is only for the select few you deem to deserve it?
so "equality" is a "buzz" word?
sorry if you feel that equality shouldn't be deserved for EVERY citizen of the US.
Yes, equality is a buzz word because it gets a lot of people emotionally charged. Human beings have a tendency to react when they believe circumstances are unjust. This is a great attribute, but it can also stop us from looking at the larger picture, which is --every action is not equal. If you understand this, then you will understand why "equality" as it's used in relation to the homosexual marriage debate, serves no real purpose.
of course its about destroying the institution of marriage. Liberals wont admit that or they say "it will strengthen marriage" which I guess they mean to do so is to destroy it. Homosexuals have a different view as to what they call monogamous.
Like you straight people are all monogamous, give me a break, you guys cheat on each other all the time, you just lie to each other thinking that what your spouse does not know, wont hurt him/her. Why do you think you guys have a divorce rate over 55% for your first marriages and higher with your subsequent marriages.
Isn't it so silly that us gays are denied marriage to begin with, yet you straights can get married, get divorced, and get married again and again and again as many time as you wish and those rights, benefits etc just keep coming your way over and over. Some churches even let divorced people marry. It is like you are being rewarded for your failures and we are punished before we are even given a chance. Keep destroying the institution of marriage with all of your infidelities and keep blaming us for it, but everyone in the end knows the truth. The bias against gays is direct discrimination based on fear and prejudice, not logic. By the way, my relationship/marriage is going on 34 years this coming July 20th, if anything I am reinforcing the strength of marriage, not destroying it. But narrow minds cannot see past the fact we are both men and the type of sex they think we have. Which is really none of anyones business if we have sex or what kind we have. I don't give a hoot how you pork your wife, just don't do it where I can see it and I certainly do not fantasize about it or search all over the internet for it like some of you seem to do. Take the blame for the fault in your own marriages and stop blaming same sex marriage for it. If your marriage has any strength to it, it can survive anything, but if it is weak, it will fail at most anything.
No not really. You are assuming as society evolves the "good ole days™" were better than today. Well the good ole days we only had Tee Vee and newspapers and much of what we are exposed to today was not that visible back then. Today we are inundated with information and news and is almost immediate.
I am not assuming, I am basing my information off of reports. Are you actually stating that the same levels of homicide, murder, theft, rape, drug addiction, prostitution, homosexuality, etc existed 50 years ago?
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Take Obama's visit to SA. In the old days, you would know what happened a day after when reporters relied on telex machines or telegrams. Hell his flight to SA would have taken 5 days by way of refuelling stop overs. Now I report about police breaking up a demonstration via this medium as it happens.
The key difference is, a few years ago, actual news journalist did not give their opinion, they simply reported the news and it was up to the viewer to formulate their own opinion. Also, entertainment, such as Kim Kardashian's wedding, was not presented as vital news information.
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I can state we will go to oblivion. It is a logical deduction as no one has come back to tell us one way or the other. Nothing to be scared of as it will be exactly like before you were born and even before you became self aware at 2-1/2 or so. All the faux proof like NDE's were/are a product of a living brain. We have more of them now thanks to science where a simple drowning no longer results in death as it was say 60 years ago.
This is all very nice, but no one knows, until they actually experience death for themselves.
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These traits are the product on an evolved society, no god is required. Many theists believe that w/o god they would have no morals. Well I became atheist and still have pretty much the same morals as I had as a theist. Even w/o silly threats of judgement, I did not go on a rampage. In fact I became more empathetic to people with different outlooks. I always was for gay folk as I tend to root for the little guy.
It's not about passing judgement, it's about asking questions to better understand how we arrived at our current state. Also, I don't think homosexuals need any special assistance. They are no different than anyone else and should be treated according to their actions, not based on how they choose to identify or label themselves.
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Whatever people do that does not affect me directly has no bearing on my quality of life, marriage, existence. There is absolutely no reason for me to be opposed to that which does no harm to anyone. I think by now with all the HIV and AIDS education, if a gay man gets the disease, well tough ----, there should be no excuse. This is not the 80s anymore.
So one should never question things, if it doesn't directly impact them? I can't support actions, if there's no real value added from those actions. It's just a waste of time in the end, because the activity serves no real purpose. Kind of like a dog that chases its own tail.
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Tolerance is a two way street. Change is dynamic and we oldies should embrace it instead of seeing doom and gloom.
I'm all for change, but it should be beneficial change that produces some tangible positive outcome.
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I guess I was not really a good christian as I really could not hate the things/people others chose to hate, that includes blacks in my part of the world. The only thing I did hate was hypocrisy. There seems to be an abundance of that in xian circles.
Well good for you, just know that there are many folks who believe in God and do not have any hatred either.
Everything is actually playing out right before our eyes. The misguided however, do not have the ability to understand that what is presented to us (via media & entertainment, etc) on a daily basis, serves as an effective distraction from what is really unraveling, right before our eyes. But because you don't have the ability to see, you are blind to it, and will continue to remain blind, until you can no longer deny reality.
True, there's no requirement, but when a man and a woman engage in sex, usually a child is created from the union.
No, more often than not, no child is "created" from the union since, women in general are only fertile once a month. If women time perfectly, they can engage in sex, and not get pregnant.
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I love your example because it reveals a lot. In order for the homosexual couple to even compare against a heterosexual couple, the homosexual must be essentially perfect, loving, supportive and able to provide for the child. Conversely, the heterosexual couple needs to be dysfunctional (i.e. abusive, on drugs, non supportive, etc etc).
You didn't choose. Which example was more stable?
Instead you have to explain it away. Talk about avoiding the truth.
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Herein is the problem. NONE of those scenarios in your example are ideal.
and the real world has never been ideal.
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The ideal is a stable/supportive mother and father.
says who?
50% of marriages end in divorce after 3 years.
children from these marriages are often used as "weapons" against each parent.
most times, these children have to live between two households.
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Instead of promoting homosexuality, society should be asking, how do we promote and encourage the ideal?
The "ideal" here is to promote love and support, no matter if they are gay ,straight, brown, black, white, yellow, female, male, short, thin, tall, fat, handicap or not.
Yes, equality is a buzz word because it gets a lot of people emotionally charged. Human beings have a tendency to react when they believe circumstances are unjust. This is a great attribute, but it can also stop us from looking at the larger picture, which is --every action is not equal. If you understand this, then you will understand why "equality" as it's used in relation to the homosexual marriage debate, serves no real purpose.[/quote]
Isn't it so silly that us gays are denied marriage to begin with, yet you straights can get married, get divorced, and get married again and again and again as many time as you wish and those rights, benefits etc just keep coming your way over and over.
What's really crazy is, most of the world's population lives on less than 5 dollars a day, and there are millions of children who go to bed hungry every night. Why aren't our priorities in the right place? For some reason, no one wants to speak about real "equality."
It's even sillier that most of the world's population lives on less than 5 dollars a day, and there are millions of children who go to bed hungry every night. Why aren't our priorities in the right place?
Why don't you ask that of the GOP who think that legislating reproductive rights is more important than trying to pass bills that create jobs, fight marriage equality due to religious reasons, reduce taxes, and make life in general, easier for Americans.
talk about people who do not have their priorities in the right place.
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or search all over the internet for it like some of you seem to do. Take the blame for the fault in your own marriages and stop blaming same sex marriage for it. If your marriage has any strength to it, it can survive anything, but if it is weak, it will fail at most anything.