It didn’t work Ricky.
There was some discussion on yesterdays Politics thread about my comment about Trump saying the Bible verse that influenced him was “an eye for an eye”. I mentioned that I think he misinterpreted it. Donna says, “Ya think?”
Actually, No.
I doubt that Trump is aware of anything in the Bible. He has always been too busy making money and chasing women.
A man has to set priorities, you know.
NC representatives passed a law, HB-27 negating a law the city of Charlotte made that allows transgendered people (read ‘men “) to use women’s rest rooms. State Attorney General Roy Cooper says he will not enforce HB-27.
Roy Cooper plans to run for governor on the Democratic ticket.
🙂 A letter to the editor in today’s Times-News
This hullabaloo about the “bathroom bill” is pure politics. One wonders whether Attorney General Roy Cooper has considered that every time a lady goes into a booth in a public restroom and finds the seat up, he just lost another vote”.
Cirque du Soleil, a Canadian co., has canceled its NC performance but tickets are still on sale for their Russian tour:
Moscow, RU | Now Playing Luzhniki Palace of Sports
On sale now
St-Petersburg, RU | Opens on April 27, 2016 Ice Palace
On sale now
Kazan, RU | Opens on May 11, 2016 TatNeft Arena
On sale now
Chelyabinsk, RU | Opens on May 18, 2016 Tractor Ice Palace
On sale now
Togliatti, RU | Opens on May 25, 2016 Lada Arena
On sale now
Sochi, RU | Opens on June 02, 2016 Lada Arena
On sale now
From their website:
United Arab Emirates
Although Cirque du Soleil is a Canadian entertainment company based in Montreal (QC), its various shows and performances are held all over the world. Cirque du Soleil has made many stops in a various number of places while on tour; thrilling audiences, bringing wonder and delighting spectators all around the world (100 million in over 300 cities on five continents). Over the past years, Cirque du Soleil has had shows in various countries such as United Arab Emirates and many others…
“The number of children apprehended on the U.S. border attempting to immigrate illegally has surged more than 1,200 percent since 2011 and the number of these children crossing the border during 2016 could be another record, according to a newly released government report.
The number of unaccompanied alien children (UACs) illegally crossing the U.S. border “has increased sharply” since 2011, with a surge of more than 1,200 percent just between 2011 and 2014, according to the Congressional Research Service. The agency also disclosed that the flow has increasing significantly in the first five months of fiscal 2016.
The illegal immigration of these children hit record-breaking numbers in 2014, with U.S. officials apprehending more than 52,000 alien children. Nearly 20,000 have been apprehended in the first five months of 2016, setting the stage for another potentially record-breaking year.”
———————————-
They’re coming unaccompanied because they already have a parent illegally here.
“The Syrian-origin Swedish passport holder arrested in Belgium last week for his involvement in the Brussels bomb attacks is a former poster boy for Sweden’s efforts at integrating migrants into their society.
Now accused of murder, and captured on CCTV cameras carrying bags which contained the explosive devices which killed 32 civilians, Islamist Osama Krayem had once been hailed as a model of integration. A former employee of the city of Malmo, at the age of 11 Osama starred in a documentary about migrants in Sweden.
Both of Osama’s parents are Syrian migrants to Sweden, and have told tabloid Aftonbladet they wanted to see their son integrate into Swedish society. The family featured in a 2005 documentary called ‘Without Borders — A Film About Sport And Integration’, in which football-mad Krayem demonstrated how the Malmo football team had helped him settle into Swedish society.
The club had run an integration project, encouraging local migrant youth to play football. Club marketing manager Christer Girke said of the programme: “We wanted to show the importance of integration… the boys were to go to the association to see what the other Swedes did and get to know the [football] associations were important, how it can be a gateway to jobs and much more”.
At the time of the film’s release, he had told local media: “90 percent of our members have a migrant background, as this integration is something I think a lot about. With this project we want to take responsibility for the society we all be living in formed. And how we are formed as people”.”
—————————-
Bruce Springsteen says he won’t perform for North Carolina, as long as the state upholds its recently passed law regarding gender and public restrooms. Springsteen is doing what millions of Americans are taught, in classrooms and in culture, to do: Standing up for his conscience, and drawing lines accordingly. But in our era, the question becomes: If this is counted to Springsteen as righteousness, why is it counted as sin to North Carolina?
It worked twice. We successfully seceded from both King George III and Santa Anna. The Lincoln deal didn’t work quite as well. However, on April 15, 1865 Lincoln was dead and Texas was still virtually completely free of federal troops. I think we can call that one a draw.
The North Carolina and Mississippi cases show that the national religion of the U.S. is the Cult of Perversion. Christians have to beware of offending Muslims in Saudi Arabia and Iraq. Christians have to beware of offending perverts in the US. In Muslim countries you can lose your life. In the US you will only lose your livelihood.
That book I am reading, Answering Jihad, talks about some of the roots of the Islamic Reformation (return to its roots of Quran and hadith without the mellowing interpretations of centuries of judges and teachers) taking off from a guy who spent a few years as a student in Colorado where he was repelled by Western behavior. Others took off in the 1700’s when various folk saw the beginnings of the industrial revolution and where that was headed. So it makes sense, take a guy in and let him see how things are, if he is repelled by the perversion of society, would want a better way. Tell him that Islam is a religion of peace, not something Muslims claim, and he will want to check into it. Give him the internet so he can go straight to the sources and he quickly can become a radical. I do recommend this book for a better understanding of why we see nice pleasant family Muslims and contrast that with some of what is happening. There really are Muslims who are so far from the original that they are nearly noncomparable. But the beginnings are still the beginnings and if you go back to that, it is not good.
We did the same with the Reformation. Trying to get back to what the Bible said rather than centuries of tradition. But the Bible is not teaching us to kill our neighbor or extract tax from him.
Well, Ricky, which is preferable, to lose your livelihood or your life?
Mumsee, not that I’m trying to say that Christianity and Islam are comparable as regards their religious merits, but the Reformation in Europe did lead to a lot of bloodshed, and it wasn’t by any means all shed by the Catholics. The Protestants could be just as violent and ruthless, especially when they found themselves in power. Bloody conflicts in which both sides took part such as the Thirty Years War and English Civil War are what exhausted Europe into granting freedom of religion and finally detaching religion from political power. The U.S. has prided itself on being the most perfect detachment, although such religious and political freedom appeared in Europe almost simultaneously. It was a utopia which had never yet been created.
Greece and Rome may only have half believed in their deities by the time their peak of prosperity was reached; but they still had state religions, even if they were syncretized with the religions of the conquered cultures of their empires. The Jews were pretty much alone in sticking to their unadulterated national religion; but their hypocritical attachment to worldly prosperity (recall how they plotted to kill Jesus in order to keep their position with Rome in John 11:48) prevented them from accepting the coming of Christ. Their rejection of Him resulted in their destruction by their pagan overlords (Matthew 21:40-43). Christians at that time, who came from every nation under Rome, were considered a weird sect among many other sects, and were persecuted because they, unlike the other sects, would not syncretize their worship of God with worship of the emperor. They accepted the risk of Christ which the Jews rejected and lived as outcasts subject to the whims of capricious rulers who did or did not persecute as they saw fit. Yet they prospered, even when they individually suffered loss and died; and as a body they continued to grow until they attracted the favourable attention of the emperor Constantine.
Protestants like to point to Constantine’s conversion as the point at which the Church began to become Catholic. That is too simple an explanation, but it is true that the Church began to become more and more attached to outward forms and traditions as it became bound up in the state. Charlemagne, not Constantine, was probably the emperor who finally made the Church the state; having himself crowned by Rome’s bishop and being declared Holy Roman Emperor, despite the fact that he was polygamous and massacred pagans who didn’t convert. At that horrible compromise, the Catholic Church began its long, slow death until the Reformation.
Although the Protestants argued that men should be free to read the Scriptures for themselves, they did not detach Christianity from the state. It was the Baptists who argued for complete freedom of religion, even for those who were not of any Christian denomination; for which, even in colonial America, they were persecuted to the point of death. As I said, eventually, the religio-political struggles exhausted the West to granting freedom of religion. Nevertheless, some form of Christianity still held sway, too often a hypocritical variety which echoed the Jews’ attachment to the prosperity of the Roman Emperor. There is little to chose between the prosperous politician who attends church for votes and a member of the Sanhedrin who gives alms in the temple to be seen of men.
Now two different forces are threatening that ‘Christian’ prosperity and continuity. One is from outside, the threat of radical Islam; the other is from inside, bred from too much prosperity (Ezekiel 16:49-50), the ‘”New Morality” in which immorality is called good and those who oppose it are called evil. The instinctive reaction is to protect that prosperity at all costs, whether by closing the borders to those who may become a threat, or by wielding a still considerable political influence to pass protective laws; but in so doing, we run the danger of doing what the Jews did, that of rejecting the call of the Christ. He calls us out of our normal lives, telling us we cannot serve God and mammon (Matthew 6:24), telling us to love our enemies and to do good to those who hate us (Matthew 5:44), telling us to put up our swords (Matthew 26:52), telling us to walk by faith and not by sight. In other words, we will die if we seek to save our prosperity and our lives (Mark 8:35); but if we lose all of that in following Christ, we will find all that we seek (Luke 18:29)
I’m really not worried about protecting prosperity. However, I would like to remove my state from the Sodomite States of America. I really don’t like the idea of male perverts going to the bathroom with my granddaughters.
… So all this to say, Trump’s selection of a verse isn’t a bad one, in that all Scripture is for our edification. His exegesis of the verse was wrong, because the principle is about limiting vengeance in secular contexts. Having said that, the principle of limiting our vengeance is one we would all do well to learn. And in our personal lives, inspired by Jesus, we should limit our vengeance all the more.
Jesus provokes us to examine our own heart. Have we always been generous with our wealth? Have we shared with those in need? Do we help everyone, or just those who we deem “worthy” of help? Or do we even help them? Do we forgive insults or stew on them? When people make demands of us, do we patiently endure, or do we become indignant and defensive?
We mocked Trump for his favorite verse, but are we sure his misinterpretation doesn’t match ours? Are we sure we’re not as vengeful and spiteful? The fact is that Trump doesn’t do what Jesus says to do. Neither do you. Neither do I. We do not follow the Law as Jesus tells us to follow it. Not even close.
Jesus was totally generous in giving His life for us. In him, we receive forgiveness and strength. Trump needs that good news. And so do we.
________________________________________
Trump still flying high; Cruz getting delegates lined up but seems to be losing(?) ground among voters, according to polling? And while the rules are the rules, I’m afraid Cruz’s delegate hunt is backfiring and only helping Trump more.
What do a New York lawyer, a business owner who calls himself a left-leaning Republican and a construction worker who elected Barack Obama have in common? They’re voting for Donald Trump.
None of them live on the breadline. They share surprisingly varied opinions. Yet they are profoundly frustrated — with the economy, with career politicians and with perceptions of declining American prestige.
The Republican frontrunner’s supporters are often portrayed as undereducated, underearning whites.
But in upstate New York, where Trump calls himself “the most popular person that’s ever lived,” the breadth of support spotlights his enduring appeal, albeit as the Republican elites plot to bring him down. …
Ahead of next week’s crucial primary Trump leads the Republican polls in New York state on 53.4 percent to Ohio Governor John Kasich’s 21.7 percent and Texas Senator Ted Cruz’s 17.6 percent, according to a RealClearPolitics average.
Christopher Love, a union member who has lived in the area 42 years and works in construction, says Binghamton has gone from “valley of opportunity” to a “ghost town” where young people either leave or get hooked on heroin.
Trump, a billionaire real-estate mogul and reality television star, is the only candidate talking about issues that matter to him, says Love.
“We’ve got to do something different. What we’ve been doing the last 30 years isn’t working,” he told AFP, wearing a Trump 2016 trucker hat. His octogenarian father-in-law, who described Democrat John F. Kennedy as the best US president in his lifetime, is also supporting Trump.
Binghamton supporters are not blind to Trump’s shortcomings — his tabloid divorces, business flops, dubious policy pronouncements, talk of banning Muslims. But it just makes him more human, they argue. He may be imperfect, but he’s the best of the bunch, they say.
Those who spoke to AFP dismissed Cruz as too radical, too religious, unlikeable — even “scary.”
They write off Kasich and have no time for Clinton, a two-time New York senator, even if one couple admitted to voting for her in the past. …
__________________________________
Sanders supporters should try a little reality. They oughta heed the advice of people who actually know what it’s like to live under the socialist regime he and his supproters dream of.
“Chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov made headlines when he dismissed the Sanders campaign last month.
I’m enjoying the irony of American Sanders supporters lecturing me, a former Soviet citizen, on the glories of Socialism and what it really means! Socialism sounds great in speech soundbites and on Facebook, but please keep it there. In practice, it corrodes not only the economy but the human spirit itself, and the ambition and achievement that made modern capitalism possible and brought billions of people out of poverty. Talking about Socialism is a huge luxury, a luxury that was paid for by the successes of capitalism.
Now the Atlantic’s Olga Khazan took a look and saw that immigrants from the USSR are not into Sanders and Socialism.
Janna Sundeyeva still remembers life in the Soviet Union, where stores in remote regions would lack meat for months at a time and toilet paper had to be snatched up quickly on the rare occasions it appeared.
“I don’t like big government,” Sundeyeva said. She made two circles with her thumbs and forefingers and pressed them against each other so they touched, like binoculars. This Venn diagram represents the interests of people and government, she said. “They don’t have very much in common.”
To Sundeyeva, left-wingers seem to yearn for a workers’ revolution. “I would ask them: Have you ever lived under a revolution?” she said. “Do you know what it’s like? When someone comes and takes your family member in the night?”
For the hard left though that’s a feature, not a bug. What’s the point of a revolution if you don’t get to line up anyone against the wall?”
People complain about the economy, but the twin economically ignorant New York demagogues (Sanders and Trump) could make things much worse:
1. We spend 18% of GDP on healthcare. That is 50% more than any other nation. Both Sanders and Trump have advocated having the government pay for everyone’s healthcare. Neither one has a clue about how to reduce per patient costs. Under those two, healthcare costs that are now hurting the economy would devastate it.
2. Almost every nation in the world has benefitted from expanded trade over the last several decades. The cost of consumer goods for billions has plummeted. Sanders and Trump advocate the type of tariffs and trade restrictions that kept hundreds of millions in poverty in India for generations.
3. Sanders has pulled Hillary toward him on the idea of a $15 minimum wage. Of course, such a plan would hurt consumers while also leading to the firing of millions of uneducated low-skilled workers (Sanders and Trump supporters).
4. Trump is pulling Reublicans toward him on the idea of reducing visas for high skilled workers. One of the things that has kept the U.S. from bankruptcy over the last few years is that we are attracting the best and the brightest from around the world. They are among the 47% who pay income taxes. They prevent the Ponzi schemes of Social Security and Medicare from going bankrupt. They innovate and start new businesses while brainwashed Americans increasingly live off the government.
Sanders is one of those brainwashed Americans. He has no experience in business. Trump inherited his wealth. Much of his “business” experience comes from con games such as casinos and a bogus “university” as well as “entertainment” such as a reality TV show and a strip club.
Obama and Hillary are bad for business. New Yorkers Trump and Sanders would be much worse.
Chatted with a woman after church today while we waited for the adult SS to begin — we seemed agreed that we couldn’t really vote for either Trump or Clinton.
When she mentioned Cruz, she said she could vote for him but … but …
Not her first choice.
Curious (because I’ve heard this so often from friends who are generally conservative), I asked her why she didn’t have a better reaction to Cruz & she indicated that he seemed to lack grace (as in showing God’s grace) and that he struck her as “holier than thou” (though she said she didn’t think he actually thought he was that, only that this was what came through to her).
As for Trump, I keep thinking he’s on his way out, that the forces have finally converged to defeat him within the party. But he only seems to surge back stronger. The line from Hotel California comes to mind,
“They stab it with their steely knives,
But they just can’t kill the beast”
Sanders’ supporters will probably not take warnings, like those in the article AJ posted, to heart, because Sanders softens his socialist label by adding “democratic” to it, so they don’t believe he would actually turn us into a full-fledged socialist government. (And quite frankly, he would need a lot of support in Congress to do so, which I don’t believe he would get.) Also, I know some very intelligent & well-educated people who support Sanders.
One, who does not support big government, has said that Sanders could not actually get his most costly programs through Congress, but he does believe Sanders would be the least likely of the candidates to get us involved in futile wars. Another is so fed up with business as usual in Washington, he feels Sanders could be a corrective for some of that.
I’m not necessarily agreeing with them, but mentioning this to point out that not all his (nor all Trump’s) supporters) are ignorant & uneducated, & not all of them are on-board for socialism.
What I have been finding very discouraging is reading how both the DNC & the RNC have ways of thwarting the will of the voters. The Dems may have their super delegates, but the RNC has its ways, too. From what I have read, they want to strip Trump of some of his delegates (not that I’m in favor of Trump at all, but that’s still not right). A friend in Indiana shared an article about how their Republican delegates have already been assigned to the candidates, before they’ve even had a primary, & someone else mentioned that it is the same in some other states.
Former WMBer Kyle wrote that he used to be part of the Republican Party in Texas. He found that delegates were hand-picked according to how the party leaders wanted them to vote. He was going to be excluded, because they thought he supported another candidate, but when they learned he supported the one they wanted, they included him.
It was his experience with the party that drove him away from it.
Karen, On the contrary, the Founding Fathers never intended for all adults to have the right to vote. The quality of our presidents began to decline when men who did not own property were allowed to vote. My one question literacy test (an algebra word problem) would go a long way toward restoring an intelligent electorate.
If we are going to allow all adults to vote, to select the candidates and to elect the president, then we are clearly doomed. About half of the voters vote for Democrats whose primary commitments are to socialism, abortion and perversion. Almost half of the other half now support the lunatic Trump. Clearly, Americans are incapable of self-government.
The best approach would probably be to apologize to Queen Elizabeth and request her to appoint a new Royal Governor. The last British governors of Hong Kong were quite conservative. Another approach would be to encourage Cruz to try to pull a sword from a stone.
Donna J, Nothing personal. However, my test does discriminate against a group of which you are a member. Like Ann Coulter, I do not like how that group votes.
Karen, Alsp, nothing personal. However, I like 45 year-old voters much more than I like 18 year-old voters.
However, for the U.S. as currently populated, I really like Royal Governors.
Seriously, provisions in the Constitution such as the Electoral College and the election of Senators by state legislators rather than citizens were designed to limit the damage that could be caused by a pure democracy.
Wandering Views 
Now for some good news that stirs the hearts of native Texans:
http://www.chron.com/news/politics/texas/article/texas-secession-independence-nationalist-movement-7248746.php
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It didn’t work Ricky.
There was some discussion on yesterdays Politics thread about my comment about Trump saying the Bible verse that influenced him was “an eye for an eye”. I mentioned that I think he misinterpreted it. Donna says, “Ya think?”
Actually, No.
I doubt that Trump is aware of anything in the Bible. He has always been too busy making money and chasing women.
A man has to set priorities, you know.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Trump doesn’t know it yet, but the most influential Bible verse for him might be Luke 12:20.
LikeLiked by 1 person
NC representatives passed a law, HB-27 negating a law the city of Charlotte made that allows transgendered people (read ‘men “) to use women’s rest rooms. State Attorney General Roy Cooper says he will not enforce HB-27.
Roy Cooper plans to run for governor on the Democratic ticket.
🙂 A letter to the editor in today’s Times-News
This hullabaloo about the “bathroom bill” is pure politics. One wonders whether Attorney General Roy Cooper has considered that every time a lady goes into a booth in a public restroom and finds the seat up, he just lost another vote”.
I know the lady who wrote that, BTW.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Cirque du Soleil, a Canadian co., has canceled its NC performance but tickets are still on sale for their Russian tour:
Moscow, RU | Now Playing Luzhniki Palace of Sports
On sale now
St-Petersburg, RU | Opens on April 27, 2016 Ice Palace
On sale now
Kazan, RU | Opens on May 11, 2016 TatNeft Arena
On sale now
Chelyabinsk, RU | Opens on May 18, 2016 Tractor Ice Palace
On sale now
Togliatti, RU | Opens on May 25, 2016 Lada Arena
On sale now
Sochi, RU | Opens on June 02, 2016 Lada Arena
On sale now
From their website:
United Arab Emirates
Although Cirque du Soleil is a Canadian entertainment company based in Montreal (QC), its various shows and performances are held all over the world. Cirque du Soleil has made many stops in a various number of places while on tour; thrilling audiences, bringing wonder and delighting spectators all around the world (100 million in over 300 cities on five continents). Over the past years, Cirque du Soleil has had shows in various countries such as United Arab Emirates and many others…
“Cirque du Soleil returns to Dubai” this Sept. http://www.arabianbusiness.com/cirque-du-soleil-returns-dubai-622560.html
Perhaps NC should treat gays like Russia and the UAE do, and the show will go onl
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hypocrites. It’s that simple.
LikeLiked by 2 people
The invasion continues unabated…….
http://freebeacon.com/issues/children-illegally-crossing-border-1200-percent-2011-2014/
“The number of children apprehended on the U.S. border attempting to immigrate illegally has surged more than 1,200 percent since 2011 and the number of these children crossing the border during 2016 could be another record, according to a newly released government report.
The number of unaccompanied alien children (UACs) illegally crossing the U.S. border “has increased sharply” since 2011, with a surge of more than 1,200 percent just between 2011 and 2014, according to the Congressional Research Service. The agency also disclosed that the flow has increasing significantly in the first five months of fiscal 2016.
The illegal immigration of these children hit record-breaking numbers in 2014, with U.S. officials apprehending more than 52,000 alien children. Nearly 20,000 have been apprehended in the first five months of 2016, setting the stage for another potentially record-breaking year.”
———————————-
They’re coming unaccompanied because they already have a parent illegally here.
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Talk about irony…..
http://www.breitbart.com/london/2016/04/15/brussels-terrorist-swedish-documentary-successful-integration-immigrants/
“The Syrian-origin Swedish passport holder arrested in Belgium last week for his involvement in the Brussels bomb attacks is a former poster boy for Sweden’s efforts at integrating migrants into their society.
Now accused of murder, and captured on CCTV cameras carrying bags which contained the explosive devices which killed 32 civilians, Islamist Osama Krayem had once been hailed as a model of integration. A former employee of the city of Malmo, at the age of 11 Osama starred in a documentary about migrants in Sweden.
Both of Osama’s parents are Syrian migrants to Sweden, and have told tabloid Aftonbladet they wanted to see their son integrate into Swedish society. The family featured in a 2005 documentary called ‘Without Borders — A Film About Sport And Integration’, in which football-mad Krayem demonstrated how the Malmo football team had helped him settle into Swedish society.
The club had run an integration project, encouraging local migrant youth to play football. Club marketing manager Christer Girke said of the programme: “We wanted to show the importance of integration… the boys were to go to the association to see what the other Swedes did and get to know the [football] associations were important, how it can be a gateway to jobs and much more”.
At the time of the film’s release, he had told local media: “90 percent of our members have a migrant background, as this integration is something I think a lot about. With this project we want to take responsibility for the society we all be living in formed. And how we are formed as people”.”
—————————-
Integrated? No. Not at all.
LikeLiked by 1 person
On the NC kerfuffle: https://samueldjames.net/2016/04/15/whats-your-conscience-worth/
LikeLiked by 3 people
It worked twice. We successfully seceded from both King George III and Santa Anna. The Lincoln deal didn’t work quite as well. However, on April 15, 1865 Lincoln was dead and Texas was still virtually completely free of federal troops. I think we can call that one a draw.
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The North Carolina and Mississippi cases show that the national religion of the U.S. is the Cult of Perversion. Christians have to beware of offending Muslims in Saudi Arabia and Iraq. Christians have to beware of offending perverts in the US. In Muslim countries you can lose your life. In the US you will only lose your livelihood.
LikeLiked by 1 person
That book I am reading, Answering Jihad, talks about some of the roots of the Islamic Reformation (return to its roots of Quran and hadith without the mellowing interpretations of centuries of judges and teachers) taking off from a guy who spent a few years as a student in Colorado where he was repelled by Western behavior. Others took off in the 1700’s when various folk saw the beginnings of the industrial revolution and where that was headed. So it makes sense, take a guy in and let him see how things are, if he is repelled by the perversion of society, would want a better way. Tell him that Islam is a religion of peace, not something Muslims claim, and he will want to check into it. Give him the internet so he can go straight to the sources and he quickly can become a radical. I do recommend this book for a better understanding of why we see nice pleasant family Muslims and contrast that with some of what is happening. There really are Muslims who are so far from the original that they are nearly noncomparable. But the beginnings are still the beginnings and if you go back to that, it is not good.
We did the same with the Reformation. Trying to get back to what the Bible said rather than centuries of tradition. But the Bible is not teaching us to kill our neighbor or extract tax from him.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Well, Ricky, which is preferable, to lose your livelihood or your life?
Mumsee, not that I’m trying to say that Christianity and Islam are comparable as regards their religious merits, but the Reformation in Europe did lead to a lot of bloodshed, and it wasn’t by any means all shed by the Catholics. The Protestants could be just as violent and ruthless, especially when they found themselves in power. Bloody conflicts in which both sides took part such as the Thirty Years War and English Civil War are what exhausted Europe into granting freedom of religion and finally detaching religion from political power. The U.S. has prided itself on being the most perfect detachment, although such religious and political freedom appeared in Europe almost simultaneously. It was a utopia which had never yet been created.
Greece and Rome may only have half believed in their deities by the time their peak of prosperity was reached; but they still had state religions, even if they were syncretized with the religions of the conquered cultures of their empires. The Jews were pretty much alone in sticking to their unadulterated national religion; but their hypocritical attachment to worldly prosperity (recall how they plotted to kill Jesus in order to keep their position with Rome in John 11:48) prevented them from accepting the coming of Christ. Their rejection of Him resulted in their destruction by their pagan overlords (Matthew 21:40-43). Christians at that time, who came from every nation under Rome, were considered a weird sect among many other sects, and were persecuted because they, unlike the other sects, would not syncretize their worship of God with worship of the emperor. They accepted the risk of Christ which the Jews rejected and lived as outcasts subject to the whims of capricious rulers who did or did not persecute as they saw fit. Yet they prospered, even when they individually suffered loss and died; and as a body they continued to grow until they attracted the favourable attention of the emperor Constantine.
Protestants like to point to Constantine’s conversion as the point at which the Church began to become Catholic. That is too simple an explanation, but it is true that the Church began to become more and more attached to outward forms and traditions as it became bound up in the state. Charlemagne, not Constantine, was probably the emperor who finally made the Church the state; having himself crowned by Rome’s bishop and being declared Holy Roman Emperor, despite the fact that he was polygamous and massacred pagans who didn’t convert. At that horrible compromise, the Catholic Church began its long, slow death until the Reformation.
Although the Protestants argued that men should be free to read the Scriptures for themselves, they did not detach Christianity from the state. It was the Baptists who argued for complete freedom of religion, even for those who were not of any Christian denomination; for which, even in colonial America, they were persecuted to the point of death. As I said, eventually, the religio-political struggles exhausted the West to granting freedom of religion. Nevertheless, some form of Christianity still held sway, too often a hypocritical variety which echoed the Jews’ attachment to the prosperity of the Roman Emperor. There is little to chose between the prosperous politician who attends church for votes and a member of the Sanhedrin who gives alms in the temple to be seen of men.
Now two different forces are threatening that ‘Christian’ prosperity and continuity. One is from outside, the threat of radical Islam; the other is from inside, bred from too much prosperity (Ezekiel 16:49-50), the ‘”New Morality” in which immorality is called good and those who oppose it are called evil. The instinctive reaction is to protect that prosperity at all costs, whether by closing the borders to those who may become a threat, or by wielding a still considerable political influence to pass protective laws; but in so doing, we run the danger of doing what the Jews did, that of rejecting the call of the Christ. He calls us out of our normal lives, telling us we cannot serve God and mammon (Matthew 6:24), telling us to love our enemies and to do good to those who hate us (Matthew 5:44), telling us to put up our swords (Matthew 26:52), telling us to walk by faith and not by sight. In other words, we will die if we seek to save our prosperity and our lives (Mark 8:35); but if we lose all of that in following Christ, we will find all that we seek (Luke 18:29)
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I’m really not worried about protecting prosperity. However, I would like to remove my state from the Sodomite States of America. I really don’t like the idea of male perverts going to the bathroom with my granddaughters.
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Good piece by Mollie Hemingway on the “eye for an eye”/Trump’s favorite verse issue.
http://thefederalist.com/2016/04/15/eye-for-an-eye-shows-donald-trump-needs-the-gospel/
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… So all this to say, Trump’s selection of a verse isn’t a bad one, in that all Scripture is for our edification. His exegesis of the verse was wrong, because the principle is about limiting vengeance in secular contexts. Having said that, the principle of limiting our vengeance is one we would all do well to learn. And in our personal lives, inspired by Jesus, we should limit our vengeance all the more.
Jesus provokes us to examine our own heart. Have we always been generous with our wealth? Have we shared with those in need? Do we help everyone, or just those who we deem “worthy” of help? Or do we even help them? Do we forgive insults or stew on them? When people make demands of us, do we patiently endure, or do we become indignant and defensive?
We mocked Trump for his favorite verse, but are we sure his misinterpretation doesn’t match ours? Are we sure we’re not as vengeful and spiteful? The fact is that Trump doesn’t do what Jesus says to do. Neither do you. Neither do I. We do not follow the Law as Jesus tells us to follow it. Not even close.
Jesus was totally generous in giving His life for us. In him, we receive forgiveness and strength. Trump needs that good news. And so do we.
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Trump still flying high; Cruz getting delegates lined up but seems to be losing(?) ground among voters, according to polling? And while the rules are the rules, I’m afraid Cruz’s delegate hunt is backfiring and only helping Trump more.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/angry-frustrated-upstate-york-swings-behind-trump-022716832.html
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What do a New York lawyer, a business owner who calls himself a left-leaning Republican and a construction worker who elected Barack Obama have in common? They’re voting for Donald Trump.
None of them live on the breadline. They share surprisingly varied opinions. Yet they are profoundly frustrated — with the economy, with career politicians and with perceptions of declining American prestige.
The Republican frontrunner’s supporters are often portrayed as undereducated, underearning whites.
But in upstate New York, where Trump calls himself “the most popular person that’s ever lived,” the breadth of support spotlights his enduring appeal, albeit as the Republican elites plot to bring him down. …
Ahead of next week’s crucial primary Trump leads the Republican polls in New York state on 53.4 percent to Ohio Governor John Kasich’s 21.7 percent and Texas Senator Ted Cruz’s 17.6 percent, according to a RealClearPolitics average.
Christopher Love, a union member who has lived in the area 42 years and works in construction, says Binghamton has gone from “valley of opportunity” to a “ghost town” where young people either leave or get hooked on heroin.
Trump, a billionaire real-estate mogul and reality television star, is the only candidate talking about issues that matter to him, says Love.
“We’ve got to do something different. What we’ve been doing the last 30 years isn’t working,” he told AFP, wearing a Trump 2016 trucker hat. His octogenarian father-in-law, who described Democrat John F. Kennedy as the best US president in his lifetime, is also supporting Trump.
Binghamton supporters are not blind to Trump’s shortcomings — his tabloid divorces, business flops, dubious policy pronouncements, talk of banning Muslims. But it just makes him more human, they argue. He may be imperfect, but he’s the best of the bunch, they say.
Those who spoke to AFP dismissed Cruz as too radical, too religious, unlikeable — even “scary.”
They write off Kasich and have no time for Clinton, a two-time New York senator, even if one couple admitted to voting for her in the past. …
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Please remember to pray for the families of the victims of the earthquakes in Ecuador and Japan.
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Sanders supporters should try a little reality. They oughta heed the advice of people who actually know what it’s like to live under the socialist regime he and his supproters dream of.
http://www.frontpagemag.com/point/262492/soviet-immigrants-sanders-supporters-have-you-ever-daniel-greenfield#.Vw5xafePEn4.twitter
“Chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov made headlines when he dismissed the Sanders campaign last month.
I’m enjoying the irony of American Sanders supporters lecturing me, a former Soviet citizen, on the glories of Socialism and what it really means! Socialism sounds great in speech soundbites and on Facebook, but please keep it there. In practice, it corrodes not only the economy but the human spirit itself, and the ambition and achievement that made modern capitalism possible and brought billions of people out of poverty. Talking about Socialism is a huge luxury, a luxury that was paid for by the successes of capitalism.
Now the Atlantic’s Olga Khazan took a look and saw that immigrants from the USSR are not into Sanders and Socialism.
Janna Sundeyeva still remembers life in the Soviet Union, where stores in remote regions would lack meat for months at a time and toilet paper had to be snatched up quickly on the rare occasions it appeared.
“I don’t like big government,” Sundeyeva said. She made two circles with her thumbs and forefingers and pressed them against each other so they touched, like binoculars. This Venn diagram represents the interests of people and government, she said. “They don’t have very much in common.”
To Sundeyeva, left-wingers seem to yearn for a workers’ revolution. “I would ask them: Have you ever lived under a revolution?” she said. “Do you know what it’s like? When someone comes and takes your family member in the night?”
For the hard left though that’s a feature, not a bug. What’s the point of a revolution if you don’t get to line up anyone against the wall?”
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People complain about the economy, but the twin economically ignorant New York demagogues (Sanders and Trump) could make things much worse:
1. We spend 18% of GDP on healthcare. That is 50% more than any other nation. Both Sanders and Trump have advocated having the government pay for everyone’s healthcare. Neither one has a clue about how to reduce per patient costs. Under those two, healthcare costs that are now hurting the economy would devastate it.
2. Almost every nation in the world has benefitted from expanded trade over the last several decades. The cost of consumer goods for billions has plummeted. Sanders and Trump advocate the type of tariffs and trade restrictions that kept hundreds of millions in poverty in India for generations.
3. Sanders has pulled Hillary toward him on the idea of a $15 minimum wage. Of course, such a plan would hurt consumers while also leading to the firing of millions of uneducated low-skilled workers (Sanders and Trump supporters).
4. Trump is pulling Reublicans toward him on the idea of reducing visas for high skilled workers. One of the things that has kept the U.S. from bankruptcy over the last few years is that we are attracting the best and the brightest from around the world. They are among the 47% who pay income taxes. They prevent the Ponzi schemes of Social Security and Medicare from going bankrupt. They innovate and start new businesses while brainwashed Americans increasingly live off the government.
Sanders is one of those brainwashed Americans. He has no experience in business. Trump inherited his wealth. Much of his “business” experience comes from con games such as casinos and a bogus “university” as well as “entertainment” such as a reality TV show and a strip club.
Obama and Hillary are bad for business. New Yorkers Trump and Sanders would be much worse.
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Chatted with a woman after church today while we waited for the adult SS to begin — we seemed agreed that we couldn’t really vote for either Trump or Clinton.
When she mentioned Cruz, she said she could vote for him but … but …
Not her first choice.
Curious (because I’ve heard this so often from friends who are generally conservative), I asked her why she didn’t have a better reaction to Cruz & she indicated that he seemed to lack grace (as in showing God’s grace) and that he struck her as “holier than thou” (though she said she didn’t think he actually thought he was that, only that this was what came through to her).
As for Trump, I keep thinking he’s on his way out, that the forces have finally converged to defeat him within the party. But he only seems to surge back stronger. The line from Hotel California comes to mind,
“They stab it with their steely knives,
But they just can’t kill the beast”
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Sanders’ supporters will probably not take warnings, like those in the article AJ posted, to heart, because Sanders softens his socialist label by adding “democratic” to it, so they don’t believe he would actually turn us into a full-fledged socialist government. (And quite frankly, he would need a lot of support in Congress to do so, which I don’t believe he would get.) Also, I know some very intelligent & well-educated people who support Sanders.
One, who does not support big government, has said that Sanders could not actually get his most costly programs through Congress, but he does believe Sanders would be the least likely of the candidates to get us involved in futile wars. Another is so fed up with business as usual in Washington, he feels Sanders could be a corrective for some of that.
I’m not necessarily agreeing with them, but mentioning this to point out that not all his (nor all Trump’s) supporters) are ignorant & uneducated, & not all of them are on-board for socialism.
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What I have been finding very discouraging is reading how both the DNC & the RNC have ways of thwarting the will of the voters. The Dems may have their super delegates, but the RNC has its ways, too. From what I have read, they want to strip Trump of some of his delegates (not that I’m in favor of Trump at all, but that’s still not right). A friend in Indiana shared an article about how their Republican delegates have already been assigned to the candidates, before they’ve even had a primary, & someone else mentioned that it is the same in some other states.
Former WMBer Kyle wrote that he used to be part of the Republican Party in Texas. He found that delegates were hand-picked according to how the party leaders wanted them to vote. He was going to be excluded, because they thought he supported another candidate, but when they learned he supported the one they wanted, they included him.
It was his experience with the party that drove him away from it.
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Karen, On the contrary, the Founding Fathers never intended for all adults to have the right to vote. The quality of our presidents began to decline when men who did not own property were allowed to vote. My one question literacy test (an algebra word problem) would go a long way toward restoring an intelligent electorate.
If we are going to allow all adults to vote, to select the candidates and to elect the president, then we are clearly doomed. About half of the voters vote for Democrats whose primary commitments are to socialism, abortion and perversion. Almost half of the other half now support the lunatic Trump. Clearly, Americans are incapable of self-government.
The best approach would probably be to apologize to Queen Elizabeth and request her to appoint a new Royal Governor. The last British governors of Hong Kong were quite conservative. Another approach would be to encourage Cruz to try to pull a sword from a stone.
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Whoa, an algebra problem? What??
That will bump me off the rolls in a big hurry
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Or was that kind of your point?
🙂
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Then my husband would not have been eligible to vote until he was 45.
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Donna J, Nothing personal. However, my test does discriminate against a group of which you are a member. Like Ann Coulter, I do not like how that group votes.
Karen, Alsp, nothing personal. However, I like 45 year-old voters much more than I like 18 year-old voters.
However, for the U.S. as currently populated, I really like Royal Governors.
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Well!
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Seriously, provisions in the Constitution such as the Electoral College and the election of Senators by state legislators rather than citizens were designed to limit the damage that could be caused by a pure democracy.
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Which is why so many folk are against the electoral college.
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