Perseus I want you to know that your actions here have made me feel angry and quite offended...
"Think not that I am come to send peace on earth; I came not to send peace, but a sword." -
Matthew 10:34
Why did Jesus say this? Because he knew that if you held to his teachings, there were bound to be great clashes, and great dividing lines, so great they would turn father against son, mother against daughter, brother against brother.
You grandly state the fact that you've been offended as if that alone is proof of some wrongdoing on my part. Au contraire, my friend - perhaps it means exactly the opposite.
Contrary to the contemporary fuzzy doctrine of most churches, the goal of Christianity isn't to hold hands and sing kumbaya. The goal is to state hard truths in a world that likes to have its' ears tickled with feel-good doctrines. The real message and truth of Christ is bound to upset some people.
What some of us are of the opinion, is that the best way to save these people is not to condemn them. (How did Jesus act towards the woman caught in Adultery?) But to love them, show them God's love.
The best way to save homosexuals is to love them by further sanctioning their sin in the eyes of the state? You already lost me.
I'm not sure if you know this, but what you just said is typical leftist Christian vernacular - they hyper-focus on the love part and completely neglect the rebuke of sin, mixing truth with lies. We save ourselves and others from eternal damnation by rebuking their sin, just as Jesus rebuked sin while he walked the earth.
I believe in looking after the poor...
Weird, I don't remember Jesus going to Caesar and petitioning him for welfare for all.
You believe in looking after the poor with other people's money. That completely dis-incentivizes private charity and private giving, which is what Jesus wanted.
How exactly have I done anything noble in God's eyes when the state has forced me to give to the "poor"?
If I give to the Red Cross or the Salvation Army out of my personal income, on the other hand, that's an individual choice that I've made.
That's a choice that God can actually respect.
I believe in looking after those who have illegally entered the country and intentionally violated immigration laws...
How will you teach someone respect for your country's laws, much less God's moral laws, when you implicitly sanction their violation of those laws?
I believe in looking after the health of those who can't afford to...
By using the state to steal from others to fund your "charity". How incredibly generous of you.
I don't remember Jesus going to the Senate and drafting a universal healthcare law either. What he gave to the poor, the sick, the downtrodden, he gave of himself each time.
Charity which is not voluntary is not charity at all. It is meaningless. Furthermore, it does nothing for our spiritual state of mind. It makes us resentful towards those whom we are forced to support.
If you, on the other hand, took money out of your personal savings and paid for a homeless person's medical care, that would mean 1000 times more than the state forcing you and everyone else to pay for that same person's medical care. Because it was a choice that you voluntarily, consciously undertook.
I support the restriction of firearms so that those in our society who choose not to buy them, can live safe lives without fear. (I'm not saying those who have guns don't want to live peaceful lives!)
I'm not really sure
what you're saying here. It's typical, perverted leftist-speak.
How can someone "choose" not to buy a firearm when it's restricted in the first place? Once again, you're on the side of curtailing freedom of conscience and will, and imposing your own sense of morality. A firearm is a tool like any other.
In the hands of a righteous, God-fearing person, it could save a woman from getting raped, or an old lady from getting robbed. It could save the life of an innocent person.
In the hands of an evil person, it could commit murder.
In the hands of nobody but criminals(which is what firearms restriction always results in), it results in a completely defenseless innocent populace, ripe for attack and plunder by those with evil intent. I could think of nothing more anti-Christian.
on social issues I'm way down the left spectrum...
The global Leftist movement has been the greatest threat to Christianity. It is they who forced through abortion-on-demand, no-fault divorce, "sex education" to 10-year olds, sanctioning of homosexual behavior, and countless assaults on the heritage of Christianity.
It is the global Leftist movement that has steadily and methodically deconstructed the Christian foundation and laws that used to be in existence.
There is a breed of leftists who likes the message of "love" inherent in Christianity, because it aligns with their doxy of "tolerance" and "acceptance" of sexual deviants and other mental disorders, so they have appropriated that aspect of it. But they are first and foremost loyal to their political church and ideology, and make the rest fit here and there, as has been manifestly evident in this thread. Christianity is the skin they stretch over the exoskeleton of leftism.
to come in here and deride my beliefs without knowing a thing about me other than what I have posted here is extremely offensive...
This notion that to "offend" someone is the greatest crime against humanity is not biblical. The Bible offends a lot of people. What you're saying is more liberal doxy. It's virtually coming out of your pores.
Christ said, "I came to be a sword".
I find it extremely offensive that ostensible "Christians" would call rebuke of homosexuality a "political belief" and advocate surrender in the face of the all-out assault from the homosexual lobby, but instead of crying about it, I share my opinion on the matter.
If you advocate legislating against homosexuality. Would you take this to the logical conclusion of legislating against all sexual immorality. Would you then legislate against Pre-Marital sex? What penalties would you have?
There used to be
laws all over the world against sodomy. We used to
ban depictions in our movies of "sexual perversion", "ridicule of the clergy", "sympathy with criminals", rape, etc...
All of these laws and more were slowly deconstructed by leftists. And now we're surprised that immorality is flourishing, in our society, in the media, in our movies and music?
When we forsake God in our laws, in our institutions, and in our culture, he forsakes us. It's happened over and over again in history.
