acemona

It is not a choice at a particular time, it should be constantly evolving. I grew up in EKY at in a very conservative evangelical church. I was straight pro-life and pro-death penalty and and you better find Jesus or you will go to hell. I was even with my mom when she worked in 72 (I was 5) to get Nixon elected, I still like what Hal Rogers does for his constituents. When I was 25 I met the daughter of a moderate southern baptist minister and his christian social worker wife. At my first dinner with them he asked me how in the world I could be a republican and a christian. I have moved to the left ever since. A lot from their influence but more from years of working with disadvantaged kids.

It depends if any of the comments are offensive. " . . . one good person to remain silent . . ."

Because I believe differently than you does not make me a false Christian, nor does it make Obama one. Some Christians are teetotalers and others are not. Are one of those groups false Christians? Some believe the bread and wine actually become blood and flesh, others do not - are one of those groups false Christians. Many churches have women deacons, others do not are one of those groups false Christians. I can go on and on with the list. Christianity is about your relationship to Jesus Christ and as a result your relationship to fellow humans. It is not about a belief in some dogmatic rules and regulations. Jesus wore the Church leaders out during his day because of their "belief system". Matthew 25 tells folks who will be in heaven and it does not say one word about believing the Bible to be literal or any other belief system.

I am still not following your logic. Does traditional marriage mean have 4 of them, if so then Rush supports traditional marriage. If traditional marriage means "til death do us part" Rush's statement is pure hypocrisy. Economy is doing pretty dang good right now, relatively speaking. However, you cannot compare the two.

Natural rights are not extended to people through a vote. They are there naturally. A vote can deny them and prevent them, but it does not define them.

Here is the problem with YOUR religion. You have not set foot in my church, not met the people, don't know the pastor. We read the and understand the bible differently than you. Your religion has taught you to sit in your chair at home and judge what is in my heart and the heart of people in my church. Maybe that is false religion. Maybe churches who elect smokers as deacons practice a false religion because smokers are obviously sinners. (For the record, I am not comparing smoking and being gay. I think smoking is much more harmful to the individual and the community, I am not aware of any second hand gay). Maybe your religion is false in that you accept the scripture as inerrant, when we know facts like parts of Mark were added much later and reflected the teachings of the community and not the author. We also know that the paternalistic, conservative, world powergrabbing, catholic church of old, ARBITRARILY (too strong of a word but it gets close) chose which books were to be put into the Canon (does that have two "n"s). Maybe your religion is false because you don't choose to practice true hermeneutics or exegesis. Maybe because you let your culture color your interpretation - as we all do. I am not going to judge your religion and say that it is false but how dare you sir, say that mine is. Now, it is one in the morning so I am not nearly as indignant as this sounds, but it is much more fun to pound away on the keyboard like I am indignant. FWIW my father-in-law was a professor of preaching and hermeneutics at Southern Baptist Seminary when, in his words, it was still a reputable institution and I never want to speak for him, but I think his beliefs are much more in line with mine than with yours. What does that say, I don't know, but he is a learned man and well respected in his field. The Catholic, Thomas Merton, was the subject of his dissertation. He believes differently than you - does that make his religion false?

Baptist, formerly Southern, now Cooperative.

Not even sure what this means. NVM, I understand now that I am writing.

I do when the voice of the people trample on human rights.

My Church doesn't teach that. Don't assume every christian everywhere believes the same as you. There are many churches that are open and accepting of gays and celebrate with them when they can make their relationships whole.

i was being facetious.

By 2011 the pundits were saying, and are saying now that it is the Obama economy. If it is the Obama economy, it is the Obama Kill.

There are those who would say that you can be further and closer to God. Just as I am sometimes very close in my walk with God now, some sometimes I am very far away. Been far away for a while.

For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world but that through him the whole world might be saved.

For the literalists on here, what do you do with Paul when he says that "All Things are Permissible, but not all things are beneficial."

I am not sure that Jesus EVER speaks about a literal hell. He does talk about Gehenna which was a garbage dump outside of town.

I think he should get just as much as bill clinton gets. If he gets credit for something that happens 2 years after he left office because of the ground work he laid (although he himself said UBL was not that important to him) then he has to also get credit for the miserable economy that was occurring 2 years later.

No one will bully you, or post nasty things on facebook or twitter . . . AL I think you missed the initial sarcasm. People stay in the closet because there are all kinds of people who are not accepting of the differences. I have read stories of probably 10 kids this year who have committed suicide because of the bullying that took place once people found out. That is the reason for the 'It Gets Better' Campaign.

Do you have a link to support your assertion of anyone wanting the system to provide for them from cradle to grave?

Some religious people.

He has never said that. So the reason you don't know how many times you have heard him say it is because you have not heard him say it all.

No meaning to hi-jack but why is anti-religious liberal? I consider myself rather religious and rather liberal. Ayn Rand is the conservative darling and is an atheist.

I am offended again

SN - My friend who just passed away who did not go to the doctor because he was working poor and may have been able to catch the cancer that ate away his liver. I do not want to live in a world where the lack of insurance and therefore lack of preventative care allow my friends to suffer a die. President Obama is my best HOPE of changing that system.

So if I paid taxes last year I can vote, even though I am not paying them this year?