I don’t think people are intelligent enough to understand Biblical matters. They are not elect. So they will occupy themselves with worldly matters, and enjoy that, until their last breath, like a dog, that returns to it’s own vomit.

Oompa Loompa said:

Cartel drug smugglers are not uniformed combatants deserving of special rights and privileges. Especially after they rape the illegal immigrants the left loves so much before making them sex slaves to pay off their debts. Comparing these monsters to Japanese pilots is an insult to Imperial Japan. Pirates can be shot on sight, so why not drug smugglers?

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Tell us again how you are pro life.

durangodawood said:

And the stolen election notion takes yet another hit - even tho it was already lying at the bottom of the sea.

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Nobody cares except some fanatics, but I don’t see it

iluvatar5150 said:

Oh hey, look, another conservative Christian pooh-poohing the concept of doing the right thing just because it’s the right thing to do.

This must be the doctrine of 2nd Machiavellians 45:47.

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Cartel drug smugglers are not uniformed combatants deserving of special rights and privileges. Especially after they rape the illegal immigrants the left loves so much before making them sex slaves to pay off their debts. Comparing these monsters to Japanese pilots is an insult to Imperial Japan. Pirates can be shot on sight, so why not drug smugglers?

Just a related map for information on the subject:

I think it’s important to store your treasures in heaven, and not in video games. That being said, I do occasionally play a little video games, and it’s nothing I’m particularly proud of. He must increase and I must decrease, and whatever is in store for me, I guess I’ll find that out eventually.

iluvatar5150 said:

Why is it remarkable? We’d had 8 years of population growth in that time. More people == more votes.

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Where were they last year? I don’t deny that Biden won in 2020 just pointing out why some people may question it, but I’m questioning your logic. Were 8 year olds voting or did that many immigrants become eligible to vote?

Oompa Loompa said:

Poor poor narco terrorists drug smugglers. If only they had the same level of outrage for the kids they kill every year with their cargo.

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Oh hey, look, another conservative Christian pooh-poohing the concept of doing the right thing just because it’s the right thing to do.

This must be the doctrine of 2nd Machiavellians 45:47.

BPPLEE said:

Yes, it’s also remarkable that Harris lost to such an awful candidate

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And the stolen election notion takes yet another hit - even tho it was already lying at the bottom of the sea.

comana said:

Why? What harm does it cause.

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What good does it bring? Why wouldn't someone renounce their home country citizenship if they truly want to be a US citizen? What happens when war breaks out between the United States and the country you are also a citizen of? Should you be in the military with dual citizenship?

durangodawood said:

If you cant figure out the motivation, just look who was running against him.

Trump fans here all the time are pointing out how their man is the most hated ever etc etc.

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Yes, it’s also remarkable that Harris lost to such an awful candidate

9Rock9 said:

So, I want to explore political philosophy and how it relates to Christianity.

Ideally, our faith should inform our politics, but not the other way around. Yet, this unfortunately not the case in reality. I don't intend to turn this into a finger pointing game between the left and the right, I just want to explore options here.

Should the government enact policies that reflect Christian policies?

One could argue yes, since a Christian government could provide a moral foundation for an otherwise secular society and arguably improves everyone's lives. On the other hand, one can say that the government would just bastardize Christianity and use it as a weapon for social control.

What about libertarianism? The Bible says to help the poor and needy. Yet, does that mean we should petition the government to do it, or is charity a personal responsibility for us as Christians, and thus we should not outsource it to the state?

Should there be a government? There are verses that seem to advocate for submitting to earthly authorities. Then again, many of these earthly authorities have, and sometimes still do, put innocent people to death. It can also be argued that the government has a monopoly on force and violence.

What are your thoughts?

I'm personally undecided, but that's why I made this thread. I want to see what others think to help me find out where I stand.

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Christian politics is, that 12,000 from each tribe of Israel will rule together with Christ. You can take that as a literal or figurative number, but the point is they are from one bloodline. This is non-negotiable. If you want to find out what bloodline it is, I guess you have to do some more reading and praying.

SabbathBlessings said:

Considering Paul has a salvation warning 2Peter3:16

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This is not a salvation warning nor does it take away from the truth of Paul’s writings. Remember that all of Paul’s epistles are inspired scripture. Maybe you are advocating to remove them from scripture because they are inconvenient to you?

The rest of your c&p I have addressed multiple times already.

ARBITER01 said:

John's water immersion was an immersion of repentance, meaning it was symbolic of the Spiritual immersion/born from above experience we could receive from Jesus once he was seated to the right of The Father and granted The Holy Spirit.

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Where are you finding in scripture: "John's water immersion was an immersion of repentance, meaning it was symbolic of the Spiritual immersion/born"? John's baptism was a covenant action to show a commitment to accepting God's forgiveness and turning your life around.

ARBITER01 said:

Water in reference to immersion is always symbolic of The Holy Spirit. It's just another step in following Jesus and His example He gave us.

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How do you show: Immersion in water is always symbolic of the Holy Spirit, since the Jew immersed ceremonially in many ways?

FenderTL5 said:

It does not say:

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What do you think being counted among wrong doers mean?

Lost4words said:

His instruction to buy a sword was not a call to violence or rebellion, but a sober reminder that they were entering a dangerous and uncertain time

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It was not a call to violence and no where did I argued that. They were indeed entering an uncertain and dangerous time which parallels the reason why we carry a firearm for protection these days.

Say it aint so said:

My grandfather Frank Gustaferro got the word at his uncle Carlo’s Bakery in Hoboken, New Jersey. His orders said that he was to report to the SS John Barry departing in a few days. The ship, secretly carrying millions of silver coins to support wartime operations in Saudi Arabia, was torpedoed by the German submarine U-859 on August 28, 1944. Two crewmen died in the blast. The rest, including my grandfather, ended up in the water — temporarily blinded from oil, injured, terrified, clinging to whatever wreckage they could find. They heard Japanese aircraft overhead as they floated in the Indian Ocean. My grandfather braced for the strafing run he assumed was coming. It never came. Even in the brutal logic of total war, there were limits. A line existed — a line older than the Geneva Conventions, older than the United Nations, older even than the modern idea of “war crimes” itself. You did not kill shipwrecked men in the water. You did not kill survivors who were out of the fight. You did not shoot the wounded clinging to debris. My grandfather survived because even America’s enemies in 1944 understood that basic rule of humanity.....​

​

...The Imperial Japanese military, for all its many and well-documented atrocities, still had pilots and sailors who chose not to fire on American sailors who posed no threat. There are cases of American Navy sailors being spared by Japanese pilots and ship crews, as documented in James D. Hornfischer’s The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors.​

​

The international conflict law prohibiting such attacks, known as hors de combat, doesn’t care whether the people in the water were alleged drug smugglers, enemy fighters, or simply unlucky. America is built on the premise that “all men are created equal” — even those we fight. Humanity is the line that prevents war from collapsing into a massacre.....ROLLING STONE​

We as the United States of America can do better. We need to do better.

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Poor poor narco terrorists drug smugglers. If only they had the same level of outrage for the kids they kill every year with their cargo.

BPPLEE said:

It is remarkable that a man who couldn’t draw a crowd and campaigned from his basement for the most part got more votes than Obama

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Why is it remarkable? We’d had 8 years of population growth in that time. More people == more votes.

Oompa Loompa said:

Okay. Then we should get rid of dual citizenship.

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People are saying that it's in the offing. Will the Jews be forced to choose or will they be given an exception?

rjs330 said:

Sure there are those that do. However, in many Islamic countries death is codified in law. And in America where Christianity is still dominant for now, there is no such thing. Let the Islamists take over and there will be.

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That homosexuality is not a capital offense in the US is not because of Christianity’s dominance, but in spite of it. When have American Christians ever been protective of the rights of gays? When have evangelicals ever been opposed to the death penalty?

For the last 35+ years, all I’ve heard from evangelicals is how homosexuality is an abomination and how affording it any rights is tantamount to destroying the family. You don’t get to pat yourself on the back for being restrained by libs.

BelieveItOarKnot said:

There's a perfectly good and obvious reason why terms in the KJV with regards to a lot a scripture using terms such as "these" and "they" rather than people.

The reason is contained right there in the parable and exampled by Jesus and the Apostles that shows the devil and his messengers operate in and through people.

So, you will term people as just some people but the term some isn't in the parable

ALL people have the Word stolen from our hearts. ALL. That theft is perpetual. None have perfect and full understandings. None. There are no exceptions. Never have been other than God Himself in the flesh

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Another strawman argument: I never suggested anyone other than Christ is perfect.

Do at least some Christians have the indwelling Holy Spirit and if so does demons, devil or some other evil beings also dwell in these people?

I am still waiting on you to find on NT translation done by a group of scholars which has Mark 4:13-20 using people. Also look at Jesus explanation of the same parable in Matt:13: 18 “Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: 19 When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart. This is the seed sown along the path. 20 The seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. 21 But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. 22 The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful. 23 But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.”

You have to look at the context for both the soils and different individuals, they are not all the same people.

BelieveItOarKnot said:

We're not discussing possession

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Are they not in the person causing sin?

BelieveItOarKnot said:

Temptation equates to evil lawless thoughts which defile everyone. Again no exceptions. Never have been exceptions

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You say: “Temptation equates to evil lawless thoughts which defile everyone. Again no exceptions.” Jesus was tempted so did He have evil thoughts?

I'm currently teaching The Crucible to my eleventh graders. One of the characters, a slave named Tituba, is from Barbados. I didn't know where that was located, so I Googled it. Barbados is an island in the Caribbean Sea / West Indies:

Oompa Loompa said:

Okay. Then we should get rid of dual citizenship.

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Why? What harm does it cause.

durangodawood said:

Did you hear him? The sneering contempt. It was chilling actually, hearing our head of state talk about whole nationality like that.

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I will never treat this behavior as normal. Anyone that stands behind him saying these things is frankly, just as garbage as what they are complaining about. People who think this way make us all look bad.

BPPLEE said:

It is remarkable that a man who couldn’t draw a crowd and campaigned from his basement for the most part got more votes than Obama

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Just shows how bad his opponent came across.

I also think public interest and awareness of politics sharply increased in the 4 years Trump was president his first term and especially so during that first year of Covid lockdowns and protests across the country. Couple that with an eased process to vote by mail and much greater awareness that’s an option I think all contributed to such a high turnout that year. Last year we were slightly more back to normal in terms of turnout and without any candidates really driving people out to the polls we got an extremely close race with Trump only slightly edging out over Harris. Two very unpopular choices to most voters. No crazy conspiracies necessary.