Hans Blaster said:

Separation isn't a solution. I think rather it is. Keep the churches out of government. As for the "private matter", I miss the days when it was considered polite to no ask about or tell about your religion in non-religious contexts. In my days in church the only way to know which one I went to was to be in the same parish. Oddly enough, no one ever asked (including my roommates).

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I really don't care what you "miss", and no separation isn't a feasible solution because there is no way to exclude religious people from public life nor should it be expected of them to do so. Not allowing for the establishment of a state church is fine, as it is reasonable not to give one religion a privileged status in a pluralistic society, but demanding that religious folks separate their religion from their politics and their public life in general is an unreasonable demand and is nothing more than de facto giving a privileged status to a particular position on religion.

FAITH-IN-HIM said:

In the United States, employers typically cover about 70% of insurance premiums, while individuals who receive insurance through their employer pay roughly 30%. If universal healthcare does not reduce overall healthcare costs in the country by 70%, individuals will end up paying more than 30% through taxes.

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You assume that the employer is still going to be collecting that 70% out of payroll.

FAITH-IN-HIM said:

So, you don't have a number for us—just a vague promise that it'll cost less.

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It's not a vague promise and the numbers backing that up are readily availble--some have been posted here, including reasonable estimates. But saving money is not the only factor. It would be a good idea even if it cost the same.

Delvianna said:

Yes, for sure. While Trump fixed some things the government was doing, like spying on Christians and labeling them as "extremists" via the FBI, I think that isn't going to stop the people behind that from picking it back up once Trump is out of office.

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I have been thinking about this and realised that what is at stake is more than Christianity. But the freedoms that the west brought which stemmed from Christian values. But the principles of freedom and democracy was a western idea seperated from the church.

So really when people reject Christianity they are also rejecting constitutional rights.

It shows that this is about ideological belief in how the world should be ordered. A belief that is willing to sacrifice or deny the truth principles of freedom and democracy and to impose an ideology on others. Which is the complete reverse of how the church once imposed its will on society.

Delvianna said:

Then you have the idea where Christians are hated for being against some lifestyles because scripture says it's wrong.

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Yes and it makes sense as far as the world is concerned. Logically if the State replaced the church and the State represents the social norms. Then as the social norms move further away from God it becomes more conflicting.

The State became the new church because the political was made the personal with identity politics. Which had been cultivated for decades. Once the political becomes the personal then morality comes in. Then its a battle of morality as to which belief should stand as the basis for society and the nation.

This is the beginning of the battle we are seeing happening now. As time goes by this will become more defined between Christians and the world. Christ and the anti Christ.

Delvianna said:

We're seeing a rise in that too and then let's not forget the rise in extreme Muslim thinking too that is leading to attacks against Jews and Christians in western countries. England is getting it the worst right now. So absolutely, I think it's only going to get worse as people get more brazen.

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Yes and its interesting that both political extremists and Islamists are rising at the same time. I can remember when the western nations were allied against the barbaric terrorism of extreme Islamists. Remember 9/11 and the Bali nightclub suicide attacks. The train and bus bombings, and knife and vehicle attacks on the streets.

Then Covid came and it settled down. But then came the cultivation of identity politics and the culture war. I really think the radical Islamists were not stupid. They declare they will get the Jews and west anyway they can. So it seems their kind of extreme mindset has been brought into the west. Mixed with the already extremist politics and you have a perfect storm for sowing division and dissent.

The common enermy being Jews and the west and Christians by extension. But its interesting how it just happens to be the Jews and Christians and not say Greeks and pagans or Muslims or any other percieved enermy that needs to be stopped.

Delvianna said:

I agree! My aunt was a street preacher before she died when I was little. The fact that a woman could do it alone back in the 70's and 80's vs today just essentially says all that needs to be said lol.

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Yes and I remember going to a church in the heart of Darlinghurst which is the Gay capital of the world back then. I would often walk the streets with Christian friends. Kings Cross was next door and you would see all sorts of preachers out and about. Or mission vans.

People loved the hope and even social aspect. They could talk religion and not get irrate, and share stories. It offered a different perspective from that which they lived everyday.

Delvianna said:

Absolutely! That's another issue as well depending on where you work.

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Thats why I think the care industries good because you are always helping in some way which is a basic Christian value. But some organisations are better than others as far as ethics go. Plus I see a lot of church based retail stores and especially help services like job agencies or training programs.

A local church actually built a community center with offices for counsellors, psychologists and legal and working with the local government in different care industries such as aged care and youth justice. So there are a few Christian based organisations. Or secular organisations in the care industry with Christian values.

Desk trauma said:

No concepts then.

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He doesn’t even understand the question.

He believes having no alternative plan is preferable to the cost of the ACA.

Delvianna said:

Hi there The entire law that was given by Moses started with the 10 commandments but that was very different by the subsequent ceremonial laws that he then gave later. Both are in the Pentuateuch, but the idea of the laws are separate.

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Hi and appreciate your replies! Yes, both are Law and both were to be obeyed when it was in force; but now the Jews have no law which means no present Covenant because it was removed, "That He may establish the second." "For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second" (Heb 10:9; 8:7).

Delvianna said:

There are instances of Pastors who preach for decades, who eventually turn away from God because their child died or spouse, or some big instance that makes them upset at God and so they leave.

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Our love for God must mean more than our love for any other; otherwise we miss God altogether. "Mat 10:37
"He that loveth father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.

Delvianna said:

What do you repent for then?

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Isn't repentance one ceasing from doing wrong, which is taught by John the Baptist and the Lord Jesus?

Always in His Presence said:

How is the ACA doing - still costing more every year?

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Yes, costs are rising for ACA, but what alternative solution does the GOP offer?

BCP1928 said:

I think you mean that those concerns are being dismissed as objective concerns.

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who gets to decide what an objective concern is in such regards?

Fervent said:

As is proper.

All convictions are private convictions, but that doesn't mean they can be relegated to private concerns. Particularly when we're dealing with totalizing beliefs that speak to every aspect of human life.

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I think you mean that those concerns are being dismissed as objective concerns.

BCP1928 said:

A sum rather less than they are now paying in employee contributions and the foregone wages in the amount of the employer contributions. For the individual there wouldn't be much difference--just a sum of money deducted from wages going to the government rather than the employer.'s choice of an insurance company. It's not rocket science. If health insurance is being provided by the government then you pay the premium to the government in the form of taxes. If the health insurance industry is running it then you pay the premium to an insurance company.

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In the United States, employers typically cover about 70% of insurance premiums, while individuals who receive insurance through their employer pay roughly 30%. If universal healthcare does not reduce overall healthcare costs in the country by 70%, individuals will end up paying more than 30% through taxes.

Apple Sky said:

OK - If sat's orbit earth in space, how do they manage to stay up ?

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Centrifugal force. Since there’s no drag to slow them down their speed doesn’t decrease and gravity constantly causes their trajectory to change which is why vessels in orbit appear to be weightless in space because gravity is nullified by the centrifugal force of their orbit.

Now answer my question, where is your map of a flat earth that is to scale?

Expression of emotion is normal.

BCP1928 said:

Actually, the Quran does not allow the execution of those who won't convert. Some forms of Islam allow it for apostasy, but there is not universal agreement about it.

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Properly understood, it absolutely does. But that takes engagement with Islamic scholarship and the Sunnah material, where it is clear that Muhammad used the threat of conversion or death against the people of Mecca when he overthrew the city. And forms that deny death for apostasy are the exception, whereas it is the prescriptive punishment by pretty much all mainline divisions(sunni, shia, sufi)

Fervent said:

Outside of Michael Severus, it's never really been an issue in Protestantism. And while there have been instances in the broader church, those were exceptions rather than a general rule. Whereas in Islam it appears to be fairly SOP, especially among those who are most informed about the life of the "prophet" and full of zeal to emulate it.

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Actually, the Quran does not allow the execution of those who won't convert. Some forms of Islam allow it for apostasy, but there is not universal agreement about it.

Delta Airlines

Remember lots of sounds.

LOTS

BCP1928 said:

They do have that right, and exercise it continuously.

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As is proper.

BCP1928 said:

It is a private conviction. All religion is a private conviction.

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All convictions are private convictions, but that doesn't mean they can be relegated to private concerns. Particularly when we're dealing with totalizing beliefs that speak to every aspect of human life.

(That’s neat!) How did you learn that?

Fervent said:

That's not really a solution, nor is religion a purely private matter. Religious folks have every right to make their convictions a matter of public discourse as any secular individual,

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They do have that right, and exercise it continuously.

Fervent said:

and the separation between church and state is not a license for the state to run roughshod and suppress religious sentiment by relegating it to private convictions.

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It is a private conviction. All religion is a private conviction.

BCP1928 said:

Yes, Christians don't do that kind of thing much any more.

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Outside of Michael Severus, it's never really been an issue in Protestantism. And while there have been instances in the broader church, those were exceptions rather than a general rule. Whereas in Islam it appears to be fairly SOP, especially among those who are most informed about the life of the "prophet" and full of zeal to emulate it.

Phil G said:

So all you have is just a meme making statements. No explanation, just statements. You claim nobody debates you or gives evidence. But that actually describes you, not anyone else.

No submarine cables near my house. And I don't plug in any signal cable apart from the one coming form the dish, so that's nonsense. I couldn't lock the dish onto a balloon for more than a few seconds, it would float way before I had time to tune a channel in. So that's more nonsense. Planes and drones don't carry satellite tv signals because there's none in sight. So that's even more nonsense. Parabolic reflectors? Nope, because if that's the case, they need to be very high up in the sky....like a satellite!

This has all been explained to you before, you just keep repeating the same nonsense like a parrot. It shows you don't apply rational thought to the problem. You just revert to the cult teaching and parrot it out without understanding any of it.

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OK - If sat's orbit earth in space, how do they manage to stay up ?

Fervent said:

Haha...very funny. Though Protestant beligerantism is certainly problematic, but its a different sort of beligerance from that exemplified by islam. One will write scathing letters and call you a heretic, the other will cut your head off if you refuse to convert.

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Yes, Christians don't do that kind of thing much any more.

wing2000 said:

...and President Trump will secure the great oil fields of Venezuela for the American people. Drill, baby, drill!

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Just like the Iraqi oil fields that paid for the war!

Hans Blaster said:

A rhetoric you seem to be reinforcing.

The solution is to be aggressively secular in government and leave religion to its proper, private realm. What we need is some sort of wall... a wall of separation ... a separation between religion and government. Let the people believe on their own a their private beliefs. (I liked it better when people minded their own business and kept their religions to themselves.)

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That's not really a solution, nor is religion a purely private matter. Religious folks have every right to make their convictions a matter of public discourse as any secular individual, and the separation between church and state is not a license for the state to run roughshod and suppress religious sentiment by relegating it to private convictions.