drsmith. Fair enough. You claim you were raised Southern Baptist and are Bible versed. I accept that. I ask you what is the primary concern of the Faithful? I will answer it for you from two angles. Salvation. Put God first in all things. 1 Kings Chapter 8, Ezekiel Chapter 18, John Chapter 17, Roman's Chapter 8.
This site is pretty neutral politically. It is an English Trinitarian Bible Site with an adequate Search Engine (Concordance). We can stick with the King James translation if it suits you.
The Holy Bible
Part of what Glenn Beck brought notice to was .....
Now which of these do you find offensive????? None I truly hope. Is it that you feel Glenn unworthy to point in Christ's direction????? I don't think that's it. Is it that you think he is perpetuating a scam????? If that was the case, don't you have faith enough in God to know that He is more than capable of dealing with it????? You should. I'm not trying to sell you anything, Your Conscience is in truth the most important tool of discernment you have. What I would say to you is look for truth through it, when in doubt, search it and make peace with it above all else. I say that for you, I say that for Myself. We are all beings, created and purposed by God, and accountable to Him first in all things. That said, He gave us minds, voice, Liberty, and the ability to learn through consequence, both good and bad. What is your intent? Purpose? Motive? Dream? Vision? That is all about you as an individual first. It is not about selfishness, but being rooted in a personal relationship with your maker through what you experience in life. What you learn in truth you develop and share with others. No mechanism is more important than it's reason for being. Be it machine or Government, or culture. When it becomes destructive to it's primary reason for being, it is the creation that must adapt, not the primary purpose for it's need. We apply new reasoning, applications, design to adapt to circumstance, need, and desire. We can choose to do that honorably or dishonorably, to what ever varying degree. Cause and effect in truth will reveal the reality for what it is. Do we learn and grow or deny and resist????? My witness to you is that we too easily go astray and multiply the offense. We need independent thinker's, freedom of speech, and the courage to say what we know to be from our individual perspectives, to remedy the wrongs. To provoke thought and reason, to effect the course.
Show me here anything that denies free choice or free will. Our Forefather's designed a Government rooted in Christian Principles, not by accident, but by Faith. Part of that root was the concept of governing by the consent of the governed, when the percentage of the governed is large enough, over 75%, it actually has the power to alter any and every part of the contract that lends license to those that govern. All are limited in authority and power by our consent as a whole, Executive, Legislative, and Judicial. We as a whole have the power over the shape, form, and tone of the rules of play. Faith, Hope, and Charity, begin, and are rooted in each individual being, by design. Our Government, operating within the boundaries of our consent, is reflective of that. When it exceeds those boundaries, it is theft.
Look at the history of what We American's give privately, in relation to what our Government gives in natural disasters around the world. It is a wondrous thing what we are capable of both through Government infrastructure and private funds, still, Our donation's trump all combined efforts throughout the world. There is no system that compares to the free market DR. Think about it. Value for value. Persuasion, not force, that is the Christian way. To set up rule of law against the will of the people is Tyranny, it is a violation of trust and a corruption of purpose.
1 Corinthians / 13
13:1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.
13:2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.
13:3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.
13:4 Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,
13:5 Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;
13:6 Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;
13:7 Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.
13:8 Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.
13:9 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.
13:10 But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.
13:11 When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. Defenders Notes >>
13:12 For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.
13:13 And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.
The Holy Bible Corinthians&Chapter=13#
Either that or a six week vacation in rehab. It must be so tough for you with so many idiot's in the world. Are we detecting a pattern here?????
