On my political challenge last week, i wanted people to talk about specific issues. I wanted to see how many people are willing to think outside their political party. Do people who are conservative have some liberal ideas, and do liberals have some conservative ideas?
Anyways here is my answer to the question: What have you changed your mind on in the last five years?
I have changed on gay marriage. Im not against it anymore. Im not necessarily for it either, but just not opposed.
I kept asking myself why it mattered whether or not the government recognizes it. My answer to that question now is that it does not matter.
The argument that it tears down traditional marriages just seemed hollow after awhile.
I read some columnist saying that it had not hurt his traditional marriage. Had to face the logic of that. It hasnt hurt mine either to tell the truth.
I still don't approve of the gay lifestyle, but i really can't see a reason to legislate what they do.
I have become even stronger in thinking drugs should be legalized, taxed and regulated. The drug war isnt working. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. Again, not approving of drugs, but we need to be realistic.
More than half the people in prison are there for drugs, and our prisons are over crowded. Just think if we took that money - not to mention money spent on cops and such - and put it to a good use? Lower taxes maybe?
I really dont think making drugs legal would result in many more people using drugs. That they are illegal doesnt seem to be stopping anyone.
Also, the blatant hypocrisy of our society in this area is almost humorous --- can you say Beer Garden .. :)
I wonder how many legislators who want to give drug tests to welfare recipients had wine with dinner after they finish the day's session...or a cigarette?
Ive not really changed on that, but just become even stronger in my thoughts on that issue.
Well, we certainly part ways on this topic!
ReplyDeleteIts one thing to let people make bad choices or live/choose destructive behaviors and lifestyles!
But, it is something else to promote them with PUBLIC approval!
In every instance Drugs, Gay, Gaming/Gambling, the disregard of the instituion of marriage/traditional family structure, etc. they all are contrary to a Healthy Society!
You can't cure the illnesses of Society with more disease!
ditto. That's why we got AIDS now. It is not only unnatural...it's just plain unhealthy. Making drugs legal will just let the people who committed those crimes who happened to be under the influence free to do it again. Making their drug legal won't make them less violent, or make them want to work. Albeit, the prison system is criminal. It does nothing to rehabilitate. It only corrupts them further.
ReplyDeleteBut, touche' here: "Also, the blatant hypocrisy of our society in this area is almost humorous --- can you say Beer Garden .. :)
I wonder how many legislators who want to give drug tests to welfare recipients had wine with dinner after they finish the day's session...or a cigarette?" Alcohol and nicotine are just as much drugs as the rest of it.
James i can halfway see your point on gay marriage... halfway. I agree marijuana should be legal... but not for your reasoning... If everything that we seemed to be losing we just gave in, we wouldnt be where we are...
ReplyDeleteWe were getting our tails kicked in the revolutionary war... If we woulda gave in and quit, where would we be now? Just because something is hard and has worn you down is not cause for giving in... Thats exactly when we need to stand up and fight harder...
I wasnt saying to give in. I was saying what we are doing is not working.
ReplyDeleteHow much sense does it make to try harder with a strategy that is not working, and appears not likely to work? Will doing something that does not work even harder work?
Larry King and his 8 divorces, or Tiger Wood and all the other celebrity adulterers have done more to undermine traditional marriage than gay unions ever will...
ReplyDeleteNothing worse than a pot smoking gay who spends his evenings at the casino...
ReplyDeleteI would say a self serving alcoholic straight lying politition would be worse than that.....I m not sure why I think it is worse.....Just my thoughts! If we got rid of those guys we wouldn't have anyone in office!
ReplyDeleteNothing worse than a pot smoking gay who spends his evenings at the casino...
ReplyDeleteWell that certainly fits in with "I lost my shorts tonight at the Casino"!
That was my point... I imagine there could be lots worse.
ReplyDeletenasty, just nasty. a man trying to use a man for a woman. filthy. That's why you can't find a trace of Sodom.
ReplyDelete@9:18 - Don't you think God has bigger issues to be concerned about?
ReplyDeleteThat's why God is so awesome. He can hold the universe in one hand while cradling the smallest child in the other. We cannot possibly grasp the expanse.
ReplyDeleteSure He has lots to be concerned about. Doesn't matter what I think. Matters what He thinks. He's God, I'm not. Want to know what He thinks about men with men. "But the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the LORD exceedingly." "If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death;" "Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,"
ReplyDeletethat's what God thinks.... Oh well, people don't care what God thinks. Personally, if I didn't have a Bible, I'd still think it's just plain filthy, nasty. Even dogs got more sense. AIDS.
I think that was more the opinion of the men who wrote the bible than any god.
ReplyDeleteWhich god do you prefer, the CRUEL, UNMERCIFUL, DESTRUCTIVE, and FEROCIOUS god, or the KIND, MERCIFUL, LOVING and GOOD god?
"I will not pity, nor spare, nor have mercy, but destroy." (JER 13:14) "Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not, but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling."
or
"The Lord is very pitiful and of tender mercy." (JAS 5:11)
"For his mercy endureth forever." (1CH 16:34)
"The Lord is good to all, and his tender mercies are over all his works." (PSA 145:9)
"God is love." (1JO 4:16)
You can't have it both ways!
You can't have it both ways!
ReplyDeleteGod hates evil!
There is no evil in God!
There is NO evil that comes from God!
You can't have Good where you have EVIL!
You can't have God where you choose EVIL!
You can't have it both ways God and EVIL!
@ 3:06 If you want to hold up the Bible as your authority, it has to be both ways...
ReplyDeleteIsaiah 45:7 - "I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil:I the LORD do all these things."
I agree with 12:36, the Bible is an attempt by humans to understand the mind and will of God. Sometimes we get it right, and sometimes we have been terribly wrong...
How ignorant to hold up AIDS as God's wrath or punishment against homosexuals. People used to think that about lepers as well, scripture reinforced this, but Jesus in essence said, "I don't care what scripture says about this. Leprosy is not an outward sign of some inward sin." Rather, Jesus embraced the leper, loved him and restored him to community.
I think Jesus would do the same with AIDS patients. I know he would. He did the same with all of the marginalized, the outcast, the down trodden. All of those that society said do not belong....
I think Jesus would do the same with AIDS patients. I know he would. He did the same with all of the marginalized, the outcast, the down trodden. All of those that society said do not belong....
ReplyDeleteI think Jesus would certainly have healed an AIDS Patient! Even today if he were alive in the flesh!
But, in almost every instance he said it was their faith that healed them and to go and sin no more - then tell others what God had done for them - that they had changed or chosen a new life or path!
"How ignorant to hold up AIDS as God's wrath or punishment against homosexuals." Hey...I never said that. didn't notice any posters here that did. God had nothing to do with it. It's men's evil hearts of sin that allow such diseases to arise. Surely Jesus loves those afflicted with this. BUT, Jesus said..."sin no more." It's plain stupid to say that everyone who has AIDS has done some sin. What about the person who got it from a blood transfusion? Did they sin? Think for a minute instead of trying to prove why it's ok to be homosexual. I still say: and no one here has bothered to correct me...I don't need the Bible to say a man with a man is just plain filthy, nasty. Even dumb cows got more sense. AIDS is here not by God's will but it is here. AIDS.
ReplyDeleteGod hates evil!
ReplyDeleteThere is no evil in God!
There is NO evil that comes from God!
Uh, where did Satan come from again?
Oh, nevermind... don't think too hard about it. You just go on believing in fairy tales if it comforts you. Who am I to try to open your eyes if you have chosen to seal them shut??
Who am I to try to open your eyes if you have chosen to seal them shut??
ReplyDeleteWhat’s the best advice Warren Buffett has ever received? You might be surprised: It has nothing to do with money.
In an exclusive interview with Yahoo! News and The Huffington Post, he credited his father for teaching him how to live, and explained that all parents can make a "better human being" by offering their children unconditional love:
The power of unconditional love. I mean, there is no power on earth like unconditional love. And I think that if you offered that to your child, I mean you’re 90 percent of the way home. There may be days when you don’t feel like it, it’s not uncritical love, that’s a different animal, but to know you can always come back, that is huge in life. That takes you a long, long way. And I would say that every parent out there that can extend that to their child at an early age, it’s going to make for a better human being.
Buffett spoke from Sun Valley, Idaho, while attending the Allen & Company conference, an annual gathering of technology and media leaders.
Buffett, one of the most successful investors of our age, is known as the "Oracle of Omaha" for his wide-ranging views on economic, political and cultural issues. Buffett recently joined forces once again with Bill and Melinda Gates to launch an initiative to persuade the world's billionaires to donate half their fortunes to charity.
To that end, Buffett says Oprah Winfrey should expect his call:
---------
Does Warren Buffet Believe in God IDK!
But there is no doubt that he understands that God doesn't close the door or seal the eyes of people (harden their hearts) - they do it to themselves!
God's unconditional love is open to all - they are the ones who must recieve it!
@7:17 - "God's unconditional love is open to all - they are the ones who must recieve it!"
ReplyDeleteCouldn't agree with you more. But, I take it further. I don't believe God's love is conditional upon the will of the receiver.
Consider Matthew 5:43-46
43 “You have heard the law that says, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' 44 But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! 45 In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike. 46 If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much."
I have fairies in my garden. I haven't actually seen them, but someone told me they were there, so I believe it. Someone even wrote a book about fairies once, so that proves it. I just wish they would show themselves to me. I guess it must be part of the fairies master plan to give absolutely no physical evidence of their existence. That way it make me a much better person when I believe in them with absolutely no proof. Right?! I sure would like to see one though.
ReplyDelete