jsn9333 said:I hope you were just joking around in your responses. However, given that this is one of the few places someone would say the things you've said and actually mean them seriously. . . I'm going to respond as if you were not kidding around.
Ah, I see. So even though gluttony, defined as excessive eating, is condemned in the Scriptures, the fact that the liberal left also dislikes it means we can't talk about it in church. Seems to me you've placed "disagree the 'liberal left'" higher on your priority list then "serve God and preach the Word."
I'll go ahead and guess you haven't yet gotten to Genesis chapter 2 in your quest to read the Bible from cover to cover. So I'll just go ahead and tell you that is where Adam is placed in the environment God created for him and was told to "take care of it". Most of the trees are dead atop the highest point in my state (Mount_Mitchell, North Carolina) and the park service, on its tours, says scientists have shown it is due to acid rain from pollution causing mineral imbalance in the soil. Don't tell me environmental harm is "not happening". Plus this issue is personal to me. My father died from skin cancer which, in case you haven't noticed, is the disease whose rates have increased dramatically in the last 40 years or so as the same pollution that ruins the environment in my state depletes the atmosphere of radiation fighting compounds.
If you honestly believe that in our enormous, bumbling bureaucracy of a government there is not one policy that disadvantages or impoverishes poor people, then that is your opinion (as foolish as it may be). But if any preacher disagrees with you and, in his heart, recognizes that such policies exist then he has a duty to speak up. Looking out for the needy is a Biblical mandate... crying "communist" or "class-warfare" whenever someone mentions taking care of the poor is not. I mean, how do you know what policies were being referred to? You don't. Here again is another example of you placing "disagree the 'liberal left'" higher on your priority list then "serve God and preach the Word." I mean, at least ask what policy he might be referring to... unless you are absolutely sure not a single one possibly exists.
Again, you don't even know what war (or by what country) the author was talking about. Is it the U.S.? Is it an ally of the U.S.? Are you saying an unjust war has never occurred, by any country in the world? At least get the details before you chime in. "Even a fool is thought wise if he keeps silent, and discerning if he holds his tongue." (Proverbs 17:28). Unjust wars (wars against countries that pose no threat to the waring country and result in the deaths of hundreds of thousands if not millions through the violence and lawlessness that ensues) are not things Christians should be engaged in. I'm not approaching the topic of whether the U.S. is currently involved in any such war, but wars like that have occurred in history and are not right. Sure there is no "reckless endangerment" verses like there are statutes in our criminal code, but a recklessly fought war is clearly against principles of peace, love and many other fruits of the Spirit found in the Scriptures. That is a practical thing preachers should be able to remind their congregations of from time to time without facing your scorn, especially since their congregations elect the commanders of the strongest military in the world.
Also, the neglect of the elderly and the sick does not get "preached all the time." You're lying to yourself if you think those topics get approached even 1/10th as often as abortion and homosexuality in most conservative churches.
In answer to your whole post I addressed then in the broad way he stated them. If he had specifics in mind he should have made them clear. If he isn't going to be specific I cannot answer them in any other way. The liberal left is to be opposed in most cases. And i doubt you know what goes on in conservative churches all the time. Your assertion is a lie the liberla left tells quite often. The left talks about it. Waits for the government to do something about it. And all the while conservatives are out on the streets doing something about it. Without the aid of government.