Do you believe in God? Then you have a moral duty to fight climate change, writes Jim Antal

[Bro. Curtis]

Your posts are childish, ignorant, and full of untruths.

First untruth is that you separate church and state. You clearly want the state to do the church’s job.

 

[Bro. Curtis]

Excellent but if you vote to take away government aid to the needy to give tax breaks to the rich and pour more money down the black hole of the Pentagon you hurt them a lot.

Why do you complain about how you are treated here when you put up garbage like this ?

 

[just-want-peace]

No. I believe in separation of church and state. It's just that almost everyone else here believes that only republicans can be Christians. That makes my posts stand out as a voice of reason.

One of the best examples of an “OXYMORON” I’ve seen!!!

 

[Revmitchell]

That makes my posts stand out as a voice of reason.

There are no words......

 

[atpollard]

Unlike you, my faith is not dependent on politics. I think that's the greatest problem the church faces today, the combination of Republican politics and "Evangelical Christianity."

I have friends who grew up in Sudan who would probably say the Muslim militia that machete their parents to death for being Christian and forced them to flee through the wilderness on foot for two years to reach a refugee camp in Kenya is a bigger problem. I suspect that the Architect that I work with who fled the crackdown on the underground church following Tiananmen Square and the Civil Engineer that fled Egypt as a Coptic Christian would agree with them that the Church has bigger problems than American Politics or evangelical political aspirations.

For that matter, give me misplaced activism over Laodecian apathy any day ... “So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth.”

 

[I Love An Atheist]

Today's Left long ago took the Gospel out of the Social Gospel and just kept on going with Social Isms. The religion didn't cease to be mixed with the politics. It's just that the religion became godless.

 

[Adonia]

Excellent but if you vote to take away government aid to the needy to give tax breaks to the rich and pour more money down the black hole of the Pentagon you hurt them a lot.

Don't worry, the liberal left and the RINO's will always see to it that the "needy" will get their cut. As for the Pentagon, that is something that is explicitly mentioned in the Constitution and without a strong military in a dangerous world like ours things could get awful bad for us real quick. And no, I do not like us sticking our noses in every corner of this world, but there are times when we need to flex our muscle and having a powerful military is just the thing to have.

As for all the social spending, I fail to see that kind of stuff mentioned in the Federal compact, but then again to folks like you the Constitution means little at this point and it is nothing but an impediment to all the things you really want to do to the rest of us.

 

[FollowTheWay]

I have friends who grew up in Sudan who would probably say the Muslim militia that machete their parents to death for being Christian and forced them to flee through the wilderness on foot for two years to reach a refugee camp in Kenya is a bigger problem. I suspect that the Architect that I work with who fled the crackdown on the underground church following Tiananmen Square and the Civil Engineer that fled Egypt as a Coptic Christian would agree with them that the Church has bigger problems than American Politics or evangelical political aspirations.

For that matter, give me misplaced activism over Laodecian apathy any day ... “So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth.”

My heart and prayers go out to true Christian martyrs. I have a friend who's an attorney from Syria. He and his parents barely got out of there alive but his fiancee was killed. He and his father spoke about their experience in our church. I consider helping refugees like those escaping from situations like you and I have described to be God's work. Trump and the Republican party want to make them return to die.

 

[Adonia]

My heart and prayers go out to true Christian martyrs. I have a friend who's an attorney from Syria. He and his parents barely got out of there alive but his fiancee was killed. He and his father spoke about their experience in our church. I consider helping refugees like those escaping from situations like you and I have described to be God's work. Trump and the Republican party want to make them return to die.

Yeah, like who prevented Christians from coming here to America in lieu of Muslims? Yes, that's right your "Dear Leader" Obama. For every one thousand Muslims, Obama let like one Christian come here to safety.

 

[FollowTheWay]

Today's Left long ago took the Gospel out of the Social Gospel and just kept on going with Social Isms. The religion didn't cease to be mixed with the politics. It's just that the religion became godless.

I'm talking about the true faith and not politics. My faith overrides politics. It just happens that I believe in Christ's command to take care of the needy. When there is political action in line with that I support it. I also resent being put in a box. I'm not a Democrat. I'm not a liberal. I'm a Christian who sometimes aligns with their objectives.

 

[FollowTheWay]

Why do you complain about how you are treated here when you put up garbage like this ?

I provided the Biblical reference supporting this view. That's my foundation.

 

[FollowTheWay]

Yeah, like who prevented Christians from coming here to America in lieu of Muslims? Yes, that's right your "Dear Leader" Obama. For every one thousand Muslims, Obama let like one Christian come here to safety.

I don't remember that. Can you provide us with some proof?

 

[atpollard]

I'm talking about the true faith and not politics. My faith overrides politics. It just happens that I believe in Christ's command to take care of the needy. When there is political action in line with that I support it. I also resent being put in a box. I'm not a Democrat. I'm not a liberal. I'm a Christian who sometimes aligns with their objectives.

While I agree with the responsibility of the Church to care for the needy (starting within the Body), I see Government programs as an abdication of the responsibility of the Body of Christ (the only entity with the mandate and power to change hearts and lives with the Gospel) to the Government (who is charged with wielding the sword of justice and maintaining order). The results are the predictable failure we see played out before us of dependence and full prisons and a spirit of despair.

A single mother with three children needs more than food-stamps. She needs a Christian Community. She needs older women to teach her how to be a mother (which her mother likely never did). She needs people to be a family support net so she has someone who can watch a sick child when she needs to go to work. She needs friends to listen and share her life, and speak hope and encouragement into her. She needs God to change her from the inside out and restore what is broken.

The Government can do none of this. The Government was created to wield the sword of Justice.

 

[Bro. Curtis]

......I also resent being put in a box. I'm not a Democrat. I'm not a liberal. I'm a Christian who sometimes aligns with their objectives.

LOL. You are a liberal democrat.

 

[Bro. Curtis]

I provided the Biblical reference supporting this view. That's my foundation.

The only biblical reference I saw was you pointing at others and thanking God you weren’t one of them.

 

[Adonia]

When there is political action in line with that I support it.

Even though there is no Federal constitutional mandate for such things? You need to go to your particular state government and agitate for that stuff, because the Federal government has limits placed on it by the Federal Constitution and rightly so. It's no wonder we are having such financial problems as a nation with all the un-constitutional Federal spending. The interest on the national debt alone is in the billions!

 

[FollowTheWay]

While I agree with the responsibility of the Church to care for the needy (starting within the Body), I see Government programs as an abdication of the responsibility of the Body of Christ (the only entity with the mandate and power to change hearts and lives with the Gospel) to the Government (who is charged with wielding the sword of justice and maintaining order). The results are the predictable failure we see played out before us of dependence and full prisons and a spirit of despair.

A single mother with three children needs more than food-stamps. She needs a Christian Community. She needs older women to teach her how to be a mother (which her mother likely never did). She needs people to be a family support net so she has someone who can watch a sick child when she needs to go to work. She needs friends to listen and share her life, and speak hope and encouragement into her. She needs God to change her from the inside out and restore what is broken.

The Government can do none of this. The Government was created to wield the sword of Justice.

I absolutely agree that man does not live by bread alone. But the church has shown itself to be both unwilling and unable to provide the tremendous amount of help the poor in America need today. In light of this fact to say the church must do it is tantamount to saying you do not want for them to be helped.

 

[Adonia]

I don't remember that. Can you provide us with some proof?

According to State Department figures recorded in 2015, of the Iraqi refugees let into the country 2,098 were Muslims while only 53 were Christians. This even though Christian were being heavily persecuted. I don't understand this sort of thing.

 

[OnlyaSinner]

I absolutely agree that man does not live by bread alone. But the church has shown itself to be both unwilling and unable to provide the tremendous amount of help the poor in America need today. In light of this fact to say the church must do it is tantamount to saying you do not want for them to be helped.

atpollard posts a strong advocacy that churches need to step up to the plate and help the needy, and the above response twists that into an inference that atpollard does not want them to be helped. Talk about putting people in boxes!

 

[I Love An Atheist]

I'm talking about the true faith and not politics. My faith overrides politics. It just happens that I believe in Christ's command to take care of the needy. When there is political action in line with that I support it. I also resent being put in a box. I'm not a Democrat. I'm not a liberal. I'm a Christian who sometimes aligns with their objectives.

I'm going to try one more time to have a real conversation with you, and see if you ignore me or do nothing but restate your same general and abstract statement that you have already repeated ad nauseum.

I've always been an Independent, and I don't like being put into a box by you, either. I bet all the Republicans also dislike being put into a box.

This is the part I want to see if you will have a conversation about, though:

If you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. If you teach a man to fish, you feed him for a lifetime. I liked the way South Bend, Indiana handled the problem of homelessness. Notre Dame partnered with the Center for the Homeless and with local businesses to create programs for homeless people to do work for pay, like painting houses. They were successful.

Notice the ingredients in this recipe of success. Volunteers, public-private partnership and church. Notre Dame is a Catholic university with lots of student volunteering. Local businesses partnered with Notre Dame.

The Center for the Homeless does also receive some government funds but makes the people go through addiction and alcohol counseling and rehab. Lots of people don't choose to avail themselves of its services for this reason. Although everybody is allowed in to shelter on the premises, even if they are addicts and drunkards on the coldest winter days.

I want to know what you think about this, because it is topical, given more states taking a similar approach with Medicaid work requirements, which Trump is in favor of also.

Of course it is all tangential to the OP, but the tangent appears to be showing no sign of stopping, so I guess it's either tit-for-tat or a real conversation. Show me which one you are really here to try to have.