Posts by glenster

3

Washington Post Story on Romney and his Morman background.

by Balaamsass in

lisa miller belief watch mitt romneys hard-hearted twist on the mormon work ethicview photo gallery mormon in america: the mormon story is a quintessentially american tale, writes on faith columnist lisa miller.

tooltile ad begintooltile ad end /article tool bar by lisa miller, published: september 20 for ap news registry the washington post /for ap news registry /byline sometimes, when mitt romney steps in it, as he did this week , its helpful to look to his religion for clues as to why.

not because romney (or any man) is a perfect reflection of his faith, but because romney is shaped by the teachings of the church of jesus christ of latter-day saints, and that church happens to have a historic horror of dependency on the state.. when romney says, buffoonishly, that 47 percent of americans will vote for barack obama because they are dependent upon government .

glenster

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mormons#Modern_times

10

According to today's JW standards, would Jesus be considered an apostate or opposer?

by I_love_Jeff in

what rules in the elder's manual would jesus be charged with if he were here today?

.

glenster

Didn't disfellowship angels for celebrating his birth.
Showed too much enthusiasm for public schooling.
Didn't identify himself as archangel Michael even to stop attackers.
Dressed and had his hair cut like a hippy.
Didn't clarify how to calculate from 607 BC to 1914 though only intending to
return invisibly.
Said some eunuchs were born that way and some made that way instead of
teaching that all who weren't made that way chose it wrongly.
Didn't complain that the meat he was served was obsessively drained and
order the chef to bring him something juicier.
Asked followers to consider the lilies of the field without warning them not
to waste time on gardening that could be spent distributing scrolls.
Didn't command followers to drop government jobs, which led to Peter's
delinquency regarding Cornelius.
Didn't command followers to drop holidays, which led to Paul's delinquency at
Rom.14.
Didn't use the name Jehovah, which left followers to refer to themselves
anonymously as "witnesses" for about 1900 years.
Told those who wanted to kill a prostitute to dig themselves, which showed an
improper degree of involvement in civil rights.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_p8khzyK-E
Violated shunning rules.
Lived as long on his stake as one would on a cross indicating he wasted far
too much time on athletics and sports.

10

Video-Taped Police Beating, Was The Use of Excess Force Justified? What Do You Think?

by Scott77 in

glenster

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/22/iraq-veteran-beating-tape_n_620853.html
David London acquitted: police officer caught on tape beating handcuffed vet gets off
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/29/david-london-acquitted-po_n_628741.html

Houston police fatally shoot wheelchair-bound double amputee threatening people
with a ballpoint pen
http://www.cnn.com/2012/09/23/us/texas-amputee-shooting/index.html

79

What did God accomplish with the flood?

by jam in

the purpose of the flood, because man grieved him to.

his heart, so he started over.

did his plan work?

glenster

I see a covenant with the little group not behaving criminally, but not clear
stated exclusion of others should they follow suit. I suppose God could know the
future and know they wouldn't given the choice, though.

I think the point is to find relevance in the allegory, not labor over literal
discrepancies of an allegory, or you run into the same folly of interpretation as
the literalist fundamentalist--literal or nothing--believe in God that way or not
at all--except one accepts and the other rejects. (If you want to disagree with
the literalist, which I would encourage, you don't want to show no better inter-
pretive ability than they have.)

Basically, violent crime is bad is the most simplified relevant version, not
dependant on finding a literal ark on a mountain, and a nice message whether you
believe in God or not. Regarding the literal ark, I'd just give a Wikipedia
link or two--I wouldn't work so hard at it.

No comments on Tom? I had his first six albums back when I had albums.
http://www.faith-theology.com/2007/12/tom-waits-theologian-of-dysangelion.html

79

What did God accomplish with the flood?

by jam in

the purpose of the flood, because man grieved him to.

his heart, so he started over.

did his plan work?

glenster

More serious theology

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNSN1SVS0gw

I like the OT God. I think He's the most fun.

79

What did God accomplish with the flood?

by jam in

the purpose of the flood, because man grieved him to.

his heart, so he started over.

did his plan work?

glenster

"speculative"

I agree. Interpretation, maybe over-intepretation, on my part I can bend with:

Matthew 24:36-39 says, “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the
angels of heaven, but My Father only. But as the days of Noah were, so also will
the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days before the flood, they were
eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah
entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so
also will the coming of the Son of Man be.”

Did he tell them and they didn't believe? He knew they turned from God so he
didn't tell them figuring it would fall on deaf ears? Dunno. Mungo only pawn
in game of life.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKRma7PDW10

"how can you have 'criminals' when there has been no criminal law given to
define what "crime" even is?"

Gen.6:5--people mainly wicked, evil
Gen.6:11--earth corrupt and full of violence

My interpretation has it the reader is being told to bring to it at least a
basic sense of ethics, so those things would mean an extreme case of people
commonly overindulging the self at others' needless hurt and expense, unfair
regard or treatment, as by lying, stealing, murdering, etc., without forcing
specifics beyond basically that. As with another pre-flood Gen. story in which
Cain is punished for the violence of murdering Abel, this would have been
apparent by interpersonal ethics without messages from God or religious law
defining these things (also noted at Rom.2:14-15).

"Jesus made to the Flood (which he apparently believed in)"
Possibly, although the phrasing would be the same if he referred to an
aspect of an allegorical story, so I won't force the point.

God as bully never concerns me--it's a faith matter that He's even there.
I agree about wanting separation of church and state though I don't see the
Noah story as particularly hinging on that one way or the other. For bullying,
belief or non- belief as law of the land with punishments is more the problem,
like institutionalized 'centric intolerance--blech.

"the koran's flood account rings a bit more probable."

Maybe, but I don't think the points depend on how literally you can take
something like that except to a "fundamentalist literalist or nothing" forced
choice. What is more bothersome to me regarding Muhammad is though Mosaic law of
the land was over for Christians he, like a Roman emperor, didn't see the problem
in reinstating such a thing. I think he picked the wrong testament to emulate.

79

What did God accomplish with the flood?

by jam in

the purpose of the flood, because man grieved him to.

his heart, so he started over.

did his plan work?

glenster

Since the posts have gone more toward people giving their interpretions than
jokes, and some seem meant to to provoke with the Innocence of Believers trail-
ers, something more moderate for balance:

It's faith-related allegory. A non-believer choice is itself fair game since
it's a faith matter, but there isn't much ability to persuade it's needed over
literal people dying due to something that even a lot of believers know didn't
literally happen.

Common human selfishness can have people do things even when they know it's
wrong. In the story, not only is common human selfishness appropriately named,
but most all the ones in the story have made the world a Scorsese movie.

Noah tried for a long time to reach them for a change of heart to no avail.
God may give life, but it's a gift He doesn't have to give. He owns it all so
has the prerogative do what he wants with it with impunity, could see how crim-
inals would fill the world if allowed to grow unchecked, and got rid of them.
(I could have used Him in some of the neighborhoods with a lot of crime I lived
in before.)

One imaginable moral for life with God or just life: be more respectful to the
gift of life you're given. To keep the world largely disgusting but not impossi-
ble, keep common human selfishness in check.

52

So, Jesus had a wife.....

by oldlightnewshite in

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