The Call of Jeremiah is depicted in this 1860 woodcut by Julius Schnorr von Karolsfeld (from here)
Jeremiah wrote two of the saddest books in the Bible, the book that goes by his name, Jeremiah, and Lamentations. Why? Jeremiah prophesied the grisly, merciless destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans. Moreover, he lived to see the city destroyed. And so he cried.
Jeremiah’s Complaint, a passage taken from Jeremiah, gives us some idea of Jeremiah’s frustration and sorrow. Here is how it starts.
Jeremiah 20:7-9 Good News Translation (GNT)
7 Lord, you have deceived me,
and I was deceived.
You are stronger than I am,
and you have overpowered me.
Everyone makes fun of me;
they laugh at me all day long.8 Whenever I speak, I have to cry out
and shout, “Violence! Destruction!”
Lord, I am ridiculed…
View original post 1,529 more words
Citizen Tom 
“‘The pluralist doesn’t see society as a competition for scarce resources, but as a joint voyage of discovery in search of life’s biggest answers. Pluralism offers us the chance, and the civic duty, to be a daring social explorer, venturing across subcultures, sometimes having the exciting experience of being the only one of you in the room, harvesting the wisdom embedded in other people’s lifeways. A key pluralist trait is curiosity, the opposite of anxiety.
“‘Social exploration is a skill. It requires the ability to not merely tolerate difference, but to greet it with a generosity of spirit. Walking into each room confident in your convictions but humbly aware that they are not the only convictions. Being slow to take offense when somebody says the wrong thing, quick to forget the transgressions of others and honest in acknowledging your group’s past wrongs.’
“I’m not sure what the NYTimes article means.“
It’s not or a new idea Liz. I here this as an ageless echo of the same same sentiment that appears throughout the New Testament. It is the same sentiment that caused the early saints to travel to strange lands and spread Jesus’ Gospel of love and hope to diverse cultures around the planet, and it is the same loving sentiment of profound truth that caused diverse tribes of people everywhere to ultimately embrace these strangers who, despite their odd speech, dress and traditions, exemplified mercy and compassion without the superior and judgemental moralizing too many of us Christians display to the stranger today. As the song goes, “they will know we are Christians by our love.”
As you have in your military service as a spouse, I’ve traveled the world as a sailor, and so we both know that we represent our country best when we also represent our best ideal to the world rather than the ugly and superior American tourist that we’ve both been embarrassed by in our travels.
No sensible person wants wide open borders. No sensible person is asking that we don’t vet every foreigner who enters our country for criminals and when we find criminals here illegally, we send them away. Everyone accepts that there are practical limits our hospitality, but practical limits should, with real data and expertise, balance both rational and compassionate concerns, not emotional fear and hatred of anything strange. Being a good American and a good Christian means to me maintaining a difficult and risk filled balance between compassionate welcoming and a practical self defense from those who would do us evil. And yes, being practical also means recognizing that, if we can exercise this same compassionate and rational spirit abroad, it is better and less costly to everyone then dealing with it as a humanitarian crisis at our borders.
However, if America really did spring from Christian concepts, then it is in our concepts of compassion and our embrace of the best of the new and strange. In other words, as Brooks says, it is in our confident curiosity for new wisdom that is our American pluralist ideals. It seems to me that we should represent ourselves in our immigration issues at home just as our best Christian missionaries and our finest servicemen and women do abroad every day.
Happy Veterans Day Everyone!
we both know that we represent our country best when we also represent our best ideal to the world rather than the ugly and superior American tourist that we’ve both been embarrassed by in our travels.
I’ll concede that is a very good point. I’ve been embarrassed by American behavior overseas. Enough to pretend I was an Italian (I could pass, back then).
It isn’t the business of government to be a charity organization. The government provides security. Charity is the business of the individual.
Being first generation American, married to another first generation American, I do not think there was ever a time this nation was more welcoming of immigrants. Legal immigrants.
Happy Veterans day back at you! And thank you for your service!
Side note: I really recommend Midway if you haven’t seen it…not as good as the original but watching fighter pilots saving the world is epic, and seriously sobering. Even if they are Navy 😉
Just thinking further to add a bit more (sorry)
Forced charity isn’t charity at all. One might argue there is a security interest in helping people, et al. There are costs to gains to be weighed there. But that isn’t charity.
There’s a reason no one gets that good “charitable” feeling when they pay their taxes. But they do when they go out and help people personally.
That’s the way it works…because that’s the way it is supposed to work.
On to shovel some snow!
Read this after I wrote last. I think we mostly agree. Now I going out for a run before the Gulf Coast turns into Alaska.
Now I going out for a run before the Gulf Coast turns into Alaska.
Hope you had a good run! My running has really suffered since moving into the mountains. It has gotten so bad, I only use my old running shoes instead of new ones, just to kid myself that it’s the shoes and not me (I don’t want negative associations with the new shoes…and yes I really have these thoughts).
Any tips? I’ve acclimated pretty well for everything else (fast walks, yoga, stairs, et al…just not running, it’s kind of depressing because I love my runs, or used to at any rate)
Mountain running is the best. I’m miss it since we moved from Seattle to the flatlands here. I found that I really came to love the challenge and the ever changing diverse scenery of trail running on hills and mountains. My favorite trail running shoes have been Brooks Cascadias. They are about worn out and I hate the thought of eventually giving them up to break in new ones.
I’ve read some great articles on how to approach hill running. The salient points were head up, shoulders back and keep the same pace and breathing but shorten your stride according to the slope angle. Anything over a certain angle and fast walking may be more efficient than running. Altitudes below 15,000 feet should not be a problem once one is acclimated (I know, easy for me to say).
I may have mentioned that my daughter runs trail ultra marathons. She just finished a 244 mile trail race in the Moab area over 4 1/2 days with 5 1/2 hours sleep. I think that much of her game has to do with her mental grit rather than just her physical shape.
Funny story. On the third night, she and the two fellow racers she had been running with experienced some really dark emotional hours of pain and doubt. Every foot fall felt like daggers through the soles of her feet. They all began crying at once. My daughter, Erin, was crying about some health problems her mom is having. Joe was crying about a dog he had just lost. Zack, I guess lacking anything really bad in his life right then, decided to cry about how unfair his white male privilege is for everyone else. I’m still laughing about this.
Sorry, as I get older and slower, I am really enjoying living vicariously through my kids and I can’t help bragging on them.
@Liz and tsalmon
Funny story. Sounds like a product of extrem fatigue.
When I lived on the Gulf Coast, running outside in the Winter seemed practical. However, when I moved to Colorado Springs, I gave up running in the Winter. I still exercised, but I used a gym.
There is more to it than the cold. When I was stationed in the interior of Alaska, I was quite happy to cross-country ski in 40 below weather for a couple of hours. The quiet and the stillness (no wind) allowed me to relax.
Since he trying to keep up with his daughter, tsalmon is more serious about running. These days my knees and feet complain if I run on pavement or spend too much time running. So I use the elliptical machine quite a bit.
In the summer, I still enjoy running on a woodland trail. If I have been using the elliptical machine instead of running on a treadmill, I have to build up the right muscles in my legs before I can run several miles on the trail. Takes persistent effort. My guess is that running up and down steep hills requires more persistence. I suppose that is why I spent a lot of time on a cheap ten-speed bicycle with fat tires when I was in Colorado. When the hill gets steeper, you just adjust the gears instead of the length of your stride.
Heh, Tom and TSalmon, thanks for the anecdotes.
I guess the key is: don’t give up. 😆
We live at 9400 feet elevation. Not too bad now that I’m acclimated it shouldn’t be this much of a problem.
Think I’m just getting wimpy.
Your daughter sounds phenomenal, TSalmon!
I’ll try to think about her when I push through this (far easier) stuff.
Hope you all have a great day.
Liz,
I’ve spent a lot of time on Midway Island over the course of my time on active duty. It and Wake Island were strange and beautiful places. And the WWII history is epic. Thanks for the perfect movie recommendation.
As for charity, I don’t think it’s that black and white. The State Department has had numerous democracy and anti-corruption promoting programs around the world that even most military leaders believe provides more bang for the buck than the actual bang of our bombs. As General Mattis famously said (and I’m paraphrasing), If you cut these programs, I’ll just have to buy more bullets.
Other than that, being naturally practical and compassionate people, I don’t think that most Americans are as far appart on immigration issues as the ideologues and demagogues at both extremes would have us think. Read with an open mind, I think Brooks’ article is simply trying to appeal to that common ground.
Thanks for the thoughtful response, and thanks for your service, which I know was a far greater sacrifice for our country than mine. I mostly just had a lot of very satisfying excitement, comradery and fun. My wife did the hard work that made mine possible. She raised the kids, maintained a lucrative career and kept the home fires burning bright. A grateful nation salutes you both and Tom’s wife, Sylvia.
This is a return to a couple of other issues, but I think it fits the general theme. Liz and Tom made the argument that they were happy that Trump was fulfilling a campaign promise by pulling troops out of Middle East conflicts, specifically Syria, and were willing to forgive the disruptively expeditious and knee jerk nature of Trump’s special forces withdrawal and our betrayal of the Kurds. L and T argued that ISIS is defeated and there is no reason to keep our troops there. The Kurds were terrorists that we should not have been supporting militarily at the expense of Turkey. We can’t be the policeman of the world.
Now, it turns out that we are actually leaving several hundred special forces in Syria. I just watched an interview with the Chairman of the JCS where he said that ISIS apparently is still a threat requiring a continued alliance with the Kurds and that those forces will remain there indefinitely so long as that threat remains. The General also said that he expects our forces will remain in Afghanistan for years and perhaps decades to come as long as there is a chance for that country becoming a staging ground for terrorism. This seems very much like the toddling Trump blew up the existing geopolitical strategy for a moment, created a huge unnecessary mess that the grown ups had to clean up and repair, but other than that nothing has essentially changed and the long term strategy of maintaining military influence throughout the region remains.
So here’s my questions:
1. If you think the Kurds are terrorists who you were happy to abandon, are you happy that we have indefinitely reestablished our alliance with them (in defiance of our Turkish ally) and are supporting them militarily?
2. Was Trump right to say he was pulling out all the troops then, or is he right to exceed to the adults in the room by leaving in the troops now? In other words, are you unhappy that Trump is not really keeping his campaign promise to bring all the troops home (or are you constantly having to change your story to keep up with Trump’s erratic and impulsive lack of clear direction)?
3. Do you still believe Trump actually understands his own military’s strategy or do you exceed that he is exactly the character that Anonymous and others in his administration paints: childlike, petulant, erratic, unbriefable, low attention span, and constantly going off on wild tangents that others have to talk him out of, sometime more than once, or clean up afterward?
@tsalmon
Consider the lesson here.
You got what YOU said you wanted, and still you are not happy. Your complaint is just an excuse to bellyache.
As a practical matter, Trump is in a better position to defend the Kurds than he was before the talk of withdrawal. He got lots of people to commit to their defense who otherwise would have done the exact opposite if a defense of the Kurd is required. The talk of withdrawal also probably made it easier to kill the leader of ISIS.
At the same time, the Kurds know Trump wants to get along with Turkey. So, they are more likely to behave. If that just arose from good luck, … Well, it is better to be lucky than good.
Lucky? Hundreds of people are dead, thousands more displaced from their homes, the state department reports that Turkish backed Islamist Arab militias are committing ethnic cleansing and war crimes. Our credibility is ruined and the influence of the Assad, Putin and Iran are rising. Our Turkish allies and our Kurdish allies are now in an on and off again shooting war. Our special forces must be in a less safe position. But you think your rather dingy view of a silver lining is what I wanted all along? Where did I posit this strategy?
The expanse of verbal contortion that Republicans are willing to go to in justifying Trump’s acts of corruption and incompetence is breathtaking. If Trump goes on a tantrum and impulsively sets off global Armageddon, I expect you’ll say that at least nuclear winter countered global warming and how great it is that all the cities now in ashes won’t be using carbon fuels much anymore.
@tsalmon
Bad as you may think the situation is, it is a vast improvement over what existed before Trump.
Sure, and all your mushroom clouds have silver linings.
@tsalmon
I deleted the duplicate.
Well, I wanted to answer this yesterday but was busy and last night we watched Midway. Squee! Very well done. What’s not to like about a movie about fighter pilots saving the world? Well, except for the fact they were Navy *cough*.
Before I answer, I’m going to ask you nicely to stop asserting we “betrayed” the Kurds. as though we have some sort of security guarantee with them. We’ve allowed Turkey to attack “kurds” at least five times, officially, now, at different locations. This wasn’t the first and (unless and until the Syrian kurds decide they will stop aligning themselves with a terrorist organization) it probably won’t be the last. They didn’t “bleed for us” we have a common enemy. I didn’t say I was happy to see them “slaughtered” I said I was happy that we are leaving and I don’t want to be involved in a territorial dispute between them and our formal ally. I do feel sorry for them (I mentioned this as well but you’ve probably forgotten).
I felt badly for the Chechens too until they went and slaughtered a bunch of school children.
Next: I want to make sure it’s worth the time to answer your questions. Seems every time I attempt to do so it’s kinda pointless. You just kind of resort to sarcasm. I’ll just refresh your memory about what I said weeks ago:
1) I mentioned tacit agreements and the fact we don’t really know what is going on. One of the examples I gave was the drone program in Pakistan. It was never formally acknowledged, but we had folks in Pakistan. We had folks in Djibouti for years before it was formally acknowledged in the media also….not because it was necessarily a diplomacy problem, but due to the nature of that assignment. We have people elsewhere in Africa and the media and population at large are pretty much unaware of it. So I suspected not “everyone” would leave, but enough to be a formal withdraw.
(I also referenced similar from foreign policy to economy….where everyone seems to vacillate between “the sky is falling!” to “huh, seemed to work out…” seriously…are you not tired of being Charley Brown trying to kick that Lucy held media football YET?). At any rate, again this assertion was met with condescension and ridicule. So I offer the newest exhibit….J.
To continue, I stated (and I’ll state it again) the ONLY justifiable reason to be in Syria is to combat ISIS. Not regime change, not to involve ourselves in a territorial dispute between actors who all often behave badly.
And I linked to this interview (early October). Perhaps you didn’t read it.
https://www.dailysignal.com/2019/10/09/what-you-need-to-know-about-trumps-syria-move/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=thf-fb&fbclid=IwAR0OZUwbjDgWy9LD6xtcX2uXrCgQoJ-Gws9M8ZwiVFvku2j5hQ9qILVc0Gk
It contained this bit:
We have limited interest in Syria, we have limited capabilities, and we have limited influence. The question is how to use that best? These people that talk about a couple of hundred soldiers—which to be honest, are a speed bump to bad actors in that country—they’re not going to end the war in Syria. They’re not going to solve the problem. They’re not going to protect the Kurds.
The U.S. can be a limited force for good, and the question is, how do we do that? How do we best leverage our footprint to be a limited force for good?
And I would just add to that, the one thing the president never said is, “I’m pulling every American troop out of Syria.”
He offered to do that before and people convinced him it was a bad idea. He’s agreed that … if there were things that U.S. troops in Syria need to do to be helpful, they should stay and do that. That policy that our president annunciated, that policy has not changed.
Have I answered your questions or should I take them all individually?
Tsalmon,
I personally wish Donald Trump would be a model of political diplomacy and wisdom. However, lets face the truth. He was chosen because he was not a politician because people got fed up with their lack of accomplishment and empty suit promises to get elected that were forgotten as soon as they were elected.
For example, the border has been broken and drugs have been entering for the last 33 years.
We are mired in war for almost two decades.
We are paying to defend borders in other countryies except the USa.
Our businesses were either forced by competion to outsource our manufacturing jobs.
Our economy was not producing livable wage jobs.
Frankly, we are lucky in my opinion that he decided to run for office.
Remember he is not a politician and skilled at all the bureaucracy in Washington.
Keep in mind, his political opponents do not do anything other than criticize him instead of presenting suggestions how to solce the problems. All they do is complain about his personal leadership style.
Why anyone will ever want to vote for any of the Dem candidates based on the promises they are making to add to the National Debt is a mystery to me.
Are you concerned at all that Biden arranged a position to pay his son $50,000 a month probabley from the 400 million in tax money aid to Ukrainian?
That Clinton sold 20 percent of USA uranium mines to Russia,
That her phony charity only gave up 10 percent of the funds to the supposed charities.
Sad.
Regards and goodwill blogging.
@Scatterwisdom
Trump’s “crime” has little to do with any lack of diplomacy or wisdom. His “crime” is beating the elites and trying to keep promises they had made themselves but never intended to keep.
As your examples indicate, many of our leaders are corrupt and need to be put in jail.
Instead of trial, I favor what they used to do, tar and feather them and run em out of town.
@Scatterwisdom
Well, we could run them out of the country. With enough tar and feathers they might float to Europe, not that Europe doesn’t already have enough Socialists.
Tom,
I linked your post to mine today on the failure of USA schooling.
Your comments and Washigton Times link inspired me. Thx
Regards and goodwill blogging
SW, I get what you are saying and I don’t argue that one of the most important selling points of Donald Trump over Hillary Clinton was that he was an outsider whereas Clinton was the consummate insider. My problem with Donald Trump isn’t that he wanted to end Washington corruption and drain the swamp; it is that he is the height of corruption, he is the swamp. As just one example that you mentioned, Trump has not helped the national deficit problem. Instead, with his crony capitalism, Trump has exacerbated the national debt to the tune of one trillion dollars per year. (Comparatively, under Obama, the deficit was actually shrinking).
SW, you are a smart and wise person. I get where you are coming from. I understand the skepticism that Democrats, whether will intentioned or just demagoguing for power, think that they can find a governmental solution for everything. However, Trump in every impulse of his being and throughout his history, not only lacks basic Christian virtue, he preaches for vice. If the pursuit of integrity is the essence of leadership (as I adamantly believe it is), then this man should not be our president.
Tsalmon
Frankly, I believe Trump knew the debt would increase and hoped that more people working and paying taxes would mean fewer subsidizing people working for peanuts.
And if the Dems had not won the House and tied Trump up with investigations and hatred, two things would have been accomplished.
1. China would have agreed to original trade deal they backed out on after they decided he was going to be a one term President and they would continue to enjoy their lopsided trade deal. Then add up the Canada Mexico agreement that has been sitting on Pelosi desk for over a year, the trade deficits problem would have benefited workers’ salaries
2. As for the Mexico border, is there any doubt in your mind that the Dems are the one who refuse to address the problem. I know for certain that Sen Durbin of Illinois screwed up the compromise he had in mind when he went public about Trump offhand remark about Trumps “shithole” comment in a private meeting.
https://rudymartinka.com/2018/01/19/king-solomon-sen-durbins-s-thole-gamble/
In other words, Trump haters, with the backing of fool’s news sources are obstructionists of the USA, in my opinion.
What is even more sad is every one of the present Dem candidates are proposing more programs that will make Trumps one trillion look like small change.
Frankly, the motto of my blog includes a phrase, “We are the masters of our own disasters,” sums up the political divisiveness in the USA.
And sadly, the root cause will be the same as what destroyed numerous nations as recorded in history.
The seven deadly sins beginning with hatred of Trump,
As for the National Debt, that is the only issue the Dems and Reps can agree on. Sad
https://rudymartinka.com/2018/01/19/king-solomon-sen-durbins-s-thole-gamble/.
Regards and goodwill blogging.
Very well said (both posts) SW.
And if the Dems had not won the House and tied Trump up with investigations and hatred, two things would have been accomplished.
I don’t think there was any way to really foresee the level of hate. Hillary was supposed to win. She was supposed to place all her favorite people in key positions of government. USSCJ Ruth could retire and would be replaced with a young liberal lawyer to safely guide decisions in the liberal interest for the next 4 decades at least.
There would be no “leaks” because there were be no dissenters. Everything from the outside would look like it was running smoothly and that’s all that would matter even if our foreign policy was a disaster, our border was porous, China owned us forever, and ISIS was thriving.
But she would make sure her speeches were screened very very well by a panel before saying anything in public. It’s completely inauthentic but people seem to like that.
liz
I concur with your comment. What you described is exactly how thing work in Illinois, the home State of both Clinton and Obama.
Thanks for your comment.
Regards and goodwill blogging.
Regards and goodwill blogging.
SW,
Like Obama, Trump had two years where he controlled all the levers of our government. Whether you agree with it or not, Obama spent that capital on the ACA. After that, and once the Republicans won the House and then the Senate, Republicans blocked everything Obama might want to do, even compromises they agreed with (such as immigration reform) simply because Republicans could not give Obama a win on anything, even if it were for the overall good for the country.
Trump wasted the capital that he had during is first two years on the old trickle down tax reform scam. I’m no economist, but everything that I have read by actual economists says that Trump’s so-call tax reform did little to help the economy and completely failed to increase tax revenues by creating higher paying jobs and making capital investments – most companies simply used the Trump surplus to buy back their own stock, thus artificially inflating stock prices (the main compensation of their excetives) and creating a brief sugar high for the economy. Some may have a different view and I am sure that many will make excuses, but the evidence is pretty clear that under the Trump economy, government is expanding as much as ever and the deficit is exploding.
Trump had several opportunities to do immigration reform (including the Dems at one point offering him $25 billion for his useless vanity wall), This is just my opinion, but I don’t think Trump really wants to make the difficult and humane compromises on immigration because he knows that he cannot get reelected unless he maintains a hard line on this issue to keep his base stirred up. Here is an interesting article of this subject if you are interested:
I’m a moderate and a Christian believer, but I am not an ideologue, Christian or otherwise. Instead, I’m a moral realist. I think that some problems in a finite and fallen would may never be solved, but with patience, knowledge and balancing compromises, many problems can be made better, and government one important vehicle to influence that progress either directly or indirectly. Regardless, I believe it is our Christian duty to try. It is the aspirational virtuous effort through the love of Christ incarnate in the world and in each of us, rather than the perfect resolution of every evil, that we find meaning and purpose in life. That purpose through Jesus Christ must be found in the attempt now and for eternity rather than hoping for a trip to Disneyland-like Heaven if we follow some Pharisaic set of rules without spirit in our Earth bound life.
As for the rest of the points you made SW, I can’t say that your facts are don’t have some elements of truth, but that they are different from what I understand. I am trying, however, to understand your point of view or I would be here on this blog. I think that we can find much common ground in the basics of our common belief system, if only we are willing to stretch ourselves out of our ideological comforts zones to try to critically see the issues from both sides. I think that we should also have some wise humility about how much knowledge and factual data our opinions are based upon and about the credibility of the authorities that we choose for reference.
I find it fascinating that no one here is actually defending the clear and mounting evidence of Trump’s self serving pridefulness, his promotion of vice, or the corruption that this new normal of indecency it is causing. Instead, what I read is just a deflective blame gaming. The early Christians did not follow and excuse the vices of blatantly corrupt leaders because the Romans and the Greeks were more corrupt. I can’t figure out why Christians today feel that this is acceptable. .
@tsalmon
No one is defending Trump because all your charges don’t amount to anything. You don’t like the man. So? How many times do you have to tell us?
Obama spent all his political capital on the ACA. What a fool! He wasted 8 years he could have spent saving the world from global warming and the rise of the oceans. Big phony corrupt demagogue. The police are still suffering from the hatred that man helped to instigate.
The economy is fine, and Trump deserves the credit. Read the stock market and economic statistics.
Is the Federal deficit a problem? I think so, but is it not remarkable that Democrats only seem to notice this problem when Republicans are in charge and after spending the money they want to spend.
Congress controls spending. The president can veto bills and throw a wrench in the operation of the government, but the real power over the budget rests with Congress, and you know that.
Congressmen who spend are more influential than those who don’t. Spending also allows them to “buy” campaign donations and votes. If you don’t like a big fat deficit, then stop letting big spending politicians buy your vote. That includes both political parties.
@tsalmon
Finally got around to reading that column by The New York Time‘s pretend Conservative. You think I am prideful? Compared to him?
It is not racist, irrational, or weak to want to keep your country from being overrun by a bunch of foreigners, especially poor, uneducated foreigners who really don’t like you or your ways. Just the fact these people tend to vote Democrat should be enough to scare anyone who doesn’t. In fact, that is the most immediate problem. Democrats are abusing the immigration system just to win elections. Democrats don’t address the issues. They just come up with idiot arguments to shame anyone who disagrees. Well, call me a racist if you must, but what is wrong with having enough backbone to resist being shamed into agreement with a bad idea? Just because some pompous ass can come up with a fancy way to puff himself up and pretend he is open minded, we need to flood our country with cheap labor and cheap votes?
Think! When we can be shamed into agreeing with bad ideas, is that really being open-minded or just gullible?
“No one is defending Trump because all your charges don’t amount to anything. You don’t like the man. So? How many times do you have to tell us?”
You really do live in a silo these days. Let’s see:
1. Do you believe, despite his own appointees or appointees of his appointees testifying to it, that Trump did not attempted to withhold congressionally approved military aid in order to extort the new president of Ukraine to smear his political opponent and him with campaign lies? If not, why don’t you believe the published testimony from Trump’s own Whitehouse staff?
2. Do you believe those same Trump administration appointees and appointees of appointees when when they testified that Trump’s lawyer was operating a shadow diplomacy in Ukraine while being paid by newly indicted (by the Trump justice department) Russia mob connected operatives? If not, why don’t you believe the published testimony from Trump’s own Whitehouse?
3. If you believe that 1 and 2 are true that it was operating in his own political interests to the detriment of our national interests, do you think that is ok?
4. If you believe 1 and 2 above, do you think that all presidents in the future, Democrat or Republican, should be able to abuse their powers to extort or otherwise call for foreign interests to trump up lies, propaganda or criminal investigations against their political opponents?
I like Trump fine – i just think that he acts as a corrupt, lying, narcissistic demagog. He would look great in an orange jumpsuit, but he should not be president.
“Obama spent all his political capital on the ACA. What a fool! He wasted 8 years he could have spent saving the world from global warming and the rise of the oceans. Big phony corrupt demagogue. The police are still suffering from the hatred that man helped to instigate.”
Oh no, you never do the slanderous name calling thing….you are far too good for that If Obama was such an incompetent corrupt fool, why the need to lie about his record? He did after all negotiate the climate accord. That ain’t nothin. Who are these suffering police? Are they out pulling over folks for the crime of driving, walking, living while black?
“The economy is fine, and Trump deserves the credit. Read the stock market and economic statistics.”
That’s what is kind of amazing to me. Although I don’t credit Trump for simply breathing during a 10 year economic improvement that started under Obama, all he really had to do was ride that wave to victory and pretend it was all his doing. He’s good at that. However, the man is so naturally corrupt and incompetent, he just can’t help constantly shooting himself in his feet, whether its Charlottesville, or his precipitous retreat out of Syria, or his trying to stage the G7 at his own property, or this current idiocy in Ukraine. I could go on and on. Everyone around him ends up in jail, disgraced or fleeing before they are. Trump just can’t help himself. I don’t think he really even knows how to tell a truth or act honorably – his default is always to lie even when the truth would serve him fine and to find a way to cheat even when he doesn’t need to.
“Is the Federal deficit a problem? I think so, but is it not remarkable that Democrats only seem to notice this problem when Republicans are in charge and after spending the money they want to spend.”
Actually, its only Republicans who seem to ignore the deficit when they get the chance to spend like drunken sailors. (Remember, the deficit shrunk under both Clinton and Obama). Wasn’t that one of the big things that the Tea Bag types screamed about? Seriously? Who are the hypocrites here?
“Congress controls spending. The president can veto bills and throw a wrench in the operation of the government, but the real power over the budget rests with Congress, and you know that.”
That’s nonsense. Because of the veto, spending has to be a joint effort in unified government, and a compromise in divided government. In the case of Trump, he had unified government so he and congressional Republicans sold your grandkid’s future to his crony capitalist contributors. Sorry, that is just a fact. Republicans used to at least be known for effective government. Now trusting them with any part of government is like giving the family car to a spoiled toddler.
Come on brother. You are making this too easy. This is like shooting fish in a barrel.
@tsalmon
1. It is a “secret” hearing with selective links. Adam Schiff is a known liar.
2. Trump released the transcript. There is nothing to get upset about. There is no reason for this discussion.
3. and 4.? What for?
What about Obama? Did I say something that was not transparently obvious? What would the climate accord have accomplished? Why was he issuing a bunch of fiats the Constitution doesn’t give him the authority to issue? That man did DACA after he said he couldn’t. Then judges said Trump could not undo it? An unconstitutional executive order? And you are complaining about Trump?
Obama fixed the economy? That’s delusional. Look it up! Obama PROMISED a stagnant economy.
Frankly, I don’t have the time to correct all the lies you believe because you believe the Liberal Democrat news media. If you have not got the good sense to be skeptical by now, it is because you are afraid to distrust the news media. You are smart enough to know better.
Just consider something easy to verify. When Antifa and the white supremacists clashed in Charlottesville, that was a mess managed by state and local Democrats. Supposedly, Trump said the white supremacists were good people. He didn’t. What he did say was distorted and taken out of context.
We live in the age of the big lie, and you want big government? What is far worse is that you have only begun to appreciate the value of our Christian heritage. Why not sooner? We were told lies, and our parents did not understand the problem. Mom might have begun to understand when all of us rejected Christ, but what was she to do then? She went to work on Kitty’s kids, I guess, but I was not there. So I don’t really know. I am sure she prayed.
You didn’t like the Brooks article? So you decided to tear him down and degrade immigrants rather than make the reasonable and rational Christian argument? Why am I not surprised?
Really, you can be better than this. We are a melting pot, perhaps the most culturally diverse country in the world. Brooks never asserted that people who simply fear the erosion of their traditions are racists. In fact, he said just the opposite. He said that there should be some compromise between our pluralist principles and our best traditions of family, religion and community.
Most immigrants, whether from Mexico, Central America or Muslim countries, are more conservative than you or I are. They are natural Republicans that are being pushed into the arms of Democrats by the hate and fear mongering demagogues like Trump. So many of Christ’s parables were about loving the stranger, the outcast, the abused. All needling aside Tom, I get the practical arguments against too much assimilation, but why all the hateful words and animosity against the least of these? Is it necessary to hate them in order to reject them? Do you really think our Irish Catholic forbearers were any better, any less foreign or threatening to the WASP America that they immigrated to? Do you think that you are somehow better than the immigrant mother and child, and they are less the image of God because they are “poor and ignorant”? Honestly, I just don’t get this.
@tsalmon
Compromise?😇 OH! I forgot. You are an understanding angel. Open borders is a “compromise”. What am I suppose to do now? Choke to death with laughter?
You ignored what I said. It doesn’t fit the narrative. Calling opposition to idiot ideas like open borders, same-sex “marriage”, big government cannot be rational. So it must be stupid or bigoted. If that is always your best argument, what is the point? You have already established the ridiculousness of big government and open borders. Look at Yugoslavia. Why does it no longer exist?
I did not invent warfare or the tendency of human beings to fight each other. We are both former soldiers. Is war a complete mystery to you? Ever heard of civil war?
Just as good fences make good neighbors, good borders improve the national sovereignty of neighboring nations. Good borders helps a people to live as they wish, unless they live in a big government police state.
Tsalmon,
The difference of Trump’s two years from Obama’s though was the Speaker of the House and a number of GOP were RINO’s.
I agree with you that trickledown economics never worked. Someone compared it to a person standing in a bucket of water trying to pore the water on his head.
I hoped it would be temporary but as I explained the trade imbalances did not have a great effect on returning manufacturing to the USA. That is because USA is not bringing the jobs back to the USA. Instead, they resource from China to other countries.
I suggested inheritance taxes be used exclusively to reduce the debt and quit the spending. However, both the Dems and the Reps do not want to stop spending as I explained in a post.
Like I said, we are the masters of our own disasters. Sometime there will consequences for the holders of USA debt.
As for Christians accepting Trump, he still is the better choice for Christian values compared to the Dems.
Regards and goodwill blogging.
@Scatterwisdom
“Trickledown economics” doesn’t describe the benefits of a tax cut does very well. Essentially, a tax cut allows taxpayers to keep their own money and do what they want with it. That produces two immediate results.
1. A tax cut gives taxpayers a greater incentive to earn money.
2. A tax cut allows taxpayers to invest their money in productive assets and grow the overall economy.
Government has never been a good steward of any nation’s assets. The reason is obvious. Human nature. Whenever we have the opportunity to spend other people’s money on other people, we waste a lot of other people’s money. We spend our own money on ourselves and those we care about far more carefully.
Inheritance taxes tax money that has already been taxed. Not fair! Not even if the object is to screw the rich.
From the viewpoint of the average citizen, inheritance taxes are also unwise. Inheritance taxes break up small and medium size businesses. To pay off the taxes, these businesses often have to be sold or borrow money. That means big corporations have less competition.
Property taxes are generally the best way to tax the wealthy. Such taxes keep people from hoarding valuable assets. To pay the taxes, people generally put their property to productive use.
Do property taxes punish the guy who wants an expensive yacht? Suppose so, but few benefit from such flagrant displays of wealth, and taxes should be designed to do the least amount of harm. If some rich guy needs an ego trip, he will find some way to get it.
Tom,
Not too certain how property taxes are adequate a means to pay down the National Debt or pay for all the spending proposals being floated around by Presidential candidates.
This I do know for certain. All the treasures gathered in lifetimes are useless to the people when they die.
Somewhere there is a answer that needs to be addressed to prevent the financial collapse brewing in the USA and the World..
The inheritance plan I proposed is an incentive to people with vast fortunes to spread the wealth around by spending it before the tax man takes it. And instead of accumulating in the mainly 1 percenters who own 80 percent of the worlds assets.
The sad part is that even if all that wealth was taxed 90 percent, it still not enough to pay for all the spending or programs being floated around..
Regards and goodwill blogging.
@Scatterwisdom
What the Democrats propose is emotional, not based on logic. Hard to debate such people. There is nothing to refute because it doesn’t make any sense to start. It just appeals to people who are what they want to believe.
We have extreme concentrations of wealth primarily because of crony capitalism. Take away the government support and big corporations lose most of their advantages.
Tom,
Sad however because a lot of voters may vote on emotion rather than logic, in my opinion.
The super rich are not worded about the National Debt because they are more savvy than the majority of US Debt holders who are average Americans .and/or 401K losses in my opinion..
Regards and goodwill blogging
Tom,
Your comment on emotion inspired me to write a post titled, What have you Got to Lose and is linked to your post.
It is scheduled for tomorrow am.
Thx for the inspiration.
Regards and goodwill blogging.
Tom,
See it is amazing how quickly ideology turns into cold blooded cynicism. All is allowed in furtherance of the nationalist cause.
We were both soldiers? What did you fight for? The anachronism of some Christian tribalism? The need to guard our borders from the extreme danger of desperate women and children? Go ahead, pile on the cruelty and praise the faux patriotism of glorious cultural superiority. But what are we superior at, what rights a God given if you also believe God would have us deny them them to the stranger? You know you are just proving my point with every silly word.
I know you well enough to also know that you are just posturing and doubling down on posturing. You’d open a vein for me if I needed the blood. You’d open another vein if to a poor immigrant child who needed the rest. Let’s quit playing Mr. Callous Tough Guy. It does not become you. I’ve landed planes on fire and commanded a crew in a war zone – I’m better at playing the cynical tough guy when I have to. You are really a just aSilly old sweet heart and we both know it. ❤️
@tsalmon
Cold blooded cynicism? Are you making an emotional or logical argument. Women and children. Open a vein. Christian tribalism and glorious patriotism!
What you call cold blooded cynicism is just counting the cost and considering more viable alternatives. Jesus counted the cost. He sweated blood. He chose with understanding as well as in love.
The mass media exists to sell us things, to promote services to us, and to propagandize us. The mass media is composed of salespeople who are more concerned with connotation than denotation. They speak and write to produce an effect, a sale, not to convey the truth and understanding. They work for themselves and their masters, not us. That’s why repeating what they say is so often the same thing as repeating a lie.
Would I lay down my life for yours? I hope so, but what would it mean if I did not understand the cost?
When our heart bleeds for foreigners, there is nothing wrong with that, but we cannot help them by letting them destroy our homeland. Exaggeration? Hyperbole? I wish. These people come here trying to escape the problems they left behind, but they bring themselves, and they are often the problem. They bring crime, disease, ignorance, a foul culture,… Where do you think MS-13 thugs and drug lords come from? Here? Well, we certainly have lots of foolish Democrats.
Am I saying we are innately better? No. I am just saying we are each born as a little savage, and it takes a couple of decades to begin the civilization of a newborn. Some cultures — some societies — do a better job than others.
Yet, thanks to the news media we are not considering this issue rationally. We are most certainly not counting the cost or considering who is paying it. Some sanctuary states and localities won’t even turn over violent criminals to ICE. That’s stupidity beyond words to explain.
The pluralist doesn’t see society as a competition for scarce resources, but as a joint voyage of discovery in search of life’s biggest answers. Pluralism offers us the chance, and the civic duty, to be a daring social explorer, venturing across subcultures, sometimes having the exciting experience of being the only one of you in the room, harvesting the wisdom embedded in other people’s lifeways. A key pluralist trait is curiosity, the opposite of anxiety.
Social exploration is a skill. It requires the ability to not merely tolerate difference, but to greet it with a generosity of spirit. Walking into each room confident in your convictions but humbly aware that they are not the only convictions. Being slow to take offense when somebody says the wrong thing, quick to forget the transgressions of others and honest in acknowledging your group’s past wrongs.
I’m not sure what the NYTimes article means.
Awful lot of words that could’ve all been replaced with “maintain the current status quo…except maybe stop calling everyone a racist, they don’t like that”.
Gee, no kidding.
Angela Merkel admits that Germany’s immigration policy has been a failure. Anyone with any sense of pattern recognition saw that coming years ago. And people are pattern recognizers. Simply dropping the term “racist” while spouting the same rhetoric isn’t going to make them doubt their own eyes.
That’s a luxury only for the isolated Ivory tower loony.
Here is an anecdote from a pattern recognizer:
”Minneapolis is now a place where a woman can’t walk alone in certain quarters. Until ten years ago it was blissfully interesting, pleasant, safe. Then they started mainlining Somalis. The second largest Somali city in the world is North Minneapolis. An investment banker friend of mine, in the city center, in the skywalks headed to her hotel, was chased by a gang of them in early evening.”
“Minneapolis is about 10-15 years behind Chicago in its devolution. Both were magical places in my childhood. But the multicultural imperative affects even the small town where my dad’s from: it’s now 30% illegal, and kindergarten is 90% ESL.”
“The 90% kindergarten figure is low; it was 14 of 208 last year who were native English speakers. This year they just announced that 200+ ‘unexpected’ children registered for kindergarten. So that’s 6-7 unplanned sections of kindergarten. Kindergarten is half-day, so its survivable, I guess, provided they find teachers (I think it’s too late). But all 200 plus the planned 200 go to full-day first grade next year. There aren’t the classrooms or teachers. The school is only five years old. This is what happens when a town sells its soul to meat packers. Big business loves illegals, and anyone else who will work for 40% of the historical wage.”
How exactly does the above article address this person’s concerns in any way? According to the article, what he needs to do is better understand this unique culture, while making sure to acknowledge the past wrongs of the less vibrant Minneapolis of his childhood.
@Liz
There you go with facts, again. 😉
Tom,
Your Party’s standard bearer lies by the minute. He is on his third marriage after he famously committed adultery in the first two. As for the third, Trump’s lawyer admitted that he paid off porn stars to keep Trump’s more recent affairs quiet so that the voters wouldn’t know that repentance and fidelity has never been on his agenda. Trump just paid a $2 million settlement and admitted that his bogus charity was nothing more than one of his many scams. Court documents show that he didn’t even pay out any money on his supposed veterans benefits until he was forced to do so. This settlement comes after a previous one that showed that Trump University was a scam, big surprise. Despite laws that would throw anyone else in his administration in jail for such a brazen conflict of interest, Trump decided to hold the next G7 summit at his own failing resort and then bailed on the scheme when even corrupt Republican congressmen didn’t want to run on that much self dealing right out in the open. Trump’s campaign manager, his assistant campaign manager, his fixer attorney, his first head of the NSC, his campaign’s Russia/Wikileaks connection, as well as many others surrounding Trump, are indicted, on trial, confessed and awaiting sentencing, or sitting in jail. Trump’s last attorney general is being investigated for his involvement in a scam and numerous other cabinet level officials have had to resign under a cloud of corruption charges. Even Trump’s sister had to resign her federal judgeship rather than face an internal court investigation that her and her siblings scammed at least a half a billion dollars out of their father’s estate to avoid inheritance taxes. And this is who you believe rather than the conventional press.
Is the convention media biased? You yourself have said that, since everyone is biased, it’s a silly argument, but then it is the only argument that you actually want have to deflect from the facts so you whine about it constantly. Yada, yada, yada.
@tsalmon
How would know if any of that is true?
Good post Tom. It always bothers me whenever I hear people say to keep religion out of politics. Atheists will say this all day long not realizing that their non belief is a form of religion, which they constantly bring to the voting booths. Religion is a belief system that determines how you live out your ethics. Separating that from how we govern ourselves is senseless.
@Tricia
It is curious how the pro-diversity crowd think it is immoral for one Christian to ask for other Christians to vote like they believe what the Bible says.
Tom,
Jeremiah was a prophet who experienced the futility in life of most evangelists, not many people are interested in listening and making personal sacrifices unless they are parents.
As our society now has both parents working there is less time and energy parents have to teach religious values.
Without school vouchers to make it affordable for busier than ever working parents to influence religious values, in my opinion, the future of evangelism will continue to wane in the USA.
While no one knows the future, and there have been many cycles of Christianity rise and wane in history, as you said, “Only God knows, what is in store for the future of the USA.
However, we have clues of what is happening in Chicago when only academics is taught in public schools and religious values are unlawful.
The number of parochial and private religious schools continues to diminish in the poor areas which were in the past subsidized by more affluent parishes.
While at the same time the violence continues to flourish in Chicago because children have one parent instead of two and gangs become their social support instead of parents and schools.
In my opinion, not only sad, but foolish on the part of parents and government leaders.
Regards and goodwill blogging.
@Scatterwisdom
I think you have described the problem and the solution well enough.
We are in a race. Will parents regain control of their children before our culture collapses into a pagan ruin? I don’t know. Christianity will survive, but instead of sending out missionaries, it is quite likely our grandchildren’s children will be receiving them.
Tom,
Only God knows how fast the pendulum will swing as you stated.
Wish we could oil up the mechanism though, to help reverse the present direction.
Regards and goodwill blogging.
“Unfortunately, like Jeremiah, we don’t always convince our Christian neighbors to vote and to vote as they believe the God of the Bible would have them vote.”
No? I don’t claim to have perfect knowledge of what God wants, but I do try to vote and to vote as I believe the God of the Bible would have me vote. I don’t think that I am that different form most of my Christian neighbors. I think what you are actually trying to say is that you cannot convince your Christian neighbors to vote and to vote as YOU BELIEVE the God of the Bible would have them vote.
Given the breadth of opinion between individual Christians and between Christian denominations about all the political issues that you lobby your viewpoint on, and given the infinite uncertainty as to what God actually wants on any number of policy debates and individual fact situations, don’t you see how it might be a bit presumptive to assume the absolute and infallible opinion of what God wants in every complex and ambiguous modern situation of governmental politics? Is it possible that many Christians might humbly reject your presumption of inerrancy, whether because they believe that they feel they have an equally valid scriptural interpretation or because they have a more modest view of their own ability to channel God and God’s scripture to every single issue of governmental policy?
I can think of about 10 layers of understanding, some paradoxical, to just the Garden of Eden story, Every time I read Paul I find new meaning and think that I have found new application to my own life and beliefs. Jesus’ parables fill me with wonder at both the depth of elucidation and the mysterious nature of faith itself.
I agree whole heartedly that our Christian faith should dynamically guide us in every aspect of our lives, including in our political lives. I agree that the love that God commanded should be a foundational principle and guiding light. After that, I don’t believe that, in this finite and fallen world, scripture provides us with perfect, unchanging, infallible answers for every complex issue.
Don’t get me wrong. I think that we can and should make a scriptural and moral Christian argument. What you should find pretentious of me is if I claim that my opinion on all but the most obvious deciding lines in decisions of sacrificial vice and virtue is somehow the soul of absolute divine interpretation.
I should also point out that, just because I may disagree with your Christian interpretation on some political issues doesn’t mean that I think that you have a selfish or malicious intent. Some Republicans and some Democrats, no doubt are cynically in politics to pad their own nest, but I think most aren’t. On the other hand, Donald Trump, makes no secret of his greed or his grandiose self infatuation. He lies and embellishes in large and small things. His promotes his vices as his virtues and would have us applaud and emulate his selfishness. He has never asked what he could do for his country, and he is missing any opportunity to scam his country constantly. Trump’s entire life has been as a conman and a cheat going from one scam to another from bankrupting his casinos and stiffing his contractor to his crooked charity to his discredited Trump University.
It’s not that I care to judge Trump’s soul. If he were not the leader of the free world, I would mostly find him amusing. I just remain baffled that anyone who makes claims to promote Christian virtue in government would hold him up as their example and the leader of that cause. Please explain to me how asking Christians to vote for Donald Trump is advising them to vote as they believe the God of the Bible would have them vote. If I were a Socialist Ideologue and Trump were demagoguing Socialism instead of pandering to supposed Conservatives, then I’d like to think that I would at least know that, if I voted for him, I was sacrificing my Christian principles at the alter of my Socialist ideology. Do you think it might be possible that that is what you are asking your Christian neighbors to do?
@tsalmon
Frankly, I have no problem accepting the fact that people can have malicious intent. The Bible is quite clear about this. Consider the first two kings of Israel, King Saul and King David. King Saul was the people’s choice. He was tall, handsome, and he put on a good show. He was also a bad king who led Israel to sin. King David, on the other hand, was not a pretty boy, but he was a good leader who tried to obey God. Still, he failed sometimes, and his crimes included the murder of a man who respected and trusted him.
So, I am not trying to be like other people. I am trying to be on God’s side. Is that presumptuous? God is Truth. If some of my fellow human beings don’t agree with Him, they are wrong. Even if more people are wrong than right, I still want to be on God’s side. If you want to be in majority when the majority is wrong, then that’s a problem.
Unlike most people I have read the Bible. I know what it says. Do I understand all of it? No, but the parts we need to understand are not that complicated.
I have read the Constitution. I know what it says. It does not take a genius in black robes to figure out we have let our leaders get away with so much our constitutional republic is almost dead.
While neither Bible or our Constitution (something of a joke to compare the two) provides a straightforward solution for every situation, they surely don’t excuse nonsense you just wrote. Who said the Bible has a straightforward answer for every problem? The Bible provides us general principles, a basis for gaining understanding and learning wisdom. Yet you would disregard the Bible and complain about Trump’s imperfections. Is Obama like Saul and Trump like David? Don’t know, but Trump is obeying the Constitution, and Obama did not give a damn.
You can blow all the smoke you want, but that is all it is. Sooner or latter the wind will blow it away. Your pretense to modesty and confusion will dissipate. Then, perhaps, you will be unable to avoid seeing the plain truth. I just hope it is not too late.
Check out this.
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2019/oct/19/american-education-intellectually-bankrupt-schools/
You would like everyone to believe you are honest, modest and tolerant. Well, you are not. When you can get away with it you are perfectly happy to be intolerant and disrespect the rights of others. Meanwhile, you can claim it is for the children, the old, the poor, the disabled, and so forth. Meanwhile, you can repeat news media fantasies and put off the inevitable.
Am I better than you? No, but I try not to pretend that I am. I know I have to force myself to debate the issues, not people. I know I have to force myself to love others. I know I can only forbear what I think is stupidity because I must admit the stupid have the right to be stupid, that if we got rid of all the stupid people not one of us would remain alive.
“So, I am not trying to be like other people. I am trying to be on God’s side. Is that presumptuous? God is Truth. If some of my fellow human beings don’t agree with Him, they are wrong.
“Trying” is the operative word brother. Everything else is just pride. I am not God. You are not God. We all just try to varying levels of imperfection to be “in Him, with Him and through Him”. I am sorry, but this is necessary – you are far too full of yourself for me to see that what you write is virtuous. As you often say, listen to yourself. You never miss the opportunity to lecture, even when you don’t know what you are talking about.
I don’t mean to make this about our silly flaws, but if you must point out mine then it is only fair that I am likewise affectionately honest. I love you brother, and I even love you for this flaw, but you think far too highly of your sense of being “on His side” on every minute matter of public policy. Your tendency to prize your opinions and lecture others on every matter of public policy, even those that you obviously know little about, is affable, but also pretentious. I do not claim to be any better, but every once in a while (maybe not often enough), I try to be cognizant that I am at least far too full of myself.
“I have read the Constitution. I know what it says. It does not take a genius in black robes to figure out we have let our leaders get away with so much our constitutional republic is almost dead.”
Yea, why do people waste three years in law school, and decades reading cases and practicing specific areas of constitutional law, but that is all it takes to form such dire opinions?
“While neither Bible or our Constitution (something of a joke to compare the two) provides a straightforward solution for every situation, they surely don’t excuse nonsense you just wrote. Who said the Bible has a straightforward answer for every problem? The Bible provides us general principles, a basis for gaining understanding and learning wisdom. Yet you would disregard the Bible and complain about Trump’s imperfections. Is Obama like Saul and Trump like David? Don’t know, but Trump is obeying the Constitution, and Obama did not give a damn.”h
I have no problem with general principles: Love, sacrifice, mystery, faith, all the virtues, but your post harangues about other people, Christians, not voting as you specifically believe they should vote. As to the rest, Although I don’t cotton to the sort of hero worship that TrumpI idolizes himself in at his rallies, I don’t have a problem with imperfection – got plenty of my own But do you think that, as Trump does, a leader should demand that Christians glorify his vices? Is that being on “God’s side”?
“You would like everyone to believe you are honest, modest and tolerant. Well, you are not. When you can get away with it you are perfectly happy to be intolerant and disrespect the rights of others. Meanwhile, you can claim it is for the children, the old, the poor, the disabled, and so forth.”
Is that what you think I believe? Well, let me disillusion you of what you think that I want. I am a sinner. I have been selfish, mean, petty and wrong throughout me life. Despite many noble intentions, I will probably do so in the future. My only redeeming grace is that Jesus loves me and that, with His grace and the Holy Spirit and some effort on my part, perhaps He will save me from myself. As difficult for a prideful person like me to face that, the fact that I know that may be my only hope at redemption. Indeed, it may be your only hope as well.
“Am I better than you? No, but I try not to pretend that I am. I know I have to force myself to debate the issues, not people. I know I have to force myself to love others. I know I can only forbear what I think is stupidity because I must admit the stupid have the right to be stupid, that if we got rid of all the stupid people not one of us would remain alive.”
Ahh, on this my brother, we are of one mind at last.
@tsalmon
I believe you have freedom from religion confused with freedom of religion. I don’t believe our right to the free exercise of religious belief includes the right to silence the religious expression others, even if their words seem arrogant and presumptuous.
In addition to having read the Bible, I believe I have been born again. That is, when I try to be on God’s side, His Holy Spirit shepherds my efforts. Is that arrogant? Well, not too many people want to perceive themselves as little children, much less sheep.
We want to believe we can save ourselves, but take a good look at Creation. What He has created is so huge, complex, and wonderful, and we are so insignificant by comparison.
To believe in God is to assert the Truth that He is. To believe that God died for us on the cross and that the Bible reveals Him to us is to assert the Truth that God is love, that He loves us and wants us to know Him. If God is not the author of confusion, then we can know something about Him. In our country, we have the freedom to share what we believe we know about God.
You claim to be a Christian? Then why don’t you cherish your right to obey our Lord and share the Gospel? Why do almost all your comments have to contain some idiotic judgement of Donald Trump?
You are sitting on a fence, and you are demanding I join you there. I won’t! Fences are uncomfortable. The refusal to decide is also a choice. Moreover, if we demand that others not choose there is nothing humble about that demand. So I have made my choice. I have chosen my Savior, and He is not some damned fool making promises he cannot keep.
If Trump is guilty of anything, then he is guilty of making promises he cannot keep. Nevertheless, Trump is trying to keep his promises. Apparently, he actually meant what he said. Most politicians have no intention of keeping their promises.
we cry collectively, my friend…