The library where I grew up only had the first 5-6 of the Mission Earth series (they were terrible at getting a complete series of anything), so I searched used bookstores for a couple years until I found them all. It's been a long time since I've read them, but I mostly enjoyed them. Didn't care for Battlefield Earth.
The American republic was the first nation on earth that gave religion no role to play in governance. A common enough thing today, but a radical idea in the eighteenth century. The founders were ahead of the curve. Unfortunately, the religious right never got the memo and they keep pushing the idea the privileged place they have occupied for far to long needs to be formalized with their being included in government. Some of the proposals they have put forward are truly horrifying and are prime examples of why the founders kept them out. Mixing government and religion is the same terrible idea it has always been. No one in their right mind would place their essential freedoms in the hands of the preachers.
I had one guy consplain* to me that there is no wall of separation, you won't find those words in the Constitution. He is technically correct, but also entirely wrong. He also consplained to me that is was impossible since separation of church and state meant religious people can't serve in the government and can't be informed by their religion. Again, entirely wrong.
It's amazing at how the simplest on the job work expectation can suddenly baffle these fundies when they think of government. You're a plumber and don't do a job because you don't like the client? Fired. You're an office worker who harangues your co-workers with religious screeds? Fired. So when you process paperwork for the government, and you choose not to process someone's paperwork because you don't like them, fired. It's that simple.
The government has more/different employment laws vs private industry, but still at heart it's very much the same thing: you are getting paid by someone to behave in a professional manner while you do a specified job. Do the job, be professional, nobody cares about your religion. Don't do the job, don't be professional, and you will likely get fired or reassigned...again, regardless of your religion.
Refer those people to Section III, Article VI of the Constitution that bans religious tests for holding public office in the United States. If that's not church-state separation, I don't know what is. Article VI also pre-dates the Bill of Rights, and that says a lot about how the founder's felt about it. They knew their European history and wanted no part of the religious strife that had soaked the old world in blood for centuries. There are a lot of fools who are delusional enough to believe everything will be wonderful if they can just insert their particular religion into government.
The actual analogy of "wall of separation" comes from Jefferson, a very inconvenient fact.
While they don't want the religious-driven wars of Europe, they believe that they will do things differently, while simultaneously believing that our baser nature is violence solves everything. Yet, through the grace of god, they are above this baser nature. A lot of that comes from two things (at least, I'm sure there's more), a complete ignorance of the violent history of christianity ("They threw us to the lions. We would never do that." Yeah, right.) written by the victorious christians, and the belief that external morality is the only way to overcome humanity's baser violent nature (you know, the one god made us with).
Historians have said they weren't thrown to beasts, because they were christians, they were rabble-rousers and wouldn't leave other people alone.
Paul for instance, was a major asshole who was a real fanatic, and in everyone else's face pushing his religion. They still tell the story in Ephesus about how they had to run him out of town!
You're not trying to confuse the issue with the facts, are you?
In one of the few actual instances of "persecution" I am aware of, when Rome burned and Nero returned to open the city's granaries to feed the people (and not play the fiddle, which hadn't even been invented), he did blame the christians. They were a small sect and not very popular, which made them easy scapegoats. So, um, convenience rather than doctrine.
The early history of christian persecution deviates wildly from reality. But, hey! Why let facts get in the way of a good story?
I think what we have here is someone who is willing to use ANYTHING to act as an attention-getter for himself. Livingston's upset about the Trump bible mixing religion with politics therefore becomes a convenient prop for him to go off on a rant about the supposed superiority of his religion over government ... to which I say, "Whoop-whoop."
Makes me wonder how many congregants Loran is liable to lose for sniping at something Dumb-ass Don promotes. Might be more than a few.
But I still love to see all of them infighting, including the abortion abolitionists ripping on Republicans who support IVF...... and Arizona legislature Republicans ripping on each other and Republican Congress people ripping on whackjob MTG. The inner party chaos brings me much joy.
I think the only reason they party continues to exist is because of the coffers. Anyone that breaks off will have to fund themselves. Remember the Tea Party?
And the Democrats will not accept defectors, nor should they.
The real issue is the majority of Republican politicians LACK integrity to do the right thing and vote the right way at the state and national level. Liz Cheney and Ken Buck (maybe Mitt) are the only Republicans that come to my immediate mind that have been vocal against tRump and the GOP as a whole.
Sorry, but every pregnancy is a threat to the life of the pregnant person, so defending yourself from the threat is justified no matter how innocent you believe the fetus is. The zef (zygote/embryo/fetus) is attacking your body to obtain nutrients needed to grow, same as if you’re being attacked by a wild animal, only it’s happening inside you and you might want to give it your body to grow. But also, you might not. Is it alright to kill a bear that’s attacking you? Why isn’t it alright to kill a zef that’s attacking you if you choose not to offer your body? The bear might not kill you and you might get away with only scratches if you don’t kill it. Same with a zef, you probably will survive, you probably will only have certain inconvenient health issues after it’s removed, bladder leakage, stiff joints and weaker teeth, mere scratches. But shouldn’t you be able to defend yourself from both if you really don’t want to be attacked?
Aside from that, the zef is infringing on your bodily autonomy in a way that no other person is able to. Even when you’re dead you have more rights to bodily autonomy than a pregnant person.
The zef is not necessarily innocent, it may not be conscious of its actions and harm, but it is not harmless.
As a conservative Chirstian I couldn't agree more the this preacher. The Trump bible is a piece of unacceptable woke garbage. Just look at the passages it has,...
Deuteronomy 15:7-8 – If anyone is poor among your fellow Israelites in any of the towns of the land the LORD your God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward them. Rather, be openhanded and freely lend them whatever they need.
Proverbs 21:13 – Whoever shuts their ears to the cry of the poor will also cry out and not be answered.
Luke 12:33-34 – Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will never fail, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Leviticus 19:33-34 -- ‘When a foreigner resides among you in your land, do not mistreat them. The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the LORD your God.
What kind of communist woke garbage is this? Where are the righteous mass deportations? Where is the golden rule, "He who hast the gold maketh the rules!" Trump is just another woke, libtard trying to use the good name of Jesus to gain wealth and power.
The genocidal YHVH certainly practiced mass abortion when he flooded the world. And the demented soldiers he sent into Samaria freely practiced abortion/murder lovingly approved by the guy upstairs.
That's why he's just a tribal god. Christianity made a big mistake when they didn't dump the old testament and its nasty god and just concentrate on the new testament and Jesus.
I get why though, even though they are completely wrong to link together, because the patriarchal men liked the smitey god of the OT, also to give it some age and history to make it seem more legit.( By stealing other religions history.)
"...𝘤𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘤 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘭𝘦𝘨𝘦," Mr. Livingston? Voting is a fucking 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵. One which I intend to exercise every damn election day, because you and your lot keep trying to take it and every other right away from people like me. See you at the polls, shithead- let's just find out whose side history is really going to be on, shall we?
I'll bet you a cup of coffee that the average evangelical ... shoot, the average CHRISTIAN has no idea about the sexual orientation of the guy who created the KJV bible!
Would LOVE to see their reaction when they found out, though!
Of course they do. So far as I'm aware, there is no support in the Christian bible for the idea that women ever go to heaven for any reason. Support for marriage as an institution, yes, but women going to heaven? Nope.
I'd bet that Islam and Judaism are the same way, too.
If Christians ever read their bible (especially Revelation), they'd be shocked to find that the only humans in heaven are 144,000 virgin Jewish males from the 12 tribes of Israel with the mark of their god on their foreheads.
Wait a minnit, wait a minnit! This guy says politics and religion shouldn't mix but then, in the midst of a religious sermon, he throws in opinions about LGBTQ and abortion? And claims they're religious? I bet he goes into bakeries and rants about all the leavened stuff he finds, too.
I want to see American pastors tell French to stop eating hachis parmentier (grounded meat, pureed potatoes and melted cheese on top), pizzas and lasagnas.
As an aside, if I never hear Greenwood's shitty little ditty again, it'll be too soon. (And no doubt I will, because I go to Veterans and other civic events where Patriotism and Jingoism commingle.)
Personally, in situations where we currently recite the Pledge, I'd much prefer we recite the Preamble. Hell, we '70s kids who watched Saturday morning cartoons can sing it from memory¹!!!
(¹ And tell you about that little Bill on Capitol Hill, Lolly's Adverbs, our hero Zero, and so much more. 😁)
Small g/son likes to educate his poor old granny on many issues when I visit. He'd just mastered simple addition when he came into my bed for a morning cuddle and said, 'Granny, did you know 3 and 3 makes 8. Holding up 6 fingers, I corrected him. 'No, granny, you're wrong, if you write a 3 and then another 3 backwards and join them together, it makes an 8. Can't fault his logic and wonder if his brand of it will take him far in life.....or nowhere at all!
It's certainly thinking outside the box. The trick is to be able to think outside the box while understanding the disciplines which allow things to work.
I suspect that it'll be fun watching him grow up! 😉
Yes, agree. His mum was making up a bed for me last week as his dad was going abroad for work and mum works shifts, so I was needed to get the kids to and from school. G/son said, 'Why are you making up the spare bed for granny? If daddy's away, why can't she can sleep beside you in your bed?'
I was just at the VA yesterday. Saw religious (read: Christian) literature on one of the tables. Guess where it went? We'll have none of THAT on a government facility.
May I suggest an alternate way to deal with such literature? I think it appropriate considering the actions often taken by the kind of people who leave such literature around.
Given the religious right's lack of objection to guns (preferring thoughts and prayers to legislation), such literature could also be taken care of via skeet shooting.
Living in the EU, where religion is often a state matter, many countries are more secular than the US with it's supposed "separation of church and state." I have wondered if the fastest way to kill off christianity was to actually let it become the state religion that way people will get on with ignoring it sooner. One way to make people lose interest in something is to governmentize it.
But I also realize that that's a dangerous game. The amount of zealotry and harm against women, LGBTQ+, atheists, humanists, and non-christians would be horrendous, because one thing always stands true: whatever direction an authority takes, the institutions surrounding it will move. And with zealotry, bigotry, and hatred dressed up as christian love at an all time high (for modern 'Merica), people will die. Not from outright killings, though that will happen, but from neglect, exclusion, bullying, and driving hated groups to suicide. Many christians don't fall into the extremes, but too many still do and remain there unopposed and, yet, supported by fellow christians because ingroup-loyalty is more important and powerful than the alleged love they claim to have for all beings created by the god of their doctrine.
Livingston's views are scary on multiple levels. Earth does not matter to him, he is just passing through. We all are, but not in the way he is portraying. This life matters, but we diverge on why. For him it's a test for the afterlife, pass and get into heaven, fail and burn in hell for eternity. For me, this life is the only one I have. There is nothing after this. No heaven. No hell. The afterlife is after my life.
Furthermore, it does not matter how badly we damage the earth to Livingston. As far as his beliefs are concerned, any day now is about to happen, despite the evidence of 2,000 years - say it again, two thousand years - of not happening. Conversely, I care because I want the world to be enjoyed by our offspring, everyone's, not just mine. We are the only beings with the gift of foresight and intelligence, and we're throwing it away for religion and money. For hollow things we are told are the goals of life: money, fame, awards. And religion wraps all that into the afterlife, where kings and princes will serve you for eternity. No one is coming along to magic away the damage. Life finds away, even if the species don't.
I value the life I possess now, not the fiction I'm told comes afterward.
Even if we are wrong, what's wrong with keeping the planet safe, and clean, what's the worst that happens? The assholes don't get raptured, and we have a clean healthy planet.
Just tribal internecine squabbling. It appears we have so many branches or denominations because so many want to carve out their own piece of meat or find their own flock to suck blood from. Religious leaders, speakers, are ticks.
I have the same complaint about the Trump bibble as he does, only regarding the insult to our constitution including it with the completely anti-freedom bible and Lee Greenwood’s jingo anthem.
Folks are so fed up with Trump and the Christian nationalism he’s breeding that they’re grasping at all straws of his base turning on him. This preacher didn’t turn on him, he just didn’t like the one marketing trick Trump is trying. And I’m not even sure of that. Think about it, the base has the attention span of a gnat, and the bibble was released three weeks ago, no one was really talking about it anymore and he doesn’t have a new gimmick yet, plus he’s getting ridiculed for falling asleep at the trial he won’t likely win, this guy might just be a plant to remind the base to spend more money on Trump. By making a spectacle, even one against the bibble, that triggers the libs will energize the base.
The Democratic Party needs to start showing the reality of what is going on in Team Trump. That he’s losing followers, no one is showing up at the trial to support him, no one is buying his ghastly shoes, or his abhorrent bibble and the supporters he still has are running out of cash to throw at him, especially since he’s gutted their savings with his truth social stock. It’s nice that he’s too sleepy to make ever more insane comments and the media is less focused on him and more on the actual workings of the trials. Though, they still have a long way to go to be responsible honest journalists again.
People who read the bible would come away with the idea that a fetus and a human being are not the same thing in the writer's eyes.
And, perhaps you are right, people who read the bible would come away with the message that it condemns the LGBTQ community.
Of course, it also condones sexual slavery; the humiliation, forced marriage, and rape of female prisoners; polygamy; and the executions of rape victims who were raped within the city limits so I'm pretty sure that isn't the book I want to use to formulate my own sexual ethics from.
These guys learn what to do with their voices to get people to feel they are chosen, that individuals in the church are chosen and are in on a big secret. Once they have the audience, they bash them with misogyny, elitism, racism, and hatred and oppression. They are vitriolic and abusive. Notice his refrain of “read and pray,” which also happens to be the name of Livingston’s daily devotional book, available on the church website for $17.
In other words, you should be giving that $60 to ME!!!
That's not true. You've missed the message. You should be giving me $100. God likes big round numbers.
If I had no morals, religion would be way I would grift.
Maybe some gospel maniacs, orange polyester prayer handkerchiefs with white jesus, guns, and 'Merican flags.
Would a truck in each corner be too much?
L. Ron Hubbard would agree. “You don't get rich writing science fiction. If you want to get rich, you start a religion.”
"Dianetics" sucked. It made no sense whatsoever, the only reason it is a bestseller is the scientologists just keep buying the book themselves.
All too true.
SPOILER ALERT:
I did read Battlefield Earth. It was interesting and creative, but ultimately ended up being about money.
I read Battlefield Earth and his ten volume Sci-fi series. I enjoyed his writing style and his stories. Very fast paced.
The library where I grew up only had the first 5-6 of the Mission Earth series (they were terrible at getting a complete series of anything), so I searched used bookstores for a couple years until I found them all. It's been a long time since I've read them, but I mostly enjoyed them. Didn't care for Battlefield Earth.
Oh, cynical you is bring cynical!
🎯
The American republic was the first nation on earth that gave religion no role to play in governance. A common enough thing today, but a radical idea in the eighteenth century. The founders were ahead of the curve. Unfortunately, the religious right never got the memo and they keep pushing the idea the privileged place they have occupied for far to long needs to be formalized with their being included in government. Some of the proposals they have put forward are truly horrifying and are prime examples of why the founders kept them out. Mixing government and religion is the same terrible idea it has always been. No one in their right mind would place their essential freedoms in the hands of the preachers.
I had one guy consplain* to me that there is no wall of separation, you won't find those words in the Constitution. He is technically correct, but also entirely wrong. He also consplained to me that is was impossible since separation of church and state meant religious people can't serve in the government and can't be informed by their religion. Again, entirely wrong.
*conservatives tell me things
It's amazing at how the simplest on the job work expectation can suddenly baffle these fundies when they think of government. You're a plumber and don't do a job because you don't like the client? Fired. You're an office worker who harangues your co-workers with religious screeds? Fired. So when you process paperwork for the government, and you choose not to process someone's paperwork because you don't like them, fired. It's that simple.
The government has more/different employment laws vs private industry, but still at heart it's very much the same thing: you are getting paid by someone to behave in a professional manner while you do a specified job. Do the job, be professional, nobody cares about your religion. Don't do the job, don't be professional, and you will likely get fired or reassigned...again, regardless of your religion.
Agreed. With one slight caveat: Often the targets get moved elsewhere, particularly if they are women.
Refer those people to Section III, Article VI of the Constitution that bans religious tests for holding public office in the United States. If that's not church-state separation, I don't know what is. Article VI also pre-dates the Bill of Rights, and that says a lot about how the founder's felt about it. They knew their European history and wanted no part of the religious strife that had soaked the old world in blood for centuries. There are a lot of fools who are delusional enough to believe everything will be wonderful if they can just insert their particular religion into government.
The actual analogy of "wall of separation" comes from Jefferson, a very inconvenient fact.
While they don't want the religious-driven wars of Europe, they believe that they will do things differently, while simultaneously believing that our baser nature is violence solves everything. Yet, through the grace of god, they are above this baser nature. A lot of that comes from two things (at least, I'm sure there's more), a complete ignorance of the violent history of christianity ("They threw us to the lions. We would never do that." Yeah, right.) written by the victorious christians, and the belief that external morality is the only way to overcome humanity's baser violent nature (you know, the one god made us with).
We, christians, never threw people to lions ! We threw them in fire or water to spare these poor beasts !
lol
That's how denial is fueled. As if killing in a different way was somehow ... better.
"I didn't kill him. I just tied him to a tree. It was his choice not to free himself."
Historians have said they weren't thrown to beasts, because they were christians, they were rabble-rousers and wouldn't leave other people alone.
Paul for instance, was a major asshole who was a real fanatic, and in everyone else's face pushing his religion. They still tell the story in Ephesus about how they had to run him out of town!
You're not trying to confuse the issue with the facts, are you?
In one of the few actual instances of "persecution" I am aware of, when Rome burned and Nero returned to open the city's granaries to feed the people (and not play the fiddle, which hadn't even been invented), he did blame the christians. They were a small sect and not very popular, which made them easy scapegoats. So, um, convenience rather than doctrine.
The early history of christian persecution deviates wildly from reality. But, hey! Why let facts get in the way of a good story?
I know! I just hate propaganda! He would have played a lyre most likely...oops there I go again.
It wasn't religious wars. We resurrected the way Ancient Greeks resolved their differents before the Panhellenic games !
(I have a headache and can't find something better)
Those same delusional fools also have bloodlust. It's scary.
Lies and straw dogs.
I think what we have here is someone who is willing to use ANYTHING to act as an attention-getter for himself. Livingston's upset about the Trump bible mixing religion with politics therefore becomes a convenient prop for him to go off on a rant about the supposed superiority of his religion over government ... to which I say, "Whoop-whoop."
Makes me wonder how many congregants Loran is liable to lose for sniping at something Dumb-ass Don promotes. Might be more than a few.
True, but I'm all for christians infighting.
https://i.makeagif.com/media/7-01-2021/FJixFQ.gif
And Republicans infighting
Oh, yeah!
Although, these days, is there a difference?
Nope......A difference without a distinction.
But I still love to see all of them infighting, including the abortion abolitionists ripping on Republicans who support IVF...... and Arizona legislature Republicans ripping on each other and Republican Congress people ripping on whackjob MTG. The inner party chaos brings me much joy.
I think the only reason they party continues to exist is because of the coffers. Anyone that breaks off will have to fund themselves. Remember the Tea Party?
True, funding is being held ransom and extorted.
And the Democrats will not accept defectors, nor should they.
The real issue is the majority of Republican politicians LACK integrity to do the right thing and vote the right way at the state and national level. Liz Cheney and Ken Buck (maybe Mitt) are the only Republicans that come to my immediate mind that have been vocal against tRump and the GOP as a whole.
Sorry, but every pregnancy is a threat to the life of the pregnant person, so defending yourself from the threat is justified no matter how innocent you believe the fetus is. The zef (zygote/embryo/fetus) is attacking your body to obtain nutrients needed to grow, same as if you’re being attacked by a wild animal, only it’s happening inside you and you might want to give it your body to grow. But also, you might not. Is it alright to kill a bear that’s attacking you? Why isn’t it alright to kill a zef that’s attacking you if you choose not to offer your body? The bear might not kill you and you might get away with only scratches if you don’t kill it. Same with a zef, you probably will survive, you probably will only have certain inconvenient health issues after it’s removed, bladder leakage, stiff joints and weaker teeth, mere scratches. But shouldn’t you be able to defend yourself from both if you really don’t want to be attacked?
Aside from that, the zef is infringing on your bodily autonomy in a way that no other person is able to. Even when you’re dead you have more rights to bodily autonomy than a pregnant person.
The zef is not necessarily innocent, it may not be conscious of its actions and harm, but it is not harmless.
This! ☝️
As a conservative Chirstian I couldn't agree more the this preacher. The Trump bible is a piece of unacceptable woke garbage. Just look at the passages it has,...
Deuteronomy 15:7-8 – If anyone is poor among your fellow Israelites in any of the towns of the land the LORD your God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward them. Rather, be openhanded and freely lend them whatever they need.
Proverbs 21:13 – Whoever shuts their ears to the cry of the poor will also cry out and not be answered.
Luke 12:33-34 – Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will never fail, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Leviticus 19:33-34 -- ‘When a foreigner resides among you in your land, do not mistreat them. The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the LORD your God.
What kind of communist woke garbage is this? Where are the righteous mass deportations? Where is the golden rule, "He who hast the gold maketh the rules!" Trump is just another woke, libtard trying to use the good name of Jesus to gain wealth and power.
The only thing the bible says about abortion is how to induce one.
The genocidal YHVH certainly practiced mass abortion when he flooded the world. And the demented soldiers he sent into Samaria freely practiced abortion/murder lovingly approved by the guy upstairs.
That's why he's just a tribal god. Christianity made a big mistake when they didn't dump the old testament and its nasty god and just concentrate on the new testament and Jesus.
I get why though, even though they are completely wrong to link together, because the patriarchal men liked the smitey god of the OT, also to give it some age and history to make it seem more legit.( By stealing other religions history.)
Not sure it would have changed anything. The Roman society had no reason to be jealous of the Jewish one depicted in the OT.
Yup. Numbers 5:11-31. I seriously doubt it's a procedure the AMA would approve of, though! 😝
"...𝘤𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘤 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘭𝘦𝘨𝘦," Mr. Livingston? Voting is a fucking 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵. One which I intend to exercise every damn election day, because you and your lot keep trying to take it and every other right away from people like me. See you at the polls, shithead- let's just find out whose side history is really going to be on, shall we?
https://scontent-ord5-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/438305728_1664665824319773_74535357317267383_n.jpg?_nc_cat=111&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=5f2048&_nc_ohc=tg4yC5_1Ec4Q7kNvgFXSUQr&_nc_ht=scontent-ord5-1.xx&oh=00_AfADJCLvkrwOYLni7jDEHH2LcHf21dyfCgat4WS3kzmE_Q&oe=66372CD1
To the anti-LGBTQ P-ass-tor Livingston...
Do you have any idea who James I was? You know. The guy with his name on your bible.
I'll bet you a cup of coffee that the average evangelical ... shoot, the average CHRISTIAN has no idea about the sexual orientation of the guy who created the KJV bible!
Would LOVE to see their reaction when they found out, though!
Makes me wonder about all the anonymous authors of the bible and what THEIR orientations were, too.
They definitely didn't like women, starting with Paul.
Misogyny and Christianity go together like peanut butter and jelly.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVPNXsc4wsQ
XD
Of course they do. So far as I'm aware, there is no support in the Christian bible for the idea that women ever go to heaven for any reason. Support for marriage as an institution, yes, but women going to heaven? Nope.
I'd bet that Islam and Judaism are the same way, too.
If Christians ever read their bible (especially Revelation), they'd be shocked to find that the only humans in heaven are 144,000 virgin Jewish males from the 12 tribes of Israel with the mark of their god on their foreheads.
Oops.
"Were you there?", "Fake news", "Persecution", "Woke agenda"...
The gay monarch?
Showered his lovers with rewards and promotions.
https://thehistoryofparliament.wordpress.com/2018/02/27/james-i-and-his-favourites-sex-and-power-at-the-jacobean-court/
Wait a minnit, wait a minnit! This guy says politics and religion shouldn't mix but then, in the midst of a religious sermon, he throws in opinions about LGBTQ and abortion? And claims they're religious? I bet he goes into bakeries and rants about all the leavened stuff he finds, too.
And into any business who sells seafood.
Or clothing stores that sell *gasp!* mixed fabrics.
Next target, this American icon called cheeseburger. Except for those with vegan meat and/or cheese 😁
NEVER MIX meat and dairy!!! Yayway demands it!!!
I want to see American pastors tell French to stop eating hachis parmentier (grounded meat, pureed potatoes and melted cheese on top), pizzas and lasagnas.
When are you able to ship me some of those? They sound delightful.
Does that mean no more bacon milkshakes?
I'm sure there's a Bible verse somewhere that we can use to make an exception.
Even more of an icon? The BACON cheeseburger. Sinfully delicious. 😃
or tattoo parlors...
Unleavened = solidified flour with flavor removed.
Now, now, love me some matzoh ball soup.
The minute I hear "Pentecostal",I think: "RUN AWAY, RUN AWAY!"
Hmph. The minute I hear "Pentecostal," I think: "Blithering idiot!"
Dangerous nut is what crosses my mind.
As an aside, if I never hear Greenwood's shitty little ditty again, it'll be too soon. (And no doubt I will, because I go to Veterans and other civic events where Patriotism and Jingoism commingle.)
Personally, in situations where we currently recite the Pledge, I'd much prefer we recite the Preamble. Hell, we '70s kids who watched Saturday morning cartoons can sing it from memory¹!!!
(¹ And tell you about that little Bill on Capitol Hill, Lolly's Adverbs, our hero Zero, and so much more. 😁)
♫♪ Figure Eight ... is Double Four.
Figure Four ... is half of Eight.
If you skate ... it would be great
If you could make ... a Figure Eight.
That's a circle that turns round upon itself.
Place it on its side and it's the figure meaning ... INFINITY! ♪♫
Small g/son likes to educate his poor old granny on many issues when I visit. He'd just mastered simple addition when he came into my bed for a morning cuddle and said, 'Granny, did you know 3 and 3 makes 8. Holding up 6 fingers, I corrected him. 'No, granny, you're wrong, if you write a 3 and then another 3 backwards and join them together, it makes an 8. Can't fault his logic and wonder if his brand of it will take him far in life.....or nowhere at all!
It's certainly thinking outside the box. The trick is to be able to think outside the box while understanding the disciplines which allow things to work.
I suspect that it'll be fun watching him grow up! 😉
Yes, agree. His mum was making up a bed for me last week as his dad was going abroad for work and mum works shifts, so I was needed to get the kids to and from school. G/son said, 'Why are you making up the spare bed for granny? If daddy's away, why can't she can sleep beside you in your bed?'
I was just at the VA yesterday. Saw religious (read: Christian) literature on one of the tables. Guess where it went? We'll have none of THAT on a government facility.
May I suggest an alternate way to deal with such literature? I think it appropriate considering the actions often taken by the kind of people who leave such literature around.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zwz_TEnFef4
Given the religious right's lack of objection to guns (preferring thoughts and prayers to legislation), such literature could also be taken care of via skeet shooting.
PULL!
The paper it is on is not absorbent—pun intended—enough to take with you to bathroom for its best use. Plus it would clog up the toilet.
❤️
🎶Conjunction junction, what's your function? 🎶
🎶Hooking up words and phrases and clauses.🎶
Living in the EU, where religion is often a state matter, many countries are more secular than the US with it's supposed "separation of church and state." I have wondered if the fastest way to kill off christianity was to actually let it become the state religion that way people will get on with ignoring it sooner. One way to make people lose interest in something is to governmentize it.
But I also realize that that's a dangerous game. The amount of zealotry and harm against women, LGBTQ+, atheists, humanists, and non-christians would be horrendous, because one thing always stands true: whatever direction an authority takes, the institutions surrounding it will move. And with zealotry, bigotry, and hatred dressed up as christian love at an all time high (for modern 'Merica), people will die. Not from outright killings, though that will happen, but from neglect, exclusion, bullying, and driving hated groups to suicide. Many christians don't fall into the extremes, but too many still do and remain there unopposed and, yet, supported by fellow christians because ingroup-loyalty is more important and powerful than the alleged love they claim to have for all beings created by the god of their doctrine.
Livingston's views are scary on multiple levels. Earth does not matter to him, he is just passing through. We all are, but not in the way he is portraying. This life matters, but we diverge on why. For him it's a test for the afterlife, pass and get into heaven, fail and burn in hell for eternity. For me, this life is the only one I have. There is nothing after this. No heaven. No hell. The afterlife is after my life.
Furthermore, it does not matter how badly we damage the earth to Livingston. As far as his beliefs are concerned, any day now is about to happen, despite the evidence of 2,000 years - say it again, two thousand years - of not happening. Conversely, I care because I want the world to be enjoyed by our offspring, everyone's, not just mine. We are the only beings with the gift of foresight and intelligence, and we're throwing it away for religion and money. For hollow things we are told are the goals of life: money, fame, awards. And religion wraps all that into the afterlife, where kings and princes will serve you for eternity. No one is coming along to magic away the damage. Life finds away, even if the species don't.
I value the life I possess now, not the fiction I'm told comes afterward.
I’ve said similar (though not so eloquently): your life is a one shot deal, don’t waste it, thinking there’s something better after.
Even if we are wrong, what's wrong with keeping the planet safe, and clean, what's the worst that happens? The assholes don't get raptured, and we have a clean healthy planet.
"Eloquent"? That's a pretty generous description. There ain't nothing wrong with succinct. It's infinitely more quotable.
Just tribal internecine squabbling. It appears we have so many branches or denominations because so many want to carve out their own piece of meat or find their own flock to suck blood from. Religious leaders, speakers, are ticks.
I have the same complaint about the Trump bibble as he does, only regarding the insult to our constitution including it with the completely anti-freedom bible and Lee Greenwood’s jingo anthem.
Folks are so fed up with Trump and the Christian nationalism he’s breeding that they’re grasping at all straws of his base turning on him. This preacher didn’t turn on him, he just didn’t like the one marketing trick Trump is trying. And I’m not even sure of that. Think about it, the base has the attention span of a gnat, and the bibble was released three weeks ago, no one was really talking about it anymore and he doesn’t have a new gimmick yet, plus he’s getting ridiculed for falling asleep at the trial he won’t likely win, this guy might just be a plant to remind the base to spend more money on Trump. By making a spectacle, even one against the bibble, that triggers the libs will energize the base.
The Democratic Party needs to start showing the reality of what is going on in Team Trump. That he’s losing followers, no one is showing up at the trial to support him, no one is buying his ghastly shoes, or his abhorrent bibble and the supporters he still has are running out of cash to throw at him, especially since he’s gutted their savings with his truth social stock. It’s nice that he’s too sleepy to make ever more insane comments and the media is less focused on him and more on the actual workings of the trials. Though, they still have a long way to go to be responsible honest journalists again.
People who read the bible would come away with the idea that a fetus and a human being are not the same thing in the writer's eyes.
And, perhaps you are right, people who read the bible would come away with the message that it condemns the LGBTQ community.
Of course, it also condones sexual slavery; the humiliation, forced marriage, and rape of female prisoners; polygamy; and the executions of rape victims who were raped within the city limits so I'm pretty sure that isn't the book I want to use to formulate my own sexual ethics from.
These guys learn what to do with their voices to get people to feel they are chosen, that individuals in the church are chosen and are in on a big secret. Once they have the audience, they bash them with misogyny, elitism, racism, and hatred and oppression. They are vitriolic and abusive. Notice his refrain of “read and pray,” which also happens to be the name of Livingston’s daily devotional book, available on the church website for $17.