I believe I subscribed to your Commentary (What is the appropriate name for these?) because you said you were a "Christian." A sincere question -- I want to understand: How do you define "goodness?" What is your "Standard?" The Bible? Please help me understand where you are coming from.
I am a Christian, not a “Christian”. I no longer identify as an evangelical, but there are more than 45,000 Christian denominations throughout the world. No longer being an evangelical is not the same as no longer being a Christian.
The Bible is not my standard for goodness, no. We read into the Bible who we are. If you are looking for justification of slavery in the Bible, you will find it. If you are looking for reasons to abolish slavery in the Bible, you will find it. Many evangelical Christians believe the Bible explicitly condemns abortion (it doesn’t). But they either don’t know or don’t care that the Bible says when my children misbehave, I should take them outside the city gate and let the elders stone them to death.
I’m obviously not going to do that, but evangelical Christians have a bad habit of attributing their interpretation of morality to the Bible without actually reading it.
Instead my metric is probably too simple and too complicated at the same time: Is the action I’m about to take one that puts good into the world or bad? Who is it for? Who does it harm? What, if anything, has Jesus said about it?
"Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." "Everyone did what was right in their own sight." "With what judgment you judge, you shall be judged." THANK YOU for your direct response. Does abortion harm the fetus?
I think that is a “when does life begin?” question. Genesis says at first breath, but I am comfortable with the mystery of it. You know what I’m not comfortable with though? People who want to ban abortion because they supposedly care about babies but not ban AR15s when they’re used to slaughter children. When people who claim to be pro-life don’t want to pay taxes so children can eat or have a roof over their heads. When people say they care about fetuses but not actual born children.
There’s a lot of harm people are willing to do to others when those babies they claim to care so much about are real, in-the-flesh human beings and not just concepts they can use to control women.
Are you talking about where God breathed into Adam and he "became a living soul" (Genesis 2:7)? If you are saying this: if I can provide food, clothing, shelter, and love for the fetuses, you will give them to me, I will start working on that right away -- seriously -- I am 65 years old and would be happy to dedicate the rest of my life to that Cause. And that is exactly what Christians DID 2000 years ago. I AM SO SORRY that I didn't start doing this long ago, especially when I first learned about the over one Billion abortions worldwide. Just how many of those do you believe actually "saved the mother's life?" -- which is the ONLY legitimate reason for an abortion. My only consolation is that the soul of every aborted baby is now living with their Heavenly Father.
Tim, I get that you think highly of yourself, but the way you think you can control the way Trump harms others (referencing another comment you made) or that you can feed, clothe, and shelter all the kids in the world while voting against candidates who actually want to do that is laughable. Didn’t you call it communism the other day? We know you don’t actually care, bud. If you did, you would understand that the abortion rate goes down during Democratic presidencies or that men are responsible for 100% of unwanted pregnancies and they could easily halt abortion by getting vasectomies or wearing condoms.
I asked 2 legitimate questions -- which weren't answered -- and you respond by accusing me of pride, not caring, wanting to control woman (you don't even know me) and being responsible for the very abortions I am trying to prevent. Isn't THAT called "discrimination?" We can't accomplish anything this way.
I am against communism because it doesn't work: It has only resulted in the slavery and murder of hundreds of millions of lives. My wife is from Beijing China: We know!
Thank you Tiffany. Will continue the fight for our daughters sakes. Today was asked if I was excited about the election. Think she was shocked by my answer...
Hi again, Mrs. Williams, I'm 68 and this is not the same planet that I was raised in. When I was growing up, no one would have voted for Trump this time around if for no other reason than to make sure that he had his time in court and faced a judge and jury to answer for his crimes and then serve whatever sentence that the judge saw fit for the crime(s) he was found guilty of. Also, when you wrote that you were "working to be an antidote to his cruelty", I'm not quite sure what that means. My guess is that you were learning how to combat, or negate or reverse the effects of his cruelty, being able to not let it affect you, to be able to shake it off easily? Also, I'm not sure who needs it or how "my goodness" can be used beneficially. Do you have any ideas that could possibly be useful guidance for someone who feels like a balloon that was full of air that someone just let go of and is bouncing around in all directions? Maybe I should just find something, or anything, to do to keep my mind occupied and after enough time passes, maybe I won't feel like this any more?
Hey Jerry. I always appreciate your thought-inducing questions. I hope you will hang on for a bit because I actually want to make a post of some of my answers to your questions.
Thank you for your appearance with Dworkin. I live *very* near "rural Montana" (big as it is) and would be glad hear from you. My contact info has it all. And meanwhile, I was pleased with your candor and grace in this post, a learning experience whatever "belief system" on espouses.
Thank you. My tears are done and onward we go with an idea for a petition for President Biden to pursue investigation and arrest regarding drump's campaign money. Gitmo sounds like a wonderful place to enshrine him until judges can decide trial dates.
I believe I subscribed to your Commentary (What is the appropriate name for these?) because you said you were a "Christian." A sincere question -- I want to understand: How do you define "goodness?" What is your "Standard?" The Bible? Please help me understand where you are coming from.
It’s called a newsletter. 🙂
I am a Christian, not a “Christian”. I no longer identify as an evangelical, but there are more than 45,000 Christian denominations throughout the world. No longer being an evangelical is not the same as no longer being a Christian.
The Bible is not my standard for goodness, no. We read into the Bible who we are. If you are looking for justification of slavery in the Bible, you will find it. If you are looking for reasons to abolish slavery in the Bible, you will find it. Many evangelical Christians believe the Bible explicitly condemns abortion (it doesn’t). But they either don’t know or don’t care that the Bible says when my children misbehave, I should take them outside the city gate and let the elders stone them to death.
I’m obviously not going to do that, but evangelical Christians have a bad habit of attributing their interpretation of morality to the Bible without actually reading it.
Instead my metric is probably too simple and too complicated at the same time: Is the action I’m about to take one that puts good into the world or bad? Who is it for? Who does it harm? What, if anything, has Jesus said about it?
"Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." "Everyone did what was right in their own sight." "With what judgment you judge, you shall be judged." THANK YOU for your direct response. Does abortion harm the fetus?
I think that is a “when does life begin?” question. Genesis says at first breath, but I am comfortable with the mystery of it. You know what I’m not comfortable with though? People who want to ban abortion because they supposedly care about babies but not ban AR15s when they’re used to slaughter children. When people who claim to be pro-life don’t want to pay taxes so children can eat or have a roof over their heads. When people say they care about fetuses but not actual born children.
There’s a lot of harm people are willing to do to others when those babies they claim to care so much about are real, in-the-flesh human beings and not just concepts they can use to control women.
Are you talking about where God breathed into Adam and he "became a living soul" (Genesis 2:7)? If you are saying this: if I can provide food, clothing, shelter, and love for the fetuses, you will give them to me, I will start working on that right away -- seriously -- I am 65 years old and would be happy to dedicate the rest of my life to that Cause. And that is exactly what Christians DID 2000 years ago. I AM SO SORRY that I didn't start doing this long ago, especially when I first learned about the over one Billion abortions worldwide. Just how many of those do you believe actually "saved the mother's life?" -- which is the ONLY legitimate reason for an abortion. My only consolation is that the soul of every aborted baby is now living with their Heavenly Father.
Tim, I get that you think highly of yourself, but the way you think you can control the way Trump harms others (referencing another comment you made) or that you can feed, clothe, and shelter all the kids in the world while voting against candidates who actually want to do that is laughable. Didn’t you call it communism the other day? We know you don’t actually care, bud. If you did, you would understand that the abortion rate goes down during Democratic presidencies or that men are responsible for 100% of unwanted pregnancies and they could easily halt abortion by getting vasectomies or wearing condoms.
You just want to control women.
I asked 2 legitimate questions -- which weren't answered -- and you respond by accusing me of pride, not caring, wanting to control woman (you don't even know me) and being responsible for the very abortions I am trying to prevent. Isn't THAT called "discrimination?" We can't accomplish anything this way.
I am against communism because it doesn't work: It has only resulted in the slavery and murder of hundreds of millions of lives. My wife is from Beijing China: We know!
My flag is flying upside down until tomorrow as a signal of our nation’s distress. I will fly it again that way on January 20. Peace to all.
Understand
Thank you Tiffany. Will continue the fight for our daughters sakes. Today was asked if I was excited about the election. Think she was shocked by my answer...
Ohhhhh big yikes. I fortunately have only run into people today who know exactly how I feel. For better or worse.
Hi again, Mrs. Williams, I'm 68 and this is not the same planet that I was raised in. When I was growing up, no one would have voted for Trump this time around if for no other reason than to make sure that he had his time in court and faced a judge and jury to answer for his crimes and then serve whatever sentence that the judge saw fit for the crime(s) he was found guilty of. Also, when you wrote that you were "working to be an antidote to his cruelty", I'm not quite sure what that means. My guess is that you were learning how to combat, or negate or reverse the effects of his cruelty, being able to not let it affect you, to be able to shake it off easily? Also, I'm not sure who needs it or how "my goodness" can be used beneficially. Do you have any ideas that could possibly be useful guidance for someone who feels like a balloon that was full of air that someone just let go of and is bouncing around in all directions? Maybe I should just find something, or anything, to do to keep my mind occupied and after enough time passes, maybe I won't feel like this any more?
Hey Jerry. I always appreciate your thought-inducing questions. I hope you will hang on for a bit because I actually want to make a post of some of my answers to your questions.
Thank you for your appearance with Dworkin. I live *very* near "rural Montana" (big as it is) and would be glad hear from you. My contact info has it all. And meanwhile, I was pleased with your candor and grace in this post, a learning experience whatever "belief system" on espouses.
I wasn’t on Dworkin to my knowledge! Maybe Andra Watkins? I’ll reach out tomorrow. Thank you for the comment. 💔 Montana. We will heal with time.
Thank you. My tears are done and onward we go with an idea for a petition for President Biden to pursue investigation and arrest regarding drump's campaign money. Gitmo sounds like a wonderful place to enshrine him until judges can decide trial dates.
Thank you for this.
The Carnival of Chaos: Trump’s Freak Show of Division and Distrust
How America’s Next Commander-in-Chief Turned the Presidency into a Three-Ring Circus of Fear, Hate, and Manufactured Threats
https://substack.com/home/post/p-151375042?r=4d7sow&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web