GreyDestiny

We owe it to one another to tell each other when we are wrong. However, one must also be willing to listen and able to rebut. A more prominent issue, at least as far as my eyes have seen, is that people are willing to dish out their own voices, not take in others. They stand upon an opinion or belief yet when they are asked why, they shrug it off because they do not know.

Let's say, for example, Benedict does not support gay marriage. He goes around to various LGBT+ forums and gatherings and starts trouble, his argument essentially boils down into calling them either gross or idiotic. If you were to ask Benedict why he doesn't support it, he doesn't have an answer, he just simply dislikes it. It's just "gross" or"stupid".

Benedict needs a few things. First, he must have an actual argument. One must remember that they are trying to convince others to their way of thinking, not strutting about and peacocking one's own ego. Bible verses work fine, but you may wish to back that up with statistics and studies; unbelievers don't care for the gospel, after all. Cut out any and all insults; it can be a sign of either insecurity, or over the web, insincerity like that of a troll. This lends to the second thing, which is an actual basis for him to stand upon, an answer as to why.

Third... Willingness to listen. Often people take this as just agreement, but it doesn't mean relenting to the opposition. My way of going about this is asking questions to the opposition, showing a will to listen. Why do they support gay marriage? If they do not like this, why not this other thing? Stuff like that. Asking questions can also work to disarm the opposition; after all, many of them might be like Benedict wherein they don't have a solid basis for their opinion or belief.

It's near the bottom. It's a category rather than a forum, like 'Inner Court" or "Outer Court".

I really don't think someone with an attitude like that needs to be a teacher.

The kid had an AR-15 in his truck? He really could have just planned on hunting, like hmbld suggested. i don't know why anyone would bring their hunting equipment with them to school, but hey.

I had a friend in high school who kept a machete in his trunk for protection. It's not like the area was particularly crime-ridden, but there were inconsistencies. One of those inconsistencies: football players. Because they played football, they could pretty much do no wrong in the eyes of both the school and the law. One day, as he was pulling up to school, the FB players started hurling stones and insults. His car was dented, they cracked his driver side window and windshield, and he had a few bruises from where they threw stones at him. In an attempt to scare them off and protect himself, he popped his trunk and grabbed his machete. He didn't attack anyone, but he still got expelled and sent off to juvi. The FB players did no wrong and the cops overlooked the physical evidence cause the car was "in poor condition" and my friend appeared to be "one of those".

Maybe the kid brought the AR-15 for protection, like my friend did.

This is true. You sweat and toil away, getting lashed by your higher-ups, all the while receiving little pay for the workload. Cost of living is up, prices on the incline even though they're making everything smaller, and far too much reliance on credit/loans. It is a sick practice; you either have money or you don't, and if you do have money, everyone else wants it.

However, if one is willing to take on a lower standard of living, it's not so bad. All a man really needs is a roof and a bed. Everyone wants their big house with their big car and their big family, but where does that come from? Lo, the poor feed that mortgage, deceit and manipulation fuel that hummer, the wife is only there for the money as are the children, a home who's foundation is wickedness. Remember; their life is in this life, not this one. Let them be stingy about their money, use and abuse people like they do; they reap what they sow.

Think of the world like a raging sea and yourself like a boat. The world pushes and hurls, doing all that it can to topple you, drag you down and make you become one with it. You just simply have to keep afloat and maintain your course. You are due for land some day, after all; the water won't be an issue then. Keep your wits about you; letting yourself go solves nothing.

It's differing areas. Not only does the US have a much, MUCH larger black market, but the UK is more fond of stabbings and the whiny sarcasm they call "humor". I don't think i'd look at a series of countries where you're about 85% likely to be stabbed on any given day as an example, especially when you're talking about Northern Ireland.

29 minutes ago, angels4u said:

Thanks for sharing about your experience in the US , are you free to share your opinions about homosexuality or transgender issues to whoever you wish to speak too?

And how about in the schools? What if a child tells you that they don't know if they feel , they are a boy of girl?

 

Legally, yes. Socially, no. It's been a growing trend that anyone who voices such opinions, especially in left-heavy areas, loses their jobs and chances at finding another one. People will harass their employer: How can you let some hatemonger work for you? Do you support his or her ideas? For fear of further harassment, the business typically lets the person go. The person doesn't go to jail, but their life can be pretty much ruined either way.

Schools are on a downfall. It's an open secret that universities and colleges here in the US are pretty much brain-washing centers. Students who go to these schools to attempt and voice their opposing opinion are tossed out into the street. You either buy into their opinions or you throw your future away. Pretty much throw it away anyway, what with how expensive it is to go to school. They have been aiming younger and younger over time. I wouldn't be surprised if sex ED classes now included all kind of weird wickedness. 

On the note of gender issues, they bring that up often in elementary schools. One school in Nebraska insists that every student be called a 'purple penguin" so as not to offend any gender sensibilities. One kindergarten teacher brought in a boy and introduced him to the class. Then he went into the bathroom and came out wearing a dress, and she reintroduced the boy with a girl's name. They are pushing hard here, without the parent's permissions, to turn young folks to their ideas. Make these kids confused about their gender, make them question their sexuality, introduce them to things like BDSM and scat when they just barely have stopped suckling on their mother's teats... It is a sickening trend.

If a child came up to me and claimed to be confused about gender, i'd tell them that is unsurprising. They are a child and they don't know any better, especially in a society where the line between man and woman is increasingly blurred. I'd try to teach them the difference and that God does not make mistakes; you are what you were born with. To not buy into the insane rantings that educators have been spewing for some time now.

I try to keep anything I say online. I'm not too good at speaking (speech impediments), and even then, I don't feel as if I know enough to go around preaching about this or that. As it stands, I have much to learn, and I will always have more to learn.

In the US, it's typically confined to churches, though you do get "soap box" preachers now and again. Soap Boxers typically put a box somewhere in a crowded public place (like a town square) and they will preach what they wish to. Churches typically don't get in much trouble because they stick to their area, but these soap box preachers typically aren't well-received. I've seen videos of crowds gathering around to screech at the preacher that he's engaging in hate speech and he needs to die, people running up and assaulting the man, you name it.

I can't answer about the preacher because I do not attend church. It seems to be a socially unacceptable thing to preach about certain things, though. You have many churches that speak of nothing but love and never a word against homosexuality. "Homophobic" churches are typically shunned by everyone who disagrees, though are typically candles in the darkness for those who agree. There have been government restrictions in the past. I'd count forced homosexual marriage as a restriction. There are also individual churches who get targeted because the service is "too loud" or the "vast majority" doesn't like certain statues or decorations put up on or near the church.

In all "freedom of religion" just means that you can practice your religion at your church, but you are subject to other peoples rules and opinions and you better strictly keep to that church. Mind what you say in church as well.

While a man can't see into other men's hearts, I don't think NK is going to do much unless we or anyone else does much. NK typically sticks to "we are just trying to protect our native soil". That could just be a ruse, but I just see it as a country attempting to establish itself among the very few nations that do carry nuclear weaponry. We all hear horror stories about NK, but not everything there is terrible and things have been gradually improving over time. One source of income is their animation. Yeah, believe it or not, many countries hire NK animators not only because they are skilled but they don't charge as much as others. This has helped improve NK.

I just look at it like a nuclear Cuba, more or less. We might not be on the friendliest terms, but if we could talk and come to agreements, maybe we could be neighbors again. What i'm worried about is that both media and government don't seem to have an interest in that. Nuclear weapons means power and we wouldn't want to lose any of our power now, would we?

I always figured Gundam would become an actual thing at some point. I call dibs on a Hambrabi. 

On a serious note, though, I think any satellite warfare would be rather small-scale. Stuff in space costs a lot of money, and if I know people, I don't think they'll want to put too much into it.

Ah yes, bitcoin. What was once (and still is) used on internet silk roads so that people could buy drugs, purchase sex trade slaves, and hire hitmen... Will now become mainstream and the solution to differing currencies from country to country. It makes sense to me, something born from such immoral practices, lending to the new world order.

As soon as one sacrifices freedom for security, one has neither.

I personally don't have a cellphone. Why, even just having this computer makes me paranoid. There is no such thing as privacy anymore. The internet never forgets and the internet never forgives. You've got organizations like the NSA out there and I just don't like it. Sure, you might catch the oddball criminal here and there, but is it really worth our own privacy?

Thank you for your answers, everyone. You have given me food for thought.

My local paper put up a story like this recently. It was talking about how many establishments are switching over to alternative straws as plastic straws are too dangerous to the environment. Straws made from paper, bamboo, even twizzlers.

Like America doesn't eat enough, now we're eating our straws.

I don't know why, but I started thinking about Samson's story this morning. It dawned on me that I didn't really understand the purpose. Was there a moral or a reason to the story? Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed reading it. I guess it just flew over my head.

1 hour ago, Dennis1209 said:

Thanks for the tip about the Google safe search, I wasn't aware of that feature. I'm trying it right now and it seems to really slow down loading?

I guess i've never experienced that. If it does slow down, it's probably just taking an extra minute to filter out anything deemed unsavory. Either that, or I have experienced slow-downs after computer updates. It isn't exactly an update, but still, the slow speed typically goes away after I restart my computer.

Google's searches work on three fronts.

First, word matching. Any words you enter into the search bar will be matched up to websites. For example, searching the word "bear" will pull up any and all sites which contain the word "bear".

Second, relevance and popularity. Google staff attempts to put most relevant searches first, also accounting for which pages get the most clicks. In other words, you found this easily because many other people have searched the same thing.

Third, safety. It makes sense that, if safe search is on, it isn't likely that something inappropriate will appear. Even if it's off, they shove potentially dangerous sites (ones containing malware or virus) either off the board or on the later pages. Also, as Google has the open secret of it being a very Liberal organization, they have been known to alter searches they deem unacceptable in recent years.

There's also the Armenian genocide, though that was in Turkey. Armenia had many Christians (Catholic, Protestant, and Apostolic) and that made the rest of Islamic Turkey nervous. So they marched on in there and murdered 1.5 million people. They began by either slaughtering the men or sentencing them to forced labor. The women and children were sent on a death march (you walk until you die) into the Syrian desert, where the overseeing Turks would either rob, rape, or just kill them. To this day, the Turkish government refuses to acknowledge it was a genocide.

Assuming I do, I'd probably just walk around in wonderment . Ask if there's a tour.

Like, you see so many people on this site going on and on about "legalists" like following a law is a bad thing, but at the same time, these same people have their own laws that they hold dear. Oh, don't worry about wearing a low-cut shirt and miniskirt, we are saved by grace, not by law... But oops! Don't go having sex with another person of the same sex, that's wicked!

Is it so wrong to believe that one must adhere to both law and faith? That there are things you do and things you don't do, and that you either do or don't do these things based on what is within your heart? You help people because you truly love the world and your heart is filled with light. You sin and blaspheme because you hate the gift of life and your heart is hard and dark... But then you have dishonest people who help out others but only because it is written in word, and people who wish to make the world a better place but continuously contribute to the issues. Law without faith is empty. Faith without law is foolishness.

"Legalism" is just a buzzword for anything someone disagrees with, near as I can tell. 

I can't say that I know much about SDA. Personally, i'm rather iffy about denominations, if you catch my meaning. They don't seem to be too far out there, though; definitely worse groups, that's for sure.

The reason a catfish has whiskers is because those whiskers contain the catfish's taste buds. Being bottomfeeders, where the light is scarce to none, they have to rely on their whiskers to find food. The whiskers are also able to pick up smell; think of their whiskers like a snake's tongue.

That second picture, I like that guy on the left. He looks really unsure, lol.

But yeah. this is an issue all across the spectrum. "idolatry' is a rather complex sin, it seems.

Like... A guy does get lonely. I've thought about what it would be like to have a wife before and the thought certainly isn't unappealing. However, at the same time, the "me" in these thoughts just doesn't really add up to myself. It sounds rather silly, but I think everyone has exaggerated ideas of themselves. Consider it like one of those macho-one-man-army action movies where the muscular actor walks away from an explosion without even blinking and then takes down 50+ other guys using only his left leg. The male fantasy, in a nutshell. In my mind, I can end up being romantic, mysterious, funny... But in a realistic sense, i'm none of those. 

I don't understand the concept of romance. Mysterious is subjective; yeah, I might not talk much, but it's really because I don't know what to say or have anything to say. I'm not good with jokes, and typically, the jokes that make me laugh are a bit... Frowned upon. I don't like to get out much at all and i'm a rather boring person, even by boring standards. This may all sound like i'm putting myself down, but i'm not; i'm alright with how I am.

I'm just always a bit torn on it. I get lonely and feel like a wife would be nice, but at the same time, I just can't see myself with anyone. Not to mention how hard it would be to find someone who's compatible to begin with.

To quote Sun Tzu, "a leader leads by example, not by force". Jesus would sit and eat with sinners. 

The way which we should win people over is by their hearts... Not by chaining and restraining them. You can tell a man to not cheat on his wife, but that doesn't stop him from lusting after other women in his heart. We must show people the joy and peace that comes with being a Christian rather than strong-arming them.

As for being a BEST friend, I don't know... I don't have any friends.

56 minutes ago, john1 said:

Then why do you sin.

Proverbs chapter 10 verse 12

Love covers all wrongs.

 

1 Kings chapter 8 verse 46
"When they sin against you--for there is no one who does not sin--and you become angry with them and give them over to their enemies, who take them captive to their own lands, far away or near;
2 Chronicles chapter 6 verse 36
"When they sin against you--for there is no one who does not sin--and you become angry with them and give them over to the enemy, who takes them captive to a land far away or near;
Ecclesiastes chapter 7 verse 20
Indeed, there is no one on earth who is righteous, no one who does what is right and never sins.
1 John chapter 1 verse 8
If anyone claims to be without sin they deceive themselves and the truth is not in them. 

... I never said that I did not sin?