6 ms·

It goes deeper than their "faith". These are the people who took away healthcare benefits from all Americans because they didn't personally want to fund birth

It goes deeper than their "faith". These are the people who took away healthcare benefits from all Americans because they didn't personally want to fund birth control and women's health. It's reductive to say that the author looks negatively on the family because of their faith alone.

MrMcCall 2y ago
[flagged]
- oersted 2y ago
  For reference: > But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God—having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people. -- 2 Timothy 3:1-5
  - 93po 2y ago
    this is basically 90% of american politicians
- watwut 2y ago
  Bible is full of contradictions. And old testament is quite cruel at places. They are Christians. Destructive Christians on the quest to harm others ... but Christians.
  - Arainach 2y ago
    There is no relevant contradiction. The entire New Testament is Jesus preaching love and forgiveness, Jesus practicing love and forgiveness - and not just to his followers - and explicit condemnation of wealth and instructing his followers to care for others. Anyone who takes that message and instead lobbies to destroy healthcare and welfare and to push hate and attack anyone who doesn't agree with them - and anyone who votes for the party of politicians that has been practicing and preaching that for decades - is not a Christian regardless of how they spend their Sundays.
    - MrMcCall 2y ago
      Beautifully said. To expand on that beautiful theme: Animals compete, human beings cooperate. Animals take advantage of others, human beings care for others by helping them and protecting them from harm. May compassion rule our hearts for the benefit of one and all and the Earth, herself. We can choose to end suffering. As the "$6 Million Man" intro said in the 70s, "We have the technology." The world has already learned how we MUST deal with people who act like Nazis, those who choose to emulate their brutal policies. The paradox of tolerance is also a part of Jesus's teachings for He "didn't come to bring peace, but a sword." His Divine love must be fierce in the face of cruel depradations, but must never embrace hatred or rage or cruelty. Tonight is the "Night of Power". Send some vibrations out asking our Creator to help you be a part of fixing this Earthwide deplorable mess. Make the Bhodisattva Vow. Ask our Creator to take Its spirit back into Itself to help cleanse and purify your soul of selfish vice, to help you become consumed by the Wisdom of Love (that's the meaning of the 1st Beatitude, called Hidayet in Sufism). All that we emanate resonates back within ourselves. The spiritual path of love is the process of tuning our vibrations towards effortful loving service and away from selfishly callous ignorance of the suffering of others. "Lasting peace and happiness for ALL human beings." --Me
      - watwut 2y ago
        > Animals compete, human beings cooperate. Animals do cooperate, a lot and frequently. Including predators like lions. There are solitary animals, but cooperation is not rare. > Animals take advantage of others, human beings care for others by helping them and protecting them from harm. Animals do help others and try to protect them from harm.
        MrMcCall 2y ago
        > Animals do cooperate, a lot and frequently. Including predators like lions. There are solitary animals, but cooperation is not rare. That is just pack behavior. Animals are nearly always at war among their own for territory, and will often attack other kinds animals that compete for their food sources, unless there is mutual benefit (e.g. deers and monkeys sharing alarm calls for tigers). > Animals do help others and try to protect them from harm. Not their competitors, friend. I've seen all of Sir David Attenboroughs' nature serieses multiple times, save the Antarctica one, including the "Trials of Life" where the decades-ago TV commercial here in America had the line, "the relentless pursuit to continue the bloodline". I know what happens when a bear comes upon a wolfpack's kill. Ain't no sharing there, friend. Lions clawing the balls off a young wandering, trespassing male is the baseline root of animal nature. Any student of history knows this lionine behavior is closer to the driving impetus for human nature than pursuits of selflessly loving peace. "They are like the animals, only worse." That is our negative potential, each and every one of us. Only we have a mind to learn how to contemplate our potential self-evolution and our current amount of progress. And we are free to instead use our minds to just pursue worldly pleasures at the expense of anyone else's happiness. All potentials are available to us, though we cannot escape the price of karma we must each pay, and do, for better or worse, always accurately reaping what we have sown. Not a jot unaccounted for. God's teachings of love are here to help us self-evolve ourselves out of our selfishly animalistic negative potentials towards a peaceful, harmonious universally-compassionate integrated society of equals of different paths and cultures, sans abuse or oppression of any kind. One great example is how Guru Nanak (Sikh founding Guru) set his table where everyone sat together, not stratified by caste. That is the Way of human love, born of God's love for us.
  - MrMcCall 2y ago
    As per what they call themselves, but to be of Christ is to follow his teachings of love. This is what they are, as per Matthew 25:40-45: 40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ 41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’ 44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’ 45 “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’ A person whom Christ calls out as "you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels" cannot be called in good faith (hardy har) a true Christian, like a true Scotsman must at least be from Scotland. The callous fools cheering for 500k deportations of people back to war-torn lands full of strife are no Christians, my friend, no matter what they say. "You have no idea how little we care about what people say." --Rumi Hypocrisy is one of the 19 vices of the soul, all of which act in opposition to love, the Great(est) Command(ment).
    - gadders 2y ago
      Ordo Amoris https://firstthings.com/jd-vance-states-the-obvious-about-ordo-amoris/ https://firstthings.com/jd-vance-states-the-obvious-about-or...
      - MrMcCall 2y ago
        This is the framework that encompasses all of God's commands, thus all proper behavior, for the benefit of one and all: Always love. Teach to always love. Never hate. Teach to never hate. We believe that Christ lived for our virtues. He didn't come here to die, but to teach us how to live. "The greatest among you shall be the servant of all." --Christ JDV is learning one of the fool's saddest mistakes that power is no substitute for happiness. Maybe he'll get his head out of his arse and turn himself towards God and away from that orange devil, that Harkonnen beast, but his chances grow slimmer by the day, by the act. That article (which I read in full, ty) almost comes close to the mark, but misses the point entirely. It's just more noise. Read my comment history for the pure signal, my friend.
- gadders 2y ago
  Are you a Christian?
  - MrMcCall 2y ago
    "There's God's side and the other side." --Katt Williams Forms of religion are not important compared to effortful compassion that seeks to help others suffer less and enjoy more happiness. God always looks into our heart, for the soul's heart is where our moral compass resides. That is what we must nurture, evolve, and -- above all -- question on the spiritual path. We must find our vices and transmute them into their corresponding virtues, all 19 of them. We are all one human race, with one Creator, and one ability to manifest loving compassion, if we are adamant in our desire to become better citizens of this blessed Earth. Rememember that that serviceful compassion is required for every human infant to survive and thrive. It is also required for successful societies and cultures of any and all sizes. That such boundaryless compassion is sorely lacking is the source of ALL this world's problems. We will do well to focus on the commonalities of our positive potential, over our obvious differences. We are commanded to not break into separate groups, as the mammals -- our physical body's template -- do. Most religious thinking revolves around their false belief that they are the only "chosen" path or people. That is the single biggest "tell" that they are on the destructive, selfish path of prideful ignorance, which also tends towards callous cruelty towards whichever out-groups they define. Always love. Even one's enemies. Even as their power to harm others is stripped from them. Hope that their defeat helps them realize their grave mistakes and helps them turn towards the light. But know that our love for the oppressed must be of a different nature than that which we reserve for the oppressors. Such is the nature of the responsibility we have for this loving grace.
    - gadders 2y ago
      That's a no then.
WillPostForFood 2y ago
These are the people who took away healthcare benefits from all Americans because they didn't personally want to fund birth control and women's health. This is not true though.. Most Americans have these benefits. Hobby Lobby just pushed for an extension of the existing Religious exemption to also apply closely held businesses. It affected a tiny portion of the population.
- turtlesdown11 2y ago
  > It affected a tiny portion of the population. > According to a 2009 research paper from NYU Stern School of Business, these corporations account for 52 percent of private employment and 51 percent of private-sector output in the country. Those percentages might be outdated now but still give a sense of just how many workers are employed at closely held corporations. Fifty-two percent of today’s private sector employees comes out to approximately 60.4 million people, based on the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. https://slate.com/business/2014/06/hobby-lobby-supreme-court-ruling-how-many-people-work-at-closely-held-corporations.html https://slate.com/business/2014/06/hobby-lobby-supreme-court...
  - WillPostForFood 2y ago
    And in the following paragraph: Of course it’s extremely unlikely that all of those companies are about to claim a religious exemption from providing coverage of contraception. Aaron Blake at the Washington Post points to a Kaiser Family Foundation poll that found that 85 percent of large employers offered contraception coverage prior to Obamacare requiring it. Regardless, this is nitpicking, and the grandparent claim that it blocked contraception converage for all Americans is wrong.
    - turtlesdown11 2y ago
      The rights of millions of Americans were affected. Not a tiny portion of the population. Also the grandparent comment correctly noted that all Americans lost rights in the ruling, which is accurate. Any American could get a job at a closely held company and not be extended contraceptive coverage.

MrMcCall 2y ago

[flagged]

oersted 2y ago
For reference: > But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God—having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people. -- 2 Timothy 3:1-5
- 93po 2y ago
  this is basically 90% of american politicians
watwut 2y ago
Bible is full of contradictions. And old testament is quite cruel at places. They are Christians. Destructive Christians on the quest to harm others ... but Christians.
- Arainach 2y ago
  There is no relevant contradiction. The entire New Testament is Jesus preaching love and forgiveness, Jesus practicing love and forgiveness - and not just to his followers - and explicit condemnation of wealth and instructing his followers to care for others. Anyone who takes that message and instead lobbies to destroy healthcare and welfare and to push hate and attack anyone who doesn't agree with them - and anyone who votes for the party of politicians that has been practicing and preaching that for decades - is not a Christian regardless of how they spend their Sundays.
  - MrMcCall 2y ago
    Beautifully said. To expand on that beautiful theme: Animals compete, human beings cooperate. Animals take advantage of others, human beings care for others by helping them and protecting them from harm. May compassion rule our hearts for the benefit of one and all and the Earth, herself. We can choose to end suffering. As the "$6 Million Man" intro said in the 70s, "We have the technology." The world has already learned how we MUST deal with people who act like Nazis, those who choose to emulate their brutal policies. The paradox of tolerance is also a part of Jesus's teachings for He "didn't come to bring peace, but a sword." His Divine love must be fierce in the face of cruel depradations, but must never embrace hatred or rage or cruelty. Tonight is the "Night of Power". Send some vibrations out asking our Creator to help you be a part of fixing this Earthwide deplorable mess. Make the Bhodisattva Vow. Ask our Creator to take Its spirit back into Itself to help cleanse and purify your soul of selfish vice, to help you become consumed by the Wisdom of Love (that's the meaning of the 1st Beatitude, called Hidayet in Sufism). All that we emanate resonates back within ourselves. The spiritual path of love is the process of tuning our vibrations towards effortful loving service and away from selfishly callous ignorance of the suffering of others. "Lasting peace and happiness for ALL human beings." --Me
    - watwut 2y ago
      > Animals compete, human beings cooperate. Animals do cooperate, a lot and frequently. Including predators like lions. There are solitary animals, but cooperation is not rare. > Animals take advantage of others, human beings care for others by helping them and protecting them from harm. Animals do help others and try to protect them from harm.
      - MrMcCall 2y ago
        > Animals do cooperate, a lot and frequently. Including predators like lions. There are solitary animals, but cooperation is not rare. That is just pack behavior. Animals are nearly always at war among their own for territory, and will often attack other kinds animals that compete for their food sources, unless there is mutual benefit (e.g. deers and monkeys sharing alarm calls for tigers). > Animals do help others and try to protect them from harm. Not their competitors, friend. I've seen all of Sir David Attenboroughs' nature serieses multiple times, save the Antarctica one, including the "Trials of Life" where the decades-ago TV commercial here in America had the line, "the relentless pursuit to continue the bloodline". I know what happens when a bear comes upon a wolfpack's kill. Ain't no sharing there, friend. Lions clawing the balls off a young wandering, trespassing male is the baseline root of animal nature. Any student of history knows this lionine behavior is closer to the driving impetus for human nature than pursuits of selflessly loving peace. "They are like the animals, only worse." That is our negative potential, each and every one of us. Only we have a mind to learn how to contemplate our potential self-evolution and our current amount of progress. And we are free to instead use our minds to just pursue worldly pleasures at the expense of anyone else's happiness. All potentials are available to us, though we cannot escape the price of karma we must each pay, and do, for better or worse, always accurately reaping what we have sown. Not a jot unaccounted for. God's teachings of love are here to help us self-evolve ourselves out of our selfishly animalistic negative potentials towards a peaceful, harmonious universally-compassionate integrated society of equals of different paths and cultures, sans abuse or oppression of any kind. One great example is how Guru Nanak (Sikh founding Guru) set his table where everyone sat together, not stratified by caste. That is the Way of human love, born of God's love for us.
- MrMcCall 2y ago
  As per what they call themselves, but to be of Christ is to follow his teachings of love. This is what they are, as per Matthew 25:40-45: 40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ 41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’ 44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’ 45 “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’ A person whom Christ calls out as "you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels" cannot be called in good faith (hardy har) a true Christian, like a true Scotsman must at least be from Scotland. The callous fools cheering for 500k deportations of people back to war-torn lands full of strife are no Christians, my friend, no matter what they say. "You have no idea how little we care about what people say." --Rumi Hypocrisy is one of the 19 vices of the soul, all of which act in opposition to love, the Great(est) Command(ment).
  - gadders 2y ago
    Ordo Amoris https://firstthings.com/jd-vance-states-the-obvious-about-ordo-amoris/ https://firstthings.com/jd-vance-states-the-obvious-about-or...
    - MrMcCall 2y ago
      This is the framework that encompasses all of God's commands, thus all proper behavior, for the benefit of one and all: Always love. Teach to always love. Never hate. Teach to never hate. We believe that Christ lived for our virtues. He didn't come here to die, but to teach us how to live. "The greatest among you shall be the servant of all." --Christ JDV is learning one of the fool's saddest mistakes that power is no substitute for happiness. Maybe he'll get his head out of his arse and turn himself towards God and away from that orange devil, that Harkonnen beast, but his chances grow slimmer by the day, by the act. That article (which I read in full, ty) almost comes close to the mark, but misses the point entirely. It's just more noise. Read my comment history for the pure signal, my friend.
gadders 2y ago
Are you a Christian?
- MrMcCall 2y ago
  "There's God's side and the other side." --Katt Williams Forms of religion are not important compared to effortful compassion that seeks to help others suffer less and enjoy more happiness. God always looks into our heart, for the soul's heart is where our moral compass resides. That is what we must nurture, evolve, and -- above all -- question on the spiritual path. We must find our vices and transmute them into their corresponding virtues, all 19 of them. We are all one human race, with one Creator, and one ability to manifest loving compassion, if we are adamant in our desire to become better citizens of this blessed Earth. Rememember that that serviceful compassion is required for every human infant to survive and thrive. It is also required for successful societies and cultures of any and all sizes. That such boundaryless compassion is sorely lacking is the source of ALL this world's problems. We will do well to focus on the commonalities of our positive potential, over our obvious differences. We are commanded to not break into separate groups, as the mammals -- our physical body's template -- do. Most religious thinking revolves around their false belief that they are the only "chosen" path or people. That is the single biggest "tell" that they are on the destructive, selfish path of prideful ignorance, which also tends towards callous cruelty towards whichever out-groups they define. Always love. Even one's enemies. Even as their power to harm others is stripped from them. Hope that their defeat helps them realize their grave mistakes and helps them turn towards the light. But know that our love for the oppressed must be of a different nature than that which we reserve for the oppressors. Such is the nature of the responsibility we have for this loving grace.
  - gadders 2y ago
    That's a no then.

WillPostForFood 2y ago

These are the people who took away healthcare benefits from all Americans because they didn't personally want to fund birth control and women's health. This is not true though.. Most Americans have these benefits. Hobby Lobby just pushed for an extension of the existing Religious exemption to also apply closely held businesses. It affected a tiny portion of the population.

turtlesdown11 2y ago
> It affected a tiny portion of the population. > According to a 2009 research paper from NYU Stern School of Business, these corporations account for 52 percent of private employment and 51 percent of private-sector output in the country. Those percentages might be outdated now but still give a sense of just how many workers are employed at closely held corporations. Fifty-two percent of today’s private sector employees comes out to approximately 60.4 million people, based on the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. https://slate.com/business/2014/06/hobby-lobby-supreme-court-ruling-how-many-people-work-at-closely-held-corporations.html https://slate.com/business/2014/06/hobby-lobby-supreme-court...
- WillPostForFood 2y ago
  And in the following paragraph: Of course it’s extremely unlikely that all of those companies are about to claim a religious exemption from providing coverage of contraception. Aaron Blake at the Washington Post points to a Kaiser Family Foundation poll that found that 85 percent of large employers offered contraception coverage prior to Obamacare requiring it. Regardless, this is nitpicking, and the grandparent claim that it blocked contraception converage for all Americans is wrong.
  - turtlesdown11 2y ago
    The rights of millions of Americans were affected. Not a tiny portion of the population. Also the grandparent comment correctly noted that all Americans lost rights in the ruling, which is accurate. Any American could get a job at a closely held company and not be extended contraceptive coverage.