Search found 23693 matches

by Josh
Fri Mar 29, 2024 9:19 am
Forum: General Theology
Topic: Evil and Violence
Replies: 16
Views: 239

Re: Evil and Violence

The government is the people that you and your fellow citizens elected. You have just as much culpability in the decisions that they make as some cook on a Navy vessel does when it comes to the decisions that his military leadership makes. No, it isn’t, because I never consented to being in charge ...
by Josh
Fri Mar 29, 2024 9:03 am
Forum: Current Events
Topic: Francis Scott Key Bridge Collapse
Replies: 74
Views: 1130

Re: Francis Scott Key Bridge Collapse

Fun fact: Ships these days are organised into their own LLC or the foreign equivalent thereof. Liability for an accident is limited to just the value of the shop and its cargo - after the accident, not before. Very convenient that a mega giant like Maersk can evade taking basically any responsibilit...
by Josh
Thu Mar 28, 2024 11:39 pm
Forum: General Theology
Topic: Evil and Violence
Replies: 16
Views: 239

Re: Evil and Violence

I’m not responsible for money taken from me by force.

However, there is a sound case to be made that Christians should seek to minimise the amount of tax they owe in order to not fund wars. An obvious way to do this is to simply make less money.
by Josh
Thu Mar 28, 2024 5:25 pm
Forum: Politics
Topic: "God Bless the USA" Bibles - from our Huckster in Chief
Replies: 46
Views: 596

Re: "God Bless the USA" Bibles - from our Huckster in Chief

Bibles similar to this have been for sale for years. The Patriot's Bible, for example - I noticed that our local Ollie's is flooded with highly discounted copies. True - the content doesn’t surprise me - “patriot Bibles” been around for years. What surprises me is how blatant and mainstream this ty...
by Josh
Thu Mar 28, 2024 5:12 pm
Forum: Anabaptist Theology and Practice
Topic: The Anabaptist perception towards U.S. Holidays!
Replies: 31
Views: 280

Re: The Anabaptist perception towards U.S. Holidays!

What about Good Friday. Even organized labor knows that's a proper Holiday. Well, I assumed that was part of “Easter”… even federal employees usually don’t work on Easter Sunday. In other parts of the world, Easter Monday, Tuesday, and even Maundy Thursday can be holidays. Americans really don’t ge...
by Josh
Thu Mar 28, 2024 5:11 pm
Forum: Politics
Topic: "God Bless the USA" Bibles - from our Huckster in Chief
Replies: 46
Views: 596

Re: "God Bless the USA" Bibles - from our Huckster in Chief

What you can also find is evidence that the output of right-wing publishing houses is often just bought in volume as a way of funneling money to right-wing political authors and most of those books are never actually read. For example: https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/media/gop-book-deals/2...
by Josh
Thu Mar 28, 2024 12:10 pm
Forum: Anabaptist Theology and Practice
Topic: The Anabaptist perception towards U.S. Holidays!
Replies: 31
Views: 280

Re: The Anabaptist perception towards U.S. Holidays!

Ascension Day is a really funny one to see in the list.. virtually nobody in America knows what it is. Basically some devout Catholics (and Orthodox), Amish, and people who live around them.
by Josh
Thu Mar 28, 2024 12:09 pm
Forum: Current Events
Topic: War in Gaza
Replies: 314
Views: 63909

Re: War in Gaza

Warfare is bad, but it may be acceptable to look at something that goes beyond warfare: conducting a systematic slaughter of civilians, not soldiers. And yes, many wars morph into this over time.
by Josh
Thu Mar 28, 2024 11:45 am
Forum: Anabaptist Theology and Practice
Topic: The Anabaptist perception towards U.S. Holidays!
Replies: 31
Views: 280

Re: The Anabaptist perception towards U.S. Holidays!

We do not have explicit Easter or Christmas church services (although oddly enough do have a Thanksgiving service). Nobody in the present era (well, almost nobody, and certainly not the average person) is practicing “pagan fertility rites”. Likewise as I said earlier, decorating a house for Christma...
by Josh
Thu Mar 28, 2024 11:32 am
Forum: Politics
Topic: "God Bless the USA" Bibles - from our Huckster in Chief
Replies: 46
Views: 596

Re: "God Bless the USA" Bibles - from our Huckster in Chief

In the right-wing publishing industry, books are not made to be read. They are to be displayed on your shelves, unopened, so you can glance at them and feel that somewhere, a liberal is "owned." This is a rather bold claim; essentially claiming that right wing people don't read. I don't t...