Bunny Trails

[Outsider]

Sudsy did you read the book?

It’s pretty cheap to buy the ebook ya know.

Do you have a link you could share?

[Soloist]

Sudsy did you read the book?

It’s pretty cheap to buy the ebook ya know.

Do you have a link you could share?

I think I bought it on Amazon.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0BQ3QC ... 670&sr=8-1

[Outsider]

Sudsy did you read the book?

It’s pretty cheap to buy the ebook ya know.

Do you have a link you could share?

I think I bought it on Amazon.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0BQ3QC ... 670&sr=8-1

Thank you. I just read the book, and I find nothing I disagree with in it.

In fact, his thoughts run along the same lines mine have been running for a few years now. Our secular culture has given up even the pretense of any core value beyond self-indulgence, since the 60's- and the fall of the churches who followed along has been hard and profound.

[ken_sylvania]

How accurate do you think it is to say that communion is the center for some? Why? What would you call the center?
How come people think of communion as the core thing? Is it simply man’s need for a ceremony that caused it to rise to preeminence?

I've participated in a couple Christian Panel Discussions on campus and for Catholics, Mass is definitely front and center. It is the primary way by which Catholics believe they are receiving Divine grace. Which is why the most faithful try to do it at least once a day. Some try to do it twice per day which is the maximum number of times the Catholic church allows. Max, you can correct me on this if I misunderstood.

Are you expecting him to come back and answer?

[Josh]

How accurate do you think it is to say that communion is the center for some? Why? What would you call the center?
How come people think of communion as the core thing? Is it simply man’s need for a ceremony that caused it to rise to preeminence?

I've participated in a couple Christian Panel Discussions on campus and for Catholics, Mass is definitely front and center. It is the primary way by which Catholics believe they are receiving Divine grace. Which is why the most faithful try to do it at least once a day. Some try to do it twice per day which is the maximum number of times the Catholic church allows. Max, you can correct me on this if I misunderstood.

Are you expecting him to come back and answer?

Well, we are a resurrection people who believe in life after death.

[temporal1]

I've participated in a couple Christian Panel Discussions on campus and for Catholics, Mass is definitely front and center. It is the primary way by which Catholics believe they are receiving Divine grace. Which is why the most faithful try to do it at least once a day. Some try to do it twice per day which is the maximum number of times the Catholic church allows. Max, you can correct me on this if I misunderstood.

Are you expecting him to come back and answer?

Well, we are a resurrection people who believe in life after death.

JayP might stop by.

[Sudsy]

Over the last number of months, Plain News has published fourteen articles on the topic:
Should Christians Get Involved in Civil Government?

This is a thread to discuss the following questions...
1. Which articles do you think are well written?
2. Which articles make the best points?
3. What are some of those best points?

https://www.plainnews.org/topic/public/

Please do not engage in promoting left wing/right wing ideology or critiquing the actions or viewpoints of a particular political party or political leaning.

Please keep partisan comments/debates out of this thread - avoid comments that reflect negatively on either right-leaning or left leaning political persuasions or characters.

Please keep this thread focused on the topic.

Will read later but my going in position is 'no'. We are ambassadors of another country and should be busy promoting it.

[Ken]

I clicked through about 5 or 6 of them.

What struck me is a lack of defining what exactly is "civil government" and what constitutes "getting involved"

Is teaching in a public school getting involved in civil government? What about working as a public school administrator like a principal? Or serving on a school board?

Is working as a nurse in a public hospital getting involved in civil government? What if you get promoted up to a hospital position with decision-making authority? What if you are a scientist working for NIH? Or a researcher working under an NIH grant?

Is working as a volunteer firefighter getting involved in civil government? What about a professional fire fighter or government forester involved in wildlands fire fighting? What if you rise to any position of authority with any such agency?

My city has volunteer work days where ordinary citizens go out and join the parks department employees clearing brush and doing trail maintenance. Is that getting involved with civil government?

The examples are pretty endless.

[RZehr]

So, if one buys a Tesla, they get a tax credit. Wasn’t there a discussion on that, in the Mike Pence thread? Keeping money that the government is entitled to? So if the government doesn’t collect that money, who compensates for that money owed to the government. The answer is ALL tax payers, including the hard-working tax payer who can’t afford anything more than a high milage used vehicle.

“…the hard-working tax payer…”
I really like that Grace differentiated here between “all tax payers” and “the hard-working tax payer”.
Mostly we only ever hear concern about the tax burden of the hard-working tax payer, and nobody ever mentions the taxes paid by the work ethically challenged.

[Bootstrap]

But in this thread, I think we have to start from the perspective that there is real disagreement, this is disputed among Christians who are eagerly seeking to Seek First the Kingdom of God and apply the Bible to their lives.

I think you have to start from the perspective that there’s real disagreement on how to talk to each other… otherwise, why do some of you guys keep going around in circles on the same topics? Never getting anywhere.
One side tries to lay down specific ground rules, the other side tries to lay down their ground rules. Neither side wants to do with the other side wants to do…. Why are we even worried about whether or not there’s this agreement over some issue in Christianity when we can’t even agree on how to disagree.

Is it really so hard to agree that a thread is about the topic of the thread, as stated in the OP? And that the person who posted the OP gets to clarify what that topic is?

I think that's what I am asking for. I think some people are resisting that.

Let me suggest one WRONG answer to the question in the OP. I could insist that my interpretation is right, and should be binding on all believers. I could insist that anyone who doesn't agree with me doesn't really believe in the authority and doesn't really want to obey Jesus. I could insist that anyone who does not come to believe me really does not want to know the truth.

Would that be productive? Would it help us better understand what the Bible does and does not say about this? Would it help us better understand how to apply what Scripture says clearly to our lives? Would it help us mature in our faith or our ability to study the Bible?

I don't think so.

So what works better than that?