JohnH wrote: ↑Mon May 11, 2026 1:42 pmI fail to see the point being made when prior Presidents have done the exact same thing.
Give me one example of a prior president doing "the exact same thing".
Something done:
1. While the President was in office
2. With something of real monetary value and the symbolism of gold
3. By people who had something to gain from what the president does
4. As part of a moneymaking scheme that could also raise money for the president
5. Tickling the vanity of a president who loves gold and glory
Something remotely like this. Not a bronze state built by someone else long after the president was out of office or dead.
2 x
1. Are we discussing the topic? Good.
2. Are we going around and around in a fight? Let's stop doing that.
3. Is there some serious wrongdoing or relational injury? Let's address that, probably not in public and certainly not for show.
JohnH wrote: ↑Mon May 11, 2026 1:42 pmI fail to see the point being made when prior Presidents have done the exact same thing.
Quite apart from the shady financial and political circumstances, this kind of statue is not "the exact same thing" as Don Colossus.
It communicates something quite different, don't you think? What point are you making when you bring up this example?
1 x
1. Are we discussing the topic? Good.
2. Are we going around and around in a fight? Let's stop doing that.
3. Is there some serious wrongdoing or relational injury? Let's address that, probably not in public and certainly not for show.
Szdfan wrote: ↑Mon May 11, 2026 2:18 pm
I assume you don’t wear a gold wedding ring even though it’s “just an object,” gold is “just a color,” and many Christians wear wedding rings. Why? Because the ring is not merely a ring. It carries symbolic and spiritual meaning.
That’s part of why I find it difficult to understand why a giant gold-leafed statue of Donald Trump, surrounded by quasi-religious rhetoric, does not seem to trigger the same symbolic concerns for you.
It's a little like saying that bowing down before such a statue is "just a body posture". As though these things have no meaning.
2 x
1. Are we discussing the topic? Good.
2. Are we going around and around in a fight? Let's stop doing that.
3. Is there some serious wrongdoing or relational injury? Let's address that, probably not in public and certainly not for show.
JohnH wrote: ↑Mon May 11, 2026 1:03 pm
Here is an example of gold (or gold colour) for a whole bunch of Presidents, excluding Carter:
I'll give you a penny for each of those gold coins. After all, copper is just a different color ...
0 x
1. Are we discussing the topic? Good.
2. Are we going around and around in a fight? Let's stop doing that.
3. Is there some serious wrongdoing or relational injury? Let's address that, probably not in public and certainly not for show.
Szdfan wrote: ↑Mon May 11, 2026 12:54 pm .. but also seems to be the visual and material manifestation of a movement that I believe represents spiritual danger to the Christianity in America. I think the quasi-religious language being used to describe Trump is a problem.
don’t join. i’m not going to.
0 x
i’m perfectly comfortable with an older, wiser, more docile Trump.
”Try hard not to offend. Try harder not to be offended.” Robert Martz
Szdfan wrote: ↑Mon May 11, 2026 12:54 pm .. but also seems to be the visual and material manifestation of a movement that I believe represents spiritual danger to the Christianity in America. I think the quasi-religious language being used to describe Trump is a problem.
don’t join. i’m not going to.
I’m not…but I think it’s worth talking about and calling out.
0 x
"Woe to those who make unjust laws, to those who issue oppressive decrees, to deprive the poor of their rights and withhold justice from the oppressed of my people, making widows their prey and robbing the fatherless."
Szdfan wrote: ↑Mon May 11, 2026 12:54 pm .. but also seems to be the visual and material manifestation of a movement that I believe represents spiritual danger to the Christianity in America. I think the quasi-religious language being used to describe Trump is a problem.
don’t join. i’m not going to.
I’m not…but I think it’s worth talking about and calling out.
“preaching to the choir?”
0 x
i’m perfectly comfortable with an older, wiser, more docile Trump.
”Try hard not to offend. Try harder not to be offended.” Robert Martz
temporal1 wrote: ↑Mon May 11, 2026 2:51 pm
don’t join. i’m not going to.
I’m not…but I think it’s worth talking about and calling out.
“preaching to the choir?”
We don’t seem to have a problem discussing other issues that people seem to agree with.
1 x
"Woe to those who make unjust laws, to those who issue oppressive decrees, to deprive the poor of their rights and withhold justice from the oppressed of my people, making widows their prey and robbing the fatherless."
JohnH wrote: ↑Mon May 11, 2026 1:42 pmI fail to see the point being made when prior Presidents have done the exact same thing.
Give me one example of a prior president doing "the exact same thing".
Something done:
1. While the President was in office
2. With something of real monetary value and the symbolism of gold
3. By people who had something to gain from what the president does
4. As part of a moneymaking scheme that could also raise money for the president
5. Tickling the vanity of a president who loves gold and glory
Something remotely like this. Not a bronze state built by someone else long after the president was out of office or dead.
6. Whose last name starts with T and middle name starts with J.
